Convicted Anti-Abortion Arsonist and Kidnapper Released From Prison

Anti-abortion extremist Don Benny Anderson was just released from prison to a halfway house, after serving 24 years for kidnapping Illinois clinic owner Dr Hector Zavallos and his wife Jean. Anderson was also serving time for a bombing and two arson incidents at clinics in Florida and Virginia.

In August of 1982, Anderson and two brothers, Matthew Moore and Wayne Moore, who were also just released to a halfway house, held Zavallos and his wife at gunpoint for eight days. At one point, they forced the doctor to make a recording urging the already anti-abortion President Ronald Reagan to oppose abortion. After threatening to kill them, the kidnappers finally released the couple unharmed.

In their communications with the FBI, Anderson and the Moores used the moniker Army of God, the first public mention of the group. Over the last 25 years, the Army of God – a violent and clandestine antiabortion network – has claimed responsibility for a number of abortion-related murders, arsons, and bombings.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project is the largest clinic defense project in the country. According to 2005 National Clinic Violence Survey (PDF), almost 18% of our nation’s clinics still face the most severe forms of anti-abortion violence including blockades, stalking, bomb threats, and death threats.

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Media Resources: FMF’s Anti-Abortion Violence Watch February 2003, 2005 National Clinic Violence Survey; Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War by Judy Thomas and James Risen; Buffalo News 11/5/98, 3/12/03; National Abortion Federation Press Release 9/6/07

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