--- title: John Salvi's Abortion-Clinic Shootings and 'Wrongful Life' description: Dec. 30, 1994: John Salvi goes on a shooting rampage at two Massachusetts abortion clinics, killing two people and wounding five others canonical: https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-30T15:30:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:09:34.504Z article:section: History og:title: John Salvi's Abortion-Clinic Shootings and 'Wrongful Life' og:description: Dec. 30, 1994: John Salvi goes on a shooting rampage at two Massachusetts abortion clinics, killing two people and wounding five others og:url: https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba364566e8e5b479/6987775e524fc0de2adeba3a/salvi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John C. Salvi, 3rd (R) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Salvi's Abortion-Clinic Shootings and 'Wrongful Life' twitter:description: Dec. 30, 1994: John Salvi goes on a shooting rampage at two Massachusetts abortion clinics, killing two people and wounding five others twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba364566e8e5b479/6987775e524fc0de2adeba3a/salvi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How an Abortion-Clinic Shooting Led to a 'Wrongful Life' Lawsuit > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Dec 30, 2014 3:30 PM UTC  John C. Salvi, 3rd (R) speaks with his lawyer J. W. Carney during the Brookline District Court hearing where Salvi pleaded innocent to murder charges, in Brookline, Mass. John C. Salvi, 3rd (R) speaks with his lawyer J. W. Carney during the Brookline District Court hearing where Salvi pleaded innocent to murder charges, in Brookline, Mass. AFP/Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Dec 30, 2014 3:30 PM UTC At a time when antiabortion violence had become disconcertingly common, John Salvi put a grim face on the epidemic. On this day 20 years ago — Dec. 30, 1994 — the 22-year-old New Hampshire hairdresser [who’d plastered a picture of a fetus on his pickup truck](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,982287-2,00.html) walked into a Brookline, Mass., Planned Parenthood clinic and sprayed the waiting room with gunfire. Then he did it again, at another abortion clinic two miles away. A beauty school classmate described Salvi in the way we often hear people described after they commit mass violence: quiet, emotionless, off. But a week before the shootings, something triggered his rage, according to his boss at the Eccentric Beauty Salon, where he worked as a trainee: not a debate over reproductive rights, but [being told he wasn’t ready to cut a client’s hair](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,982287-2,00.html). The day after the Brookline shootings, Salvi was arrested when he opened fire at a clinic in Norfolk, Va. In total, he killed two people, wounded five and terrified abortion providers and their patients across the country. Among the terrified was a woman named Deborah Gaines, who had been awaiting her appointment in one of the Brookline clinics when Salvi started shooting. He killed the receptionist and shot a patient administrator, then chased Gaines and others who fled the building, firing as he followed. Gaines escaped with her life — but so did her unborn daughter. Gaines was so distraught after the shooting that she couldn’t bring herself to return for another appointment, [according to the Washington _Post_‘s DeNeen L. Brown](http://asne.org/article%5Fcontent.asp?edition=2§ion=15&article=90#A3), and she ultimately carried the baby to term. She later sued the clinic for between $100,000 and $500,000 to help raise the child in a controversial “wrongful life” case, which was settled out of court. Her attorney argued that the clinic should have had tighter security measures in place, given the increasing outbreaks of violence against abortion providers. Since they hadn’t, he said, Gaines had been denied her right to terminate her pregnancy. Meanwhile, some in the pro-life community argued that the birth of Gaines’ daughter was the silver lining to the tragedy. A handful even argued that Salvi, who [committed suicide in prison](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/30/us/killer-two-abortion-clinic-workers-found-dead-asphyxiation-prison-cell.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A10%22%7D) in 1996 while serving two consecutive life terms, could be considered a hero for ensuring that the child was born. But Gaines, a single mother who had three other children and was receiving public assistance when she made the abortion appointment, didn’t see it that way, according to Brown. “I know ignorant people out there are going to say if it weren’t for John Salvi, this baby wouldn’t be here,” [Gaines told the _Post_ reporter](http://asne.org/article%5Fcontent.asp?edition=2§ion=15&article=90#A3). “But this does not make him a hero.” **_Read TIME’s original coverage of the shootings, here in the archives_**: [An Armed Fanatic Raises the Stakes](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,982287-1,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/"},"headline":"How an Abortion-Clinic Shooting Led to a 'Wrongful Life' Lawsuit","datePublished":"2014-12-30T15:30:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:09:34.504Z","description":"Dec. 30, 1994: John Salvi goes on a shooting rampage at two Massachusetts abortion clinics, killing two people and wounding five others","url":"https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/","keywords":["abortion","Crime","Massachusetts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba364566e8e5b479/6987775e524fc0de2adeba3a/salvi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba364566e8e5b479/6987775e524fc0de2adeba3a/salvi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John C. 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