BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Catholic leaders and the pro-life community, including Archbishop John F. Donoghue, condemned bombings at a Sandy Springs abortion clinic Jan. 16 as evil and an assault on human life.

"We deplore and condemn the cowardly and pointless act of violence...regardless of who bears responsibility," Archbishop Donoghue said after a bomb exploded at approximately 9:30 a.m. at a professional building housing Atlanta Northside Family Planning Services and other businesses. "In our unwavering commitment to the sanctity of human life, we are appalled and saddened at this affront to life."

Although no one was injured initially, a second bomb placed near a dumpster in the parking lot exploded one hour later, injuring seven people, including three federal agents investigating the first bombing, a Fulton County firefighter, a TV cameraman and a bystander. Two of the injured, who were standing so close to the explosion they suffered hearing injuries or concussions, were hospitalized overnight.

Kent Alexander, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said investigators were not focusing exclusively on abortion clinic violence as the motive.

"A lot of (the media) are assuming this is related to abortion clinic violence. That is definitely a possibility, but we are not ruling out the possibility of domestic terrorism unrelated to clinic violence," Alexander said at a press conference Jan. 16. "This bomb, if placed outside the building, could have been directed at anyone."

The U.S. attorney said there had been no abortion clinic violence in Atlanta since 1984, when there were three cases of firebombs at clinics. One of the three was the Atlanta Northside abortion clinic, he said, although it was at a different location.

The clinic, which runs a display ad in the abortion section of the telephone directory, is one of approximately nine in the Atlanta metropolitan area performing abortions, but not the largest. In 1995 Atlanta Northside performed 2,287 abortions out of 35,077 performed in Georgia, according to the state Department of Human Resources.

Investigators reportedly determined that the first bomb was placed near the clinic on the outside of the professional building, which houses other offices including lawyers, doctors and dentists.

Federal, state and local investigators reacted angrily to the delayed explosion of the second bomb and its location in the parking lot, which they saw as aimed at injuring law enforcement personnel. "I'm very angry. I'm particularly angry about the second bomb," said Fulton County Sheriff Jackie Barrett whose jurisdiction covers Sandy Springs.

Archbishop Donoghue said "the evil" of the first bombing was compounded by the second explosion "designed to injure officials who selflessly place their lives on the line in these kinds of incidents. We pray that all persons of good will may dedicate themselves anew to the dignity and sanctity of human life."

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston said the bishops "strongly denounce" the act of violence.

"Such violence is the opposite of everything we stand for and everything we hope for our culture today: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for those who were injured."

Pro-life organizations in Georgia and nationally issued statements rejecting violence as contrary to their beliefs and the actions and guidelines of their groups.

"This is not what pro-lifers are about," said Peggy Sinanian, director of the Pro-Life Office of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. She noted that when she heard the news report she was delivering baby clothes collected by students to the Crisis Pregnancy program of the archdiocese.

"We must continue our constructive and nonviolent work," she said. "Our objective, our reason for being is to stop the pain and destruction inside the clinics, the pain and suffering of the babies and their mothers."

Mary Boyert, executive director of Georgia Right to Life, which focuses on pro-life education and legislation, called the bombings "terrorism."

"Violence, bombings and terrorism of any kind are not pro-life. They are never the solution to social problems. To be pro-life is to be against violence," she said, adding that Georgia Right to Life opposes violence in any form as a means to protect life.

"Georgia Right to Life will continue to work for peaceful solutions to social problems," she said. "These include helping women and their children and do not involve killing anyone--including the most vulnerable among us."

David N. O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, said, "NRLC strongly opposes any use of violence as a means of stopping the violence that has killed more than 35 million unborn children since 1973.

"The goal of National Right to Life is to break the cycle of violence which includes abortion, not perpetuate it."

Brian Johnston, an NRLC board member and executive director of a state affiliate, the California ProLife Council, said, "Just as the Unabomber is not representative of environmentalists, the perpetrator of this act in no way represents the sentiments of pro-life citizens or the purpose of the pro-life movement."

"Violence is not an answer to violence. That is especially clear on the eve of the nation's observance of Martin Luther King Day," said Gary L. Bauer, president of the Family Research Center.

Joseph Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League in Chicago, said it was rash to lay blame for the bombings on anti-abortion fanaticism. "Let's slow down and wait for some solid facts before we all assume that a pro-life fanatic was responsible for the explosions at the Atlanta Northside Family Planning Services center," he said.

"In the immediate aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, media and city authorities quickly assigned the blame to Middle Eastern terrorists, only to be embarrassed later when it appeared that American citizens involved in a militia were to blame."

The possibility of other motives was also on the minds of investigators in Atlanta. The investigation draws upon the interagency task force created prior to the 1996 Olympics, according to the U.S. attorney, which is still investigating the fatal bombing at Centennial Olympic Park last July.

On Jan. 19 two bombs exploded seconds apart outside a Tulsa, Okla., abortion clinic, the same clinic damaged by two Molotov cocktails on New Year's Day. The clinic was closed on Jan. 19 and no injuries were reported.