I did tell you, Jenna: it was not a bomb.
But was it meant to be a bomb? Meant to kill you all?
Meant to frighten us, intimidate us. But it was a false alarm.
Have there been others?
Here? St. Croix? No.
But elsewhere?
Maybe.
Ann Arbor? Grand Rapids?
Maybe . . .
Don’t you think that you’ve proved a point, Gus? That you could stop now?
“Proved a point”—? What point? I’m a doctor. I help people who need me.
There are other doctors. Younger doctors.
You’re asking me to give up? Would you really respect me, then?
It wouldn’t be giving up. It would be letting other people take over. Return to a normal clinical practice.
In Ann Arbor?
Yes! Well—anywhere.
Jenna, I will—I’ve promised. But not just yet.
“Savior of the desperate” . . .“crusader” . . . It’s like emotional blackmail, they won’t let you go.
Look, I can’t brood over my work each time there’s a crisis. That’s not the way I am.
But you’re not just yourself—“Gus Voorhees.” You are our children’s father, and you are my husband.
My work is my mission for now—that’s it.
Today might have been the end . . .
Jenna, there are threats all the time. We are not going to be intimidated.
The children were frightened today—they will have questions for me tomorrow, I’m sure.
Children take their emotional cues from their parents. They will be looking to their mother to know what to feel.
I have to hide from them what I feel! You know that.
Just explain to them—their father is committed to his work, and there are ideological enemies . . .
“Ideological”!—they’re vicious, fanatics. Army of God they call themselves.
But the law is protecting us. The law is on our side.
The law can’t protect you twenty-four hours a day.
That’s just to intimidate.
They’ve shot doctors. They’ve sent mail bombs . . .
Those terrorists have been apprehended. They’re in prison.
You don’t think there are more? Of course there are more—Soldiers of God they call themselves.
Jenna, please. This was meant to be a day off . . .
You’ve seen the publications? The lists?—WANTED: BABY KILLERS AMONG US. And “Dr. Gus Voorhees” is high on that list.
I told you not to look at that garbage! For Christ’s sake.
Not look, and pretend they aren’t there?
I don’t give a damn about the lists or the threats. I don’t pay any attention to them. And I’m not going to quit because I’ve been frightened.
Then you admit—you’ve been frightened?
You aren’t quitting your work, Jenna. I’m not quitting mine.
My work is—theoretical! No one even knows my name. But “Dr. Gus Voorhees” is a name everyone knows.
That’s a mistake. I’m sorry about that. But I’ve been moving around. I don’t stay in one place. And when I leave a clinic, things quiet down—as in Grand Rapids.
All I can think is if that bomb had gone off today, your children wouldn’t have a father.
I’ve told you, it wasn’t a bomb—actually.
What was it then?
A clumsy threat. A mockery.
A mockery?
A Bible verse . . .
A Bible verse?
A hand-printed message taped to the alarm clock—“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
That’s a threat . . .
Of course it’s a threat. But I am not “threatened.”
Gus, you have to report that to the St. Croix police! The Michigan State Police . . .
We’ve reported other threats. The police know.
What other threats?
Anywhere. Everywhere. Abortion clinics. The police know, including the state police.
But this threat, today . . .
There are hundreds—thousands—of threats against abortion clinics. We’re not going to back down.
The staff at the Center—how must they feel!
I’ve told them I would understand if anyone wants to quit. And I’m sure that there will be some . . .
Well—other doctors quit, who’ve been doing what you’ve been doing for more than ten years. You’d promised—after Saginaw . . .
But not immediately.
A year? Two years?
Two years is too soon. That isn’t realistic.
You will say—“Three years is too soon!” Your children should mean more to you than these strangers . . .
Of course they do. Don’t be ridiculous, Jenna.
I’m not being ridiculous! There have been abortion doctors murdered—clinics bombed. It will happen again, such terrible things are said on television, that should be outlawed . . .
There are people who support us, too. We have many supporters. Try to see this as a mission—that will have an end, in another five years perhaps . . .
Five years! That is wholly unrealistic. The first thing Reagan said when he was inaugurated was, he intended to reverse Roe v. Wade . . .
But it didn’t happen. It won’t happen.
It certainly can! If the Republicans get a majority—if there’s a Republican President . . .
Look, Jenna: our children will see that we have beliefs. That we don’t give up.
On your grave marker, will that be the epigraph?