A small courtyard leads to the entrance of Planned Parenthood's clinic on Madison Street, the cheeriness belying its true purpose of blocking anybody who would try to crash a car through the door.
A lot of low-income women go there for birth control and basic health services and, yes, abortions are performed one or two days a week.
"We already have a robust security," said Michael Romo, the chief operating officer at Planned Parenthood, when asked if the murder of Wichita physician Dr. George Tiller prompted any additional measures.
Planned Parenthood clinics see civil protests by pro-life activists. Fr. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, led a demonstration at the Madison Street clinic during an April visit.
But three's an extremist side to anti-abortion protests. "We have protesters who know clinic staff and call them 'baby killers,'" said Elaine Taylor Rose, Planned Parenthood's executive director.
"It's this venom, this vitriolic speech spewed forth on airwaves and Web sites listing (abortion) providers' names and addresses," she added. One Portland Web site even pictured images of dripping blood.
Exaggeration?
Well, last week this column discussed the killing of Tiller, a provider of late-term abortions -- committed in the sanctuary of the doctor's Wichita church -- as the latest act of right-wing terrorism.
It condemned such enablers as Fox News mouth Bill O'Reilly, who has continued to spew hate at Tiller since the assassination.
My e-mails showed the kind of extremism that is abroad in the land.
"The death of the baby butcher, Tiller, was just another late-term abortion: Get over it," said one e-mail. Another correspondent wrote: "Tiller should not have been shot. Instead, he should have been put on a table, had a surgical instrument slammed into his head, and then had his brain sucked out."
The vast majority of what goes on at Planned Parenthood's 35 clinics in Washington has nothing to do with abortion. Just five of the clinics provide surgical abortions. Another half-dozen furnish medication abortions.
One-fourth of American women have visited a Planned Parenthood clinic. The vast majority are not expecting unexpectedly, but looking for answers to health worries and seeking NOT to become pregnant.
They need the care. "About 60 percent of our patients are at or below the federal poverty level: Our patients are often people who do not have the means to go elsewhere," said Taylor Rose.
A half-dozen Planned Parenthood pamphlets have just cascaded out of my daypack: One deals with GYN gynecology exams, another with emergency contraception, a third with abusive relationships, a fourth is entitled "All About Vasectomy" and a fifth with pelvic exams.
The sixth pamphlet, "Male Self-Exam," gives my gender tips on detecting testicular cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.
A question to demonstrators outside clinics: Do folks seeking these health services deserve to be screamed at and intimidated?
We have a First Amendment in this country that guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Such freedoms must upheld, but society ought to condemn their misuse. Much of the shouting outside clinics "is to intimidate and harass," said Taylor Rose. "There is something wrong when you can't get health care."
As well, one more thread ties together the echo chamber of conservative media in this country.
Its attacks get directed, in large part, at groups that counsel, serve and empower the poor -- particularly poor women and minorities.
Bullies such as O'Reilly and Limbaugh specialize in kicking those struggling to stand on their own two feet. These guys celebrate the American dream and then try to deny it to the single working mother, the struggling student, the person who has lost health insurance.
Abortions are performed at the Madison Street clinic, up to the 13-week, six-day point in pregnancy. The practice is abhorrent to many people I respect. If you don't like what's going on in this country, however, use our democratic institutions to change it.
As well, people of good will, on both sides, should seek common ground to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and reduce the 1.3 million abortions performed annually in America.
"Our intent is that every woman who comes here for a (pregnancy) termination is given information and access to help so as to avoid another unanticipated pregnancy," said Romo.
The Tiller murder has caused sadness and some apprehension among Planned Parenthood's staff and volunteers.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Tiller is no longer the latest victim of right-wing terrorism in America.
An elderly man with longstanding ties to far-right and white-supremacist groups -- plus a hatred for Jews and fixation with what he called the "Holy Western Empire" -- opened fire at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. He killed a security guard.
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