14 Life Choice

Wednesday, March 16, 1990, 10:30 a.m., Chelsea Women’s Choices Center, an abortion clinic.  There are people in front of the clinic protesting against abortion.  They come from an active anti-abortion group called Women for Life, headed by Rose Schwimmer. The clinic receives a call warning of a bomb.  They call the police, and everybody is evacuated, except for a woman who was in the bathroom.  The bomb explodes killing her.  The body is taken to the morgue.  They find some cash on her ($300) and a student I.D. card No. 487254, from the University of Manhattan, in the name of Susan Turner.

There have been eight bombings in the last seven months, all of them at night.  Nobody got hurt until this one.

This is the information you will provide:

Your name is Sherry, and you are a nurse.  You have worked at the clinic for ten years now.  Every once in a while, you get one of these calls warning of a bomb, but an actual bomb has never exploded before.  There have been other bombings in other clinics, and you know there are whack jobs everywhere.  You were hoping this would never happen at your workplace.

You received a call. It was a woman’s voice.  She only said “bomb.”  You did not recognize the voice.  You get one of these calls every once in a while, and you immediately call the police and get the clinic evacuated. That’s what you did.  You do not recognize the woman from the ID card.  You are also sure she did not sign in or fill out any form.  You are sure of that. If she had signed in today, you would remember.  You’ve got a fantastic memory for names and faces. You don’t think she was a patient.  In your opinion, she must have carried the bomb in.

This is the information you will provide:

The bomb was a homemade bomb made with fertilizer and diesel oil – an amateur bomb.  The timer was a quartz alarm clock.  It was not possible to get a set of prints from the body due to the damage.  Actually, you can’t even get a picture. You have not been able to identify the woman yet.  All you can say now is that she was young, in her twenties. You couldn’t find any information about a Susan Turner.  Partial prints were found on the bomb. There are no matches in the system, though. You also found a set of car keys on the victim.

This is the information you will provide:

You cannot find the ID’s number in your files.  There is no student at the university with that name, Susan Turner.  In fact, you haven’t had six-digit ID for students in the last five years.  You took a look at the university card itself and immediately recognized it as a fake card because the photo is glued on.  The real card is all in one piece.

When your detectives tell you about the car keys found on the body, encourage them to find it. Ask them how they will do it. Will they look for abandoned cars near the clinic? Near the university? Does the car key give any clue as to the make? (Note: In the 90’s, only very expensive cars had car fobs.)

Then, pretend you are getting a phone call. A police officer informs that there is an abandoned car near the clinic. There are fliers from the Women for Life organization inside.  The car is registered to a Mary Donovan.

This is the information you’ll provide

You head the Women for Life organization.  You are 56 years old.  You have never gotten married, and you don’t have children.  Before you joined the organization you worked as a children’s teacher.  Five years ago, you set up Women for Life, a non-profit organization.  You are deeply committed to fighting abortion.  You believe that killing babies is murder.  Your organization has more than 2,000 active members.  If the police ask you about a certain Susan Turner, there is no one with that name in your files.  If they ask you about a Mary Donovan, tell them she is part of the organization and deeply committed to its cause.  You don´t know her personally, though.  When the bomb went off you were at Lazy Jane’s, a nice tea house on Main Street, two blocks from your office, having tea with an associate, Celeste McClure.  She works at the community garden on 89th St.

You have no idea who has been bombing the clinics but, in your opinion, the person or persons involved in the bombings should receive a prize.  You believe that the end justifies the means.

Lazy Jane´s is a typical tea house, located on Main Street, about two blocks from Women for Life and four blocks from Chelsea´s Women Choices Center.  There are about 8 tables for customers. On one side there are some sofas where people can sit down and read a book. Next to the sofas there are some shelves with books for people to check out and read.  You can also see the lady´s and gent´s washroom.  Between them there is a public telephone.  The owner´s counter is in the back with a good view of the entrance and the tables.  Only two people work at Lazy Jane´s:  the owner (Jane, who serves the tables and also acts as cashier) and a cook (Sally, who stays in the kitchen most of the time).  When you arrive, there are about three occupied tables – typical elderly ladies having their afternoon tea.

Note: In those days, there were no cell phones.

This is the information you will provide:

Rose Schwimmer is a regular customer.  She comes in every Wednesday.  You never noticed anything strange about her.  She sometimes comes in alone and sometimes with one of her lady friends.  You have never seen her with a male companion.  Last Wednesday, she came around 10 and left around 11 a.m.  A friend of Rose’s came in a couple of minutes later.  This other friend comes in about twice a month. You think her name is Celeste.  She had a big box with her, the size of a toaster oven, which she put right on the table.  Can you believe that?  Your tea house is very selective. So, you went there and put the box on the chair.  After all, your tea house is not a diner, is it?  You don’t remember seeing the box when they left, but you are not sure.  If the police ask you, you remember that Rose went to the lady´s washroom once.  You do not remember any of them using the public telephone.  There were a lot of customers that day.  You were quite busy, and you have better things to do than keep an eye on your customers all the time.

Note: In those days, there were no cell phones.

Meet with your detectives and inform them that the body has been identified: Mary Donovan. Instruct the detectives to interview her parents.

Note to teacher: Teach your students the expression “We are very sorry for your loss.”

This is the information you will provide:

You are a catholic family.  You have two children:  Kevin, 24 years old, and Mary, 22 years old.

You have identified the body as your daughter´s. You tried to file a ‘missing persons’ report yesterday when she didn’t come home, but the police wouldn’t take it.  They said you had to wait two days.  Mary was 22 years old.  She loved children.  She was an elementary school teacher, at St. Aloysius school.  She was anti-abortion.  She was a member of the Women for Life organization.  She has a brother, Kevin, who owns a lumber company.  He is two years older than Mary and has always been dedicated to his sister. He now lives in his own apartment on 23rd Avenue. Mary also had a boyfriend, Patrick Dunne, who is a teacher at St. Aloysius.  He seems to be alright.   They´ve been going out for the last 2 years and you believe it was a serious relationship.

Yesterday, Mary said she was taking the day off to go shopping.  Her boyfriend had come to give her a ride to school.  You heard them arguing.  You don’t know what they argued about.  It was about something he had with him.  An envelope.

If the police suggest that Mary bombed the clinic, deny the accusation vehemently.  Your daughter would never do anything like that.  She was a gentle person and would never do anything violent.

If the police suggest that Mary was pregnant and had gone to the abortion clinic for an abortion, tell them that is a ridiculous assumption.  Mary was against abortion!!

This is the information you will provide:

You are 24 years old, and you own a lumber company.  You are single and you live on 23rd Avenue.  You do not have a girlfriend at the moment.  You are for women´s choice, for abortion, but you have rarely discussed this with your family, especially Mary because she would be angry at you.  Mary loved children.  She wanted to have a big family.  If she was a member of any anti-abortion group, she never mentioned it to you.  Maybe the people from the school she worked at will know something.  She was seeing this guy, Patrick, another teacher at the same school.  The name of the school is St. Aloysius.

This is the information you will provide:

Mary was a very good teacher.  She was young and naïve.  She asked for a day off on Wednesday.  She didn’t tell you what for.  You think it was because she was upset with her boyfriend, Patrick Dunne. He teaches eighth-grade Latin.  Last week they had an argument in the hallway in front of the kids.  You don’t know what they argued about, but you told them that was very inappropriate behavior.

This is the information you will provide:

You are devastated.  You loved Mary, and you intended to ask her to marry you.  The argument you had last week was about abortion.  Mary hated abortion.  You think it is a sin, it is immoral, but you live in the real world.  You had an argument with her the day of the bombing.  You wanted to go to Barbados.  You brought her a brochure.  That’s what was in the envelope.  You thought Barbados would be the perfect place to propose, to ask her to marry you.  But she didn’t want to go.  She thought it would look bad if they traveled together.  She didn’t go to the clinic to bomb it.  She went there to have an abortion.  She was pregnant.  That day you went to her house to try to persuade her to get married and have the baby.  But she wanted the abortion.  She didn’t want to shame her parents.  You got her the fake ID and the money.  You pleaded to go with her, but she decided she wanted to go alone.

Discuss the findings with your detectives. The information that Mary Donovan was pregnant and had gone to the clinic to have an abortion is an important turn in the investigation. Tell your detectives to return to the Women for Life organization and talk again to Rose Schwimmer as well as Celeste McClure, who was having tea with Rose at the time of the bombing. Remind them to find out what was in the box they had with them (mentioned by the Tea House owner).

This is the information you will provide:

Yes, Mary Donovan was a member of your organization, but you never met her personally.  You think she is a heroine. You believe she is the one who bombed the clinic.  She saved hundreds of babies from being killed.   You never told anybody to bomb any clinics, but you think that the end justifies the means.  You are sure that her death was an accident.  Your organization is a pacific group and would never hurt anyone intentionally.  Tell the police you are very busy now and if they don’t have any other questions they need to leave. If the police say that Mary was pregnant and was at the clinic to have an abortion, dismiss it as ridiculous! Also, if the police ask you about a box Celeste had with her, tell them you have idea what was in the box.

This is the information you will provide:

You are a botanist.  You work in the city´s community gardens.  You are 23 years old, and you are single. You are a devout catholic and you do not agree with abortion.  You are a member of the anti-abortion organization.  You did not know Mary Donovan.  After all, there are over 2,000 members at your organization.  You don’t know who bombed the clinic, but you wish you had. You are proud of what the person did.  This person prevented many unborn babies from being killed that day.  You are sorry Mary died.  You think it was an accident.  On the day of the bombing, you had tea with Rose Schwimmer, at a place called Lazy Jane´s.  She is the head of the organization and a wonderful person.  You really admire her.  You were both organizing some more protests and anti-abortion propaganda.  You are her right arm at the organization, and you work directly with Rose. You arrived around 10 o´clock and left around 11 o´clock. If they ask you about a box, inform them that you had leaflets in the box – for the protesters.

You find an empty bag of #121 Ammonium Nitrate in the trash at the community garden, the same fertilizer that was used to make the bomb.  This fertilizer is not common in New York because it is only used for tropical plants.  Before you go back to the district, you decide to get some more information about the bomb and talk to the forensics expert.  The Ammonium bag has some fingerprints which they compare to the ones found on the bomb. They match.  The fingerprints belong to Celeste McClure.

This is the information you will provide:

You are now faced with the possibility of going to jail for murder in the second degree.  You decide to tell what really happened.  You didn’t think anyone would get hurt.  That’s why you gave Rose the bomb.  She said that all the protesting and the marching weren’t stopping the abortions.  She was right.  Every day more babies were being murdered.  She said that if it was just the two of you, nobody would find out.  You met her for brunch at Lazy Jane’s that morning.  You brought the bomb in a box.  Rose said she would go out the back door.  She said she could go to the clinic and come back in ten minutes.  She told you to wait for five minutes and then call the clinic and warn them.  You never thought anybody would get hurt.

This is the information you will provide:

Nobody seems to really care about what happens to those unborn babies.  They have the right to live, and you have the duty to protect them and fight for them.  You never intended for the girl to get killed.  All the clinics received prior warnings, so that no one would get hurt.  You are really sorry about what happened to Mary Donovan, but she was going to kill a baby.  She was a criminal!