by Mary Lou Greenberg

About the author: Mary Lou Greenberg, the managing editor of On the Issues magazine, is an abortion rights activist who has defended clinics and worked with abortion providers nationwide.

As I held in my hand the sharp slivers of glass that were now the only remains of the shattered windows, my eye was drawn to a metal object in the debris. It was a nail, a small, sharp spike two inches long. I shuddered. Hundreds of these projectiles intended to shred human flesh had been propelled outward by the blast when the bomb went off, just a few feet from the main entrance. I could still see some of the nails embedded in the building’s masonry facade, between the now boarded-up door and bits of what had been an...