Jackson Abortion Clinic Takes Safety Precautions

By: | WJTV
Published: June 01, 2009

Doctor George Tiller was a good friend of Nancy Koshin Kintigh. Tiller was gunned down at church Sunday in Wichita,Kansas. Koshin-Kintigh is the clinic administrator at the Jackson Women's Health Organization. She's afraid what happened to Dr. George Tiller could happen in Mississippi. "As with any extremist group the potential for other target is there. So there is a need for concern. There is a need for us to be extra cautious at this time," said Koshin-Kintigh. The Jackson clinic does have iron bars surrounding it for security reasons, but the staff there believes that's not enough and they're asking Jackson police and Mississippi legislators for help. "We are outraged by this act of domestic terrorist and we're asking law enforcement to act expediently," said Koshin-Kintigh. The clinic already has surveillance cameras, tinted windows and a metal detector at the main door. Koshin-Kintigh said these all necessary precautions in their line of work "Even though they have apprehended someone in Wichita as I understand that does not necessarily mean this over."
Tiller's clinic was one of three in the nation that perform a controversial late-term abortion procedures. He had recently asked federal prosecutors to step up their investigations of threats against him. Police caught 51-year-old Scott Roeder shortly after the shooting who tried to escape in his Ford Taurus.
In 1993, a protester shot and wounded Tiller in both arms. In 1985, his clinic was bombed.