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Dentists don't feel it. Neither do podiatrists.

But doctors and staff who give out birth control, offer exams for sexually transmitted diseases and perform abortions certainly feel it.

Threat looms over reproductive health clinics to the point that evacuation plans include scenarios for firebombings and video surveillance complements security guards.

Three incidents in Albuquerque this month - two arsons at abortion clinics and vandalism at a family planning center - make these precautionary measures justified, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico spokeswoman Martha Edmands said.

A fire broke out on the roof at Planned Parenthood's abortion clinic at 701 San Mateo Blvd. N.E. about 4 a.m. Christmas. Hours earlier, the windows at the Planned Parenthood birth control and reproductive health clinic at 3625 Central Ave. N.E. were broken out.

The recent incidents haven't led to increased security precautions, Edmands said, because security is always tight.

"These things in the night, there is not a lot we can do about it," Edmands said. "If something happened in the day, we have the protocols."

Both of the Planned Parenthood offices were able to open for clients Wednesday morning, Edmands said.

But the Abortion Acceptance of Albuquerque office, set on fire the night of Dec. 6, wasn't so lucky.

Physician Curtis Boyd's business there has yet to resume as federal investigators wait for tests of gas cans thrown through an exam room window. Two people wearing hooded shirts were seen fleeing the flaming area in a van.

The fire at Boyd's office was the first violence at an abortion clinic in Albuquerque in eight years.

In 1999, two Planned Parenthood clinics were set on fire in Albuquerque. The man found guilty of one of the arsons was sent to prison.

A National Abortion Federation spokeswoman, who wished to remain unnamed to protect her security, said the man, Ricky Lee McDonald, is expected out of federal prison in February.

Edmands said Planned Parenthood nurses, doctors and staff are always on alert.

Staff members are told that callers could be anti-abortion activists trying to trick staff into giving unethical advice and tape recording that response.

"They are very good at getting staff to say things that sound misleading. (Callers will say something) like, `I'm a 13-year-old, and I'm pregnant by my 21-year-old boyfriend,' " Edmands said. "We never cover up for a child rapist, so they (staff) are trained to deal with them (fake callers)."

They are also trained to watch for suspicious people posing as clients.

One staff member, who did not want her name used because she is not authorized to speak to reporters, said her new employee training included not heeding phoned-in bomb threats intended to evacuate the building.

"When you come to work for us, we do tell people there are things you should know," Edmands said. "People have strong feelings about us."

Until this month, those feelings have been expressed in protests and not violence, said Betty Eicheneser, state president of the Right to Life Committee of New Mexico.

"Our mission is to educate. We never, ever condone violent behavior. That is not pro-life activity," Eicheneser said.

She said she was frustrated when she learned of the Dec. 6 arson and even more upset at the thought the same people might be continuing the attacks.

"That is not going to change anyone's mind," Eicheneser said. "In fact, it does more harm to our goal, because for those in the middle, perhaps it is going to swing them in the opposite direction, and anyone who is on that side, all it does is affirm their beliefs."

The Rev. Stephen Imbarrato, in charge of the Catholic Project Defending Life, which is not associated with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, said the arsons and vandalism make his mission more difficult.

"I was very dismayed, because, unfortunately, pro-lifers get blamed for these things. It makes our lives more difficult, and it detracts from our credibility," he said.

But he and Eicheneser said the vandalism and arsons should be placed in perspective of what they call the violence of abortion.

"You have anti-abortion fanatics that get involved in these types of things," Imbarrato said. "But the real violence is perpetrated by the abortionists."

It's an argument without end, and as long as it stays verbal, nothing much changes for the clinic workers.

"We don't do a lot of things differently than a lot of other people do," Edmands said. "Perhaps we are just a little more vigilant every day."