An abortion clinic firebomber has been released from prison, fueling concerns there could be a fresh wave of violent attacks on clinics.
Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon was handed an 11-year jail sentence for shooting and wounding a doctor, George Tiller, outside an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, in 1993, The Kansas City Star reported.
In 1995 she was given 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of bombings and arson attacks on clinics in California, Oregon and Nevada.
Now it has been reported that Shannon left the Waseca Federal Correctional Facility in Minnesota on Monday and would be staying in a halfway house in Portland.
The Charlotte Observer noted that she would finish her 20-year sentence at the halfway house, with her final release date being Nov. 7.
Abortion-rights advocates are on high alert in the wake of the news.
Katherine Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation noted that Shannon's actions had motivated other anti-abortion extremists to commit similar acts of violence in the past.
Tiller was eventually shot and killed in May of 2009 by Scott Roeder, who was subsequently found guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault in January 2010 and sentenced to at least 50 years in prison.
Spillar said that to have Shannon "out and having ongoing communications with extremists from across the country who promote the use of violence, this is a dangerous situation waiting to explode again," according to The Kansas City Star.
The Feminist Majority Foundation is working with the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood to alert clinics nationwide to be on high alert.
Rev. Donald Spitz, leader of Pro-Life Virginia, has said that Shannon's supporters were thrilled to hear the news that she had been released from prison.
"We commiserated quite often about how unjust the whole thing was with the judge and the sentencing," he noted, according to The Kansas City Star.
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