Background
Lyons was born in 1956 in Montgomery, Alabama.
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Emily Lyons
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University of Alabama.
Career
She was a prominent figure during Rudolph"s trial and sentencing, and has also become an activist for abortion rights. She received a degree in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a focus on reproductive health, after which she worked in various nursing fields and locations, and taught nursing at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. At the time of the bombing, she was director of nursing at the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham, having originally answered an advertisement for a part-time nurse
Bombing
The morning of January 29, 1998, Lyons was approaching the clinic, when Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer and security guard, bent to inspect an unfamiliar potted plant in the front yard.
The flowerpot contained a remote-controlled nail bomb, which exploded and killed Sanderson immediately. Lyons was severely injured: one eye was destroyed and the other damaged, her hand was mangled, a hole was torn in her abdomen that necessitated the removal of 10 inches of her intestines, and most of the flesh was blown off her legs and hand.
She was badly burned, her leg was shattered, and shrapnel and nails are permanently buried in her body. Lyons spent eight weeks in the hospital, and has had over twenty surgeries.
She currently uses a wheelchair and has poor hearing and eyesight.
She does not remember the blast. When Rudolph pled guilty and received life in prison, Lyons was "extremely disappointed" that he would not be put to death, but noted that other lives could be saved because Rudolph had revealed where he had hidden explosives, as part of his plea deal. Lyons has said that the bombing "flipped a switch in mind," changing her from a quiet person into an outspoken activist.
In 1998, she testified before Congress in support of applying the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Acting (RICO) to anti-abortion terrorists, and has spoken in other venues in support of the right to an abortion.
In 2005, Lyons appeared in a controversial advertisement opposing the nomination to the Supreme Court of John G. Roberts, who seven years before the bombing had filed a brief opposing the prosecution of abortion clinic blockaders under the federal Ku Klux Klan Acting. Those who advocated the use of the Acting argued that the obstruction of access to abortion clinics violated the civil rights of women, and thus fell within the Acting"s purview.
Roberts, then Deputy Solicitor General, had argued that the protesters were only trespassing and should be prosecuted under state law rather than federal law. The ad contained images of the bombing, and claimed that Roberts supported Rudolph and excused anti-abortion violence.
Lyons spoke at National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Pro-Choice America"s press conference opposing the Roberts nomination.
She also spoke in opposition to the nomination of Samuel Alito. Lyons was the subject of a year-long documentary project by the American Broadcasting Company News program Nightline, filmed from the day of the blast throughout her recovery during her first year. Lyons"s experiences also formed part of the 2006 documentary Lake of Fire, whose title comes from threats and hate mail Lyons received telling her that she would go to hell.
Becoming Emily, a dance piece, is also based on her story.
