History of the Pro-Life Movement
Tibby Tibby Tibbodo
"Pro-Life" Movement
There is no mention whatsoever of abortion in the King James Bible.
Fundamentalist John Rice, whom Jerry Falwell calls his mentor, freely
admits in his book Abortion that only one Biblical text (Exodus
21:22-25) even refers to the death of an unborn child, that caused
when a pregnant mother is accidentally injured by two men fighting.
And yet, since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade, in
1973, abortion has become the "litmus test" and single-minded focus of
religious zealots in America, compelling some to lapse from simple
prayer and civil disobedience to brutal acts of terrorism and
assassination. On the fringe, indeed, a weird subculture has evolved,
where black is white and "pro-life" murders are described as Godly
acts, ordained by Jesus Christ.
The so-called "right-to-life" crusade is a rare point of agreement
between Protestant fundamentalists and leaders of the Catholic church,
for whom abortion is the sin to end all sins, worse even than the use
of condoms during intercourse. A National Opinion Research Center
poll from 1984 suggests that leaders of the Roman church are out of
step with their parishioners - 86% of whom approve abortion if the
mother's health is seriously threatened, while 76% approve it in the
case of rape and 34% regard abortion as legitimate in every case.
(This compares to overall ratings of 90%, 80% and 39% on the same
three questions for Americans at large.) Nonetheless, Boston's
Cardinal Bernard Law declared abortion "the critical issue of this
campaign" in 1984, and mobilized the church to force its teachings on
the nation as a whole. In 1982 and '84, Philadelphia's Cardinal Krol
and Virginia's Bishop Thomas Welsh involved their parishioners in
campaigns to defeat several pro-choice candidates, with Pennsylvania
congressman Robert Edgar marked as a special target. Bishop Welsh,
formerly from Allentown, had set a diocesan precedent by launching
voter-registration drives in Catholic churches. When the media
inquired about his interest in the ballot box, Welsh said, "Politics
is the way we do things."
But not the only way. There have been lawsuits, too, including a
bizarre case on Long Island, where relatives of a comatose woman
sought to improve her chances of survival by terminating her
pregnancy. Outraged "right-to-life" crusaders promptly barged into
the family's private business with a legal claim of "fetal
guardianship," forcing multiple court appearances and significantly
delaying the abortion - which, when finally performed, did lead to the
comatose woman's revival. Aside from driving an innocent family to
the brink of financial ruin, the zealots achieved nothing on Long
Island - except, of course, for reaping the publicity they crave.
Heartless harassment, in fact, is a central feature of the "pro-life"
campaign - and one which has resulted in some telling legal setbacks
for the zealot's cause. In Michigan, when pickets at a Livonia
women's health-care clinic advertised the names of female patients on
their placards, they were slapped with a lawsuit for invasion of
privacy and saw their defeat upheld on appeal. Dallas physician
Norman Tompkins and his wife won a judgment of $8.6 million in damages
against Operation Rescue, two other "pro-life" groups, and ten
individuals who spent a year harassing them with picket lines,
poison-pen letters, and telephone threats. A month later, in November
1995, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to let Operation Rescue off the
hook for another $99,000 in legal fees owed to a woman's health-care
clinic in Sacramento, California. In another Dallas lawsuit, filed
against Operation Rescue by Planned Parenthood, the Christian
crusaders saw their computers and office furniture confiscated to
satisfy a $1 million judgment. The stakes are even higher in Oregon,
where Planned Parenthood has filed a $200 million lawsuit against the
Portland-based American Coalition of Life Activists and Advocates,
alleging a wide pattern of harassment including "WANTED" posters,
seeking an injunction against such behavior by two groups and 14
individuals.
Lawsuits aside, abortion is the issue that has driven right-wing
zealots to abandon prayers and civil disobedience in favor of all-out
terrorism. Between 1977 and 1944, American clinics which perform
abortions reported at least 1,624 incidents of violence and
harassment, including three murders, two attempted murders, two
kidnappings, 35 burglaries, 144 bombing or arson attacks, 66 attempted
bombings or arsons, 91 assaults, 178 death threats, 192 stalking
incidents, 137 clinic invasions by armed or abusive individuals, and
568 incidents of vandalism. Arson and bombing attacks in 29 states
resulted in 51 arrests and 44 convictions, while 23 other cases were
closed under the statute of limitations. Nationwide, 52% of America's
clinics which perform abortions reported incidents ranging from death
threats to bombings and shootings in 1994. The pattern continued in
1995, with three California clinics burned in one week of February,
and a Jackson, Wyoming clinic damaged by arsonists in September.
Vociferous opponents of abortion swear that these attacks are
unconnected, individual attempts to halt the "modern holocaust," and
yet their rhetoric gives aid and comfort to the snipers, bombers,
arsonists and vandals who appear to think that Christian values - like
Mao Tse Tung's definition of political power - issue from the barrel
of a gun. Some prominent leaders of the "pro-life" movement include:
- Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue in 1987, who has
called upon his followers to obey a "higher law" than man's in wiping
out abortion clinics. Serving federal prison time for his activities
as this is written, Terry claims that he opposes violence, while
comparing the "pro-life" campaign to America's revolt against England
in 1776. "It meant that real men fired real bullets at other real men
who then shed real blood," he writes, with a notation that those on
the receiving end "died excruciating, real deaths." That's fine with
Terry, who believes that "Real confrontation and conflict, real
courage and sacrifice, real blood, sweat and tears are needed to
restore liberty." In a newspaper column written from prison, Terry
described a series of "pro-life" murders in Florida as "deplorable"
but "inevitable," adding: "God only knows what horrors await us if we
do not bring a swift end to the murder of innocent children."
- Rev. Michael Bray, pastor of the Reformation Lutheran Church
in Bowie, Maryland, who named one of his children after a convicted
clinic bomber doing time in Texas. As editor of the Capitol Area
Christian News, Bray raise money by selling bumper stickers that read
EXECUTE ABORTIONIST-MURDERERS. His book, A Time to Kill?, justifies
vigilante action against clinics which perform, and he has supported
convicted murderer Paul Hill's declaration of all-out war on
abortionists by saying, "I defend the position … as distinct from
advocating it." In fact, Bray is on record as saying that "anyone who
truly believes that the slaughter of children is what we have with
abortion could go out and shoot an abortionist." Pressed for an
answer as to whether he would kill a doctor on his own, Bray said, "I
can never say I never would, but I have no plans to. The only
legitimate reason not to do it is lack of the call." He would bomb
clinics, though, and served nearly four years in prison during the
1980s, on a conviction for conspiracy to bomb ten targets in Maryland,
Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. One issue of Bray's
newspaper carried the following item: "Grand Rapids, Mich. One week
following a stink bomb attack, the Planned Barrenhood office in this
city was sprayed with gunfire. About fifteen shots from a handgun
brought $20,000 in damages. Now $20,000 divided by fifteen equals
$1,333.33 per bullet. We commend the stewardship of resources."
- Rev. David Trosch, a Catholic priest from Mobile, Alabama,
suspended by the church for his extremist views in 1993, who declares
that murderer Paul Hill "deserves a medal of honor" for shooting a
physician and his bodyguard in Florida. He also lied to the press
about knowing Hill, denying an acquaintance when they had, in fact,
protested at clinics together. As founder of the ironically named
Life Enterprises Unlimited, Trosch finds the murder of abortionists
"not only justifiable, but morally obligatory." "If one hundred
doctors were killed," he declares, "it would put the abortion industry
out of business." Nor is his field of targets limited to doctors who
perform the surgery in question. Rather, Rev. Trosch predicts that
anyone who advocates abortion, including the U.S. President and his
staff, "will be sought out and terminated as vermin are terminated."
Of course, such statements should not be construed as part of a
conspiracy. "There's no plan," Trosch insists. "This is a very
strictly personal moral. Issue with everyone who has acknowledged that
abortion is murder." In 1993, around the time of his suspension from
the church, Trosch made national news when his cartoon of a doctor
with a gun at his head, captioned "JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE" was rejected
by the Mobile Press Register. A mobile abortionist was murdered by
persons unknown six months later, but detectives blamed a bungled
burglary. Defiant in his exile from Catholicism, Trosch proclaimed
that full-scale war might be required to rid the country of clinics
which perform abortions. "It doesn't end," he said. "Not until the
Constitution is revised to protect the unborn from the moment of
conception. Morally, it cannot end."
- Donald Spitz, a one-time field director for Operation Rescue
and leader of Pro-life Virginia, who gained national attention after
signing assassin Paul Hill's petition describing the murder of
abortionists as "justifiable homicide." Spitz was converted to
radical Christianity in the late 1960s, while strolling through San
Francisco's Tenderloin district, when he heard a voice "which I
perceived to be the voice of God." Spitz was one of the first
"pro-life" activists to voice support for double-murderer John Salvi,
declaring that if Salvi gunned down Massachusetts clinic workers "to
defend the lives of unborn babies, it's justifiable, it's moral, it
was a righteous act." Furthermore, in Spitz's view, Salvi's rampage
represents "an evolution of consciousness to the realization that
babies are dying … and writing your congressman is a waste of time."
To Spitz, any "pro-life" activists who denounce the killing of doctors
"are cowards who are condemning the babies." Despite such tough talk,
however, Spitz is prone to weasel in the crunch. "I have no intention
of doing any illegal activities," he told the press in 1995. "It's
never crossed my mind."
- William Cotter, spokesman for Operation Rescue in Boston and
another supporter of crazed gunman John Salvi. In Cotter's view, "the
blame [for Salvi's murder of two clinic employees], if it belongs
anywhere, belongs with those who deny the truth about abortion."
- Andrew Burnett, co-founder of the American Coalition of Life
Activists, organized for zealots willing to "at least consider more
aggressive actions than the tactics of civil disobedience." In January
1995, the ACLA staged a "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., where
activists passed out a "Deadly Dozen" list of targeted abortionists,
complete with addresses and phone numbers. Of course, Burnett denies
it was a hit list. "We're asking people to call, write, and pray for
these men," an ACLA field director told reporters, "that they would
turn away from killing unborn people." Not that Burnett opposes
killing doctors, mind you. As a signer of Paul Hill's "justifiable
homicide" petition, he has declared that, "Violence isn't always
wrong. It isn't always wrong to kill." Arrested more than 50 times
at various clinics, by 1995, Burnett owed an estimated $1 million in
damages to those he had harassed. In his spare time, he publishes a
magazine, Life Advocate, along with Rev. Bray's manifesto for murder,
A Time to Kill?
- Michael Dodd, a Kansas "pro-life" activist jailed in 1991, for
his leadership role in riotous protests at clinics in Wichita, and
another signer of Paul Hill's "justifiable homicide" petition.
Lacking the courage of his convictions, Dodd waffles on the nature of
his association with Hill. "He got my number from someone," Dodd told
reporters in 1994. "He was looking for strategically placed leaders
in the pro-life movement. I said, 'Hey, I'll make the sacrifice,'"
Dodd still denies any threatening intent, however. "I've been telling
people it's a statement of belief rather than an endorsement," he
proclaims. "I would never consider doing anything like that myself."
- Dave Leach, proprietor of a Des Moines music store and
publisher of a modest "pro-life" newsletter, whose signature also
found its way onto Paul Hill's petition. "Somehow I got on his list,"
Leach recalls, "and he asked if I would allow my name to be added. If
you'll look at how carefully crafted the sentences are, the logic is
irrefutable. As disturbing as the conclusion is, I could not justify
turning him down." All in the name of Christian brotherhood, of
course.
- Rev. Matthew Trewhella, a convicted arsonist, co-founder of
the Missionaries to the Preborn, and a national committee member of
the extremist U.S. Taxpayer's Party (USTP), described by spokesmen for
Planned Parenthood as part of a nationwide conspiracy to terrorize
clinics which perform abortions. In May 1994, Operation Rescue's
Randall Terry appeared at a USTP rally in Wisconsin, where video
cameras captured his proposal for a special training school to "raise
up militant, fierce, unmerciful men and women - particularly men."
Trewhella followed Terry to the pulpit with a suggestion that
individual Christian churches should form their own "militias" for
paramilitary action. "This Christmas," he declared, "I want you to buy
each of your children an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition." In
case anyone missed the point, another speaker at the meeting, radio
"personality" Jeffrey Baker, warned the audience that "patriotic
Christian men and women" must abandon the "policies of appeasement, as
opposed to standing up and saying abortionists should be put to
death." A month after that gathering, Trewhella and 20-odd members of
his "ministry" were observed participating in firearms training at the
rural farm of disciples Robert and Mary Briedis.
- Rachelle ("Shelley") Shannon, an Oregon "pro-life" activist
sentenced to ten years in prison for the August 1993 attempted murder
of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas. From jail, she wrote to
clinic gunman Michael Griffin, in a Florida prison, proclaiming that
"I know you did the right thing. It was not murder. You shot a
murderer. It was more like anti-murder." In October 1994, Shannon was
hit with 30 more felony counts, based on her role in a conspiracy to
burn women's heath-care clinics in California, Idaho, Nevada, and
Oregon. That case was settled with her guilty plea on six arson
counts, in June 1995.
- John Burt, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Florida, now
state director of Donald Treschman's Rescue America, who claims
presently to reject "the Klan's violence and racial bigotry." Still,
in Burt's view, "fundamentalist Christians and those people[the KKK]
are pretty close, scary close, fighting for God and country. Some day
we may all be in the trenches together in the fight against the
slaughter of unborn children." Asked what he would do to close clinics
which perform abortions in America, ex-Klansman Burt replies,
"Whatever it takes."
Indeed, the merger of "pro-life" forces with groups of the
paramilitary racist fringe is neither recent nor surprising. One of
the movement's favorite intimidation tactics, issuance of "WANTED"
posters in the name of prominent abortionists, began with North
Carolina's White Patriot Party (formerly the Confederate Knights of
the KKK) in 1985, when the following item was published in The
Confederate Leader:
"Jew abortion king, Bernard Nathanson, of New York City, was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging by a fair and unbiased
judge and jury of the White Patriots on May 19 at Siler City, North
Carolina. Nathanson was convicted of 55,000 counts of first-degree
murder, treason against the United States of America, and conspiracy
to commit genocide against the White Race."
Further west, the Aryan Nations' computerized "Liberty Net" advises
that "Periodic disruptions of these murder parlors can only show down
the real holocaust!!!!!" Aryan Nations members are urged to join the
"pro-life" movement with the advice that "It's part of our Holy War
for the pure Aryan Race." Operation Rescue's Randall Terry is quick
to allege that Jewish doctors perform a disproportionate number of
abortions in America, while Nazi Tom Metzger is more direct. "Almost
all abortion doctors are Jews," Metzger claims. "Abortion makes money
for Jews. Almost all abortion nurses are lesbians. Abortion gives
thrills to lesbians. Abortion in Orange County is promoted by the
corrupt Jewish organization called Planned Parenthood… Jews must be
punished for this holocaust and murder of white children along with
their perverted lesbian nurses." Members of the neo-Nazi skinhead
American Front have joined Operation Rescue and the Advocates for Life
Ministries in their clinic blockades, while Dixie's Christian Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan describe "Jewish-engineered legal abortion" as
"one of many tools used to destroy the white race." In Florida,
during August 1994, the militant Templar Knights of the KKK organized
a rally in support of clinic murderer Paul Hill.
The Florida scenario, in fact, is especially instructive as to how
"pro-life" zealots cooperate in acts of terrorism while denying any
part in a conspiracy. Don Treschman's Rescue America published its
first WANTED poster on Pensacola abortionist Dr. David Gunn in 1992,
including Gunn's photograph, home address, telephone number, and daily
itinerary. A short time later, John Burt recruited would-be activist
Michael Griffin into the Florida chapter of Rescue America and put him
to work as a volunteer at "Our Father's House," Burt's home for unwed
mothers. On Sunday, March 7, 1993, Burt and Griffin went to church
together, Griffin praying aloud "that [Dr. Gunn] would give his life
to Jesus Christ." Three days later, Griffin ambushed Dr. Gunn outside
the Pensacola Women's Medical Services clinic, pumping three bullets
into his back and killing him instantly. (The clinic had twice been
bombed, in 1984 and '86, with another foiled attempt in 1988. The
first bomb was accompanied by a note, calling it "a gift to Jesus.")
Griffin's attorneys tried for an insanity defense, over their client's
objections, claiming John Burt had driven Griffin mad with his
harangues and graphic photos of aborted fetuses. Unimpressed jurors
convicted Griffin of first-degree murder, but Burt remained
optimistic. "No babies will die for the next three or four weeks," he
told newsmen, in the wake of Dr. Gunn's murder. "It's something good
coming out of something bad."
In fact, Burt and company were already working overtime to target Dr.
Gunn's successor. One member of the Rescue America surveillance team
was Paul Hill, ex-minister of the Presbyterian Church in America and
the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, whose writing credits included a
pamphlet titled Should We Defend Born and Unborn Children with Force?
In the wake of Dr. Gunn's murder, Hill organized a group called
Defensive Action and joined Rev. Michael Bray in composing the
now-infamous "Defensive Action Declaration." That document, ultimately
signed by 30-odd "pro-life" crusaders nationwide, described Dr. Gunn's
slaying as "justifiable homicide" and further proclaimed: "We the
undersigned declare the justice of taking all godly action necessary
to defend innocent human life, including the use of force… We proclaim
that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child,
is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child."
Back in Pensacola, that meant stalking Dr. John Baynard Britton, who
was filling in for Dr. Gunn. As soon as Britton was identified, Rescue
America produced another WANTED poster, with the alleged aim or
"exposing him for the butcher that he is." In February 1994, Dr.
Britton found a note at his house, asking, "What would you do if you
have five minutes left to live?" Rev. David Trosch joined Paul Hill
in demonstrations at Dr. Britton's clinic (while denying that the two
of them had ever met), but such action was too mild for Hill. On July
29, 1994, this "man of God" was waiting with a shotgun when 69-year
old Dr. Britton left the Ladies Center clinic, accompanied by his wife
and a male bodyguard. Firing into their car, Hill murdered Dr. Britton
and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. James Barrett, age 74; 68-year-old
June Britton was cut by flying glass, but otherwise uninjured in the
shooting. At his trial, Paul Hill advanced an absurd defense of
justifiable homicide, but jurors saw through the ruse and recommended
the death penalty.
"Pro-life" activists, including some in Florida, also share
responsibility for the December 1994 rampage of John Salvi III, an
anti-abortion fanatic who went on "camping trips" with a right-wing
Florida militia group in 1992. On December 30, 1994, the would be
hairdresser and self-described devout Catholic raided two Brookline,
Massachusetts, clinics, shouting, "This is what you get! You should
pray the rosary!" That said, he opened fire with a semiautomatic
weapon, killing two receptionists and wounding five other victims
before he fled the area. Unsatisfied with his achievement in the Bay
State, Salvi then drove to Norfolk, Virginia, where he fired 23 shots
into a clinic often picketed by members of Don Spitz's Pro-Life
America faction. At Salvi's arrest on New Year's Eve, police found
him in possession of literature from both Spitz's group and Father
Paul Marx's Human Life International, a global organization formed in
1981 with Vatican approval. It came as no surprise, in the wake of
Salvi's arrest and indictment, when Don Spitz stepped up to praise him
as a Christian patriot. "Why," Spitz asked the press, "is the life of
a receptionist worth more than the lives of fifty innocent human
babies?" Other zealots camped out on the sidewalk fronting Salvi's
jail cell, bearing placards which described him as a "Prisoner of War"
and a "Protector of Life." One clergyman, equipped with a megaphone,
called out to Salvi, "Thank you for what you did in the name of
Jesus." At his trial, defense attorneys claimed that Salvi was insane,
obsessed with fears of an impending "economic holocaust" against
American Catholics, but Salvi's own Manson-like outbursts in court
convinced some observers that he was "obviously playing to the
camera." In March 1996, he was convicted and sentenced to life
without parole. Salvi died in prison in late 1996, an apparent
suicide.
There is no shortage of fanatics in America, where Cal Thomas,
one-time public relations director for Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority,
declared in 1982 that "if the abortion problem is not solved by legal
means, it will be necessary to take some form of radical action."
Thousands of zealots have heeded that call in the past 14 years,
apparently including Oklahoma "prophet" Wille Ray Lampley, jailed with
his wife and associate John Dare Baird in November 1995, on federal
charges of plotting to bomb women's health-care clinics, gay bars, and
the anti-Klan Southern Poverty Law Center. Another suspect in the
same case, still at large as this is written, allegedly told an August
1995 meeting of the Tri-States Militia, held in South Dakota, that
"God won't be mad at us if we drop four or five buildings. He will
probably reward us."
Excerpted from Holy Homicide: An Encyclopedia of Those Who Go With
Their God... And Kill! by Michael Newton
Published 1998 by Loompanics Unlimited, Port Townsend, Washington
ISBN 1-55950-164-2
Library of Congress Card Catalog 98-65683
More recent news that didn't get covered in the above article…
Murder of New York abortion doctor denounced as 'terrorism'
Reno vows to do 'whatever it takes' to track down killer
October 24, 1998
Web posted at: 9:03 p.m. EDT (0103 GMT)
AMHERST, New York (CNN) -- A doctor who performed abortions was shot
to death by a sniper in his western New York home Friday night in an
attack denounced as "terrorism" by the state's governor.
"It's beyond a tragedy. It's really an act of terrorism and, in my
mind, a cold-blooded assassination," Gov. George Pataki said of the
murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian.
In Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno issued a statement saying
federal law enforcement officials "will do whatever it takes to track
down and prosecute whoever is responsible for this murder."
While local police have not discussed a motive, Reno said the Justice
Department is "actively investigating the possibility that Dr. Slepian
was murdered because of his work providing abortion service."
"The federal government will continue its vigilant defense of
constitutionally protected rights to provide and to obtain
reproductive health service," Reno said.
Shooter remains at large
Slepian, 51, who has been the target of anti-abortion protesters since
the 1980s, was killed by a single bullet fired through his kitchen
window at about 10 p.m. EDT, as he and his family returned from
synagogue to their home in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo. His wife and
four sons were not injured.
Slepian's killer fired from behind a backyard fence. A helicopter
search for the suspect was fruitless, and the shooter remained at
large Saturday.
The slaying came just days after authorities warned abortion providers
in the area to be on guard for possible violence. Since 1994, there
have been four other sniper attacks -- one in Rochester and three
across the border in Canada -- that all took place in early autumn.
None of the previous attacks killed anyone. All occurred within weeks
of November 11, Veterans Day.
"There's some type of connection on the date. We don't know what it
is," said Inspector David Bowen of the Hamilton-Wentworth police
department in Ontario.
Doctors in area were given warning
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials have said they believe the
same people were responsible for all of the earlier attacks. On
Tuesday, Canadian and American authorities issued safety tips to
abortion providers throughout the region.
"They were told to stay away from windows that weren't covered with
curtains or blinds and to be aware of their surroundings and anything
suspicious at their clinics," said Frank Olesko, Amherst's assistant
police chief.
On Saturday, security was stepped up at Buffalo GYN Women's Services,
the clinic where Slepian worked and the only clinic providing
abortions in Buffalo.
Slepian "was one of the few physicians with the integrity to stand up
for what he believed in," said clinic spokeswoman Susan Ward. "He was
a strong supporter of women's right to choose. He had some
fearfulness, I'm sure, but he was determined to continue the work he
was doing and was not going to let extremists interfere."
Abortion rights forces call for more protection
Outraged by Slepian's death, abortion rights advocates called on law
enforcement officials to step up their protection of doctors and
clinics who provide abortions to women.
"We are very upset. We are seeing extremists using bullets and bombs
to get their way in our democracy," said Eleanor Smeal, president of
the Feminist Majority Foundation. "We believe the authorities must
consider this political terrorism and act as if it is."
"No matter where we stand on the issue of abortion, all Americans must
stand together in condemning this tragic and brutal act," President
Clinton, an abortion-rights supporter, said in a statement from the
White House.
"For anyone to take it upon himself to be judge, jury and executioner
is nothing but sheer evil," said Karen Swallow Prior, who is running
for lieutenant governor of New York on the ticket of the anti-abortion
Right-to-Life Party.
The Rev. Flip Benham, national director of Operation Rescue, another
anti-abortion group, said his organization did not support Slepian's
killing, even though the doctor "murdered countless thousands of
innocent children."
"He has been a killer for a long time .... (but) I am sad to learn of
his death," Benham said.
Doctor targeted by Operation Rescue in 1992
Slepian has been the target of anti-abortion protesters since the
1980s. In 1988, as his family opened gifts during the Jewish holiday
of Hanukkah, protesters in front of his home taunted him, calling him
a "murderer." An altercation ensued in which one of the protesters
claimed Slepian attacked him with a baseball bat.
A misdemeanor assault charge against Slepian was settled in March
1989. The doctor paid about $400 for repairs to a van and for part of
the man's medical bills.
In 1992, Slepian closed his Amherst office during a protest by
Operation Rescue in the Buffalo area. At the time, he said he closed
the office to avoid inconveniencing other doctors in his building, but
he vowed to continue providing abortions at his Buffalo clinic.
"He said, 'They're not going to scare me. They're not going to
threaten me,'" said Harvey Rogers, Slepian's lawyer.
As police looked for clues Saturday, neighbors lamented the loss of a
friendly guy who always built elaborate Halloween displays.
"This is sad, to kill someone to prove a point,' said neighbor Suby
Shastry. "He has a family, too. Killing someone doesn't solve a
problem."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Crickmail
>From: Tibby Tibby Tibbodo tibb...@rogers.com
>Date: 2/21/03 12:39 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <ubrc5v4nutnigna8d...@4ax.com>
Who is this ad hominem garbage supposed to be aimed at?
JOn (I ripped that line off from Mark Ervin; I've always wanted to use it!)
:))))