Abortion figure Paul Hill faces execution

The Kansas City Star ^ | Thu, Aug. 28, 2003 | DAVID CRARY - AP

[yonif]

Barring the unlikely possibility of a stay, a Presbyterian minister who gunned down an abortion doctor will next week become the first American executed for anti-abortion violence.

To a loyal core of admirers, Paul Hill is a martyr-to-be whose actions were justified by the Bible. To others, on both sides of the abortion debate, he is a zealot undeserving of respect or pity.

"In a very significant way, it's a sad day," said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "It's sad that people like Paul Hill would murder in the name of life."

Hill, a 49-year-old father of three, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday in Florida for the 1994 shotgun slayings of Dr. John Britton and his volunteer escort, retired Air Force officer James Barrett, outside the Pensacola, Fla., clinic where Britton performed abortions. Hill wants to die and is not pursuing an appeal.

Abortion-rights groups worry that Hill's execution will trigger a backlash by those who share his steadfast belief that violence in defense of unborn children is justified. Several Florida officials connected to the case received threatening letters last week, accompanied by rifle bullets.

"We need to take these threats seriously," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.

Though Hill still has supporters -- they have maintained a Web site in his honor, with snapshots and ballads -- most major anti-abortion groups have repudiated him.

"We and other pro-life organizations are against violence, period," said Erik Whittington of the American Life League. "What he did is definitely not anything that anyone I know of supports."

Tom Glessner, director of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, said Hill deserves the death penalty.

"He's not a pro-lifer, as far as I'm concerned," Glessner said. "Osama bin Laden acted out of conviction, too."

However, the Rev. Michael Bray of Bowie, Md., the author of a book that justifies the killing of abortion doctors, said Hill "will be recognized after the fact as the honorable man that he is."

Organizations opposed to capital punishment have urged Gov. Jeb Bush to spare Hill.

"The death penalty gives this individual the opportunity for martyrdom," said Diana Rust-Tierney, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project. "Far from deterring the kind of violence we deplore, it may be an encouragement."

The governor is unswayed: "No threats, no free advice from others will be change my obligation to do what I think is right."

The murders of Britton and Barrett came during a bloody surge of anti-abortion violence a decade ago.

David Gunn, an abortion doctor, was killed in Pensacola in 1993 by Michael Griffin, who is serving a life sentence, and two receptionists were killed at Boston-area abortion clinics in 1994 by John Salvi, who committed suicide in prison two years later.

Earlier this year, James Kopp was convicted of killing an Buffalo, N.Y., abortion doctor in 1998, while fugitive Eric Rudolph was captured and charged with a 1998 bombing that killed an off-duty police officer at an Alabama abortion clinic.

As arson, bombings and vandalism at abortion clinics spread during the 1980s and early '90s, abortion-rights groups complained that law enforcement agencies did not always take such incidents seriously.

"There really has been a change in their attitude," Saporta said. "The law enforcement response has been critical to the de-escalation of violence against abortion providers."

However, Feldt said most abortion clinics report continuing harassment and intimidation.

Some of Hill's backers liken him to John Brown, the abolitionist hanged for his crimes. One militant anti-abortion group, Missionaries to the Unborn, likens Hill to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor from Germany who was executed after joining the plot to assassinate Hitler.

"The Nazi Holocaust and the American murder of 45 million unborn children did not conquer the spirit of these men," wrote Joe Pavone. "Bonhoeffer and Hill laid down their lives gladly for what they believed."

[Polycarp]

There is a simple test anyone can apply to the morality of an act. When someone who calls themself a Christian tells me that a woman should have the right to choose, that God is Merciful and wouldn't force a woman to carry a child she did not want, or that was a result of rape or incest, implying the act is somehow NOT immoral, I ask them a simple question:

"Can YOU picture Jesus Christ dressed in surgical garb, at an abortion clinic, ripping a baby piece by piece from a woman's womb?!? Is that Merciful? Would Jesus Christ EVER commit such a crime?"

The answer is obvious to us and to pro-abortion men and women.

Likewise, can anyone imagine Jesus Christ dressed in fatigues and black face, hiding in bushes behind an abortionist's home, clutching a high powered rifle, waiting for an opportunity to take the life of that abortionist? Can anyone imagine HIM killing an abortionist who would then die unrepentant in his sin, damned eternally to Hell?

No. The answer is obvious. EVERY man, no matter how vile his crime, must have an opportunity to repent and be saved. Jesus would never hide in the bushes with a rifle to take the life of a sinner.

Perfect justice exists ONLY in Heaven. Due to Original Sin, we will NEVER have Perfect Justice here on earth. An anti-abortion activist that resorts to violence is not acting in the way of the Lord. Period.

On the other hand, a large percentage of abortuary clinic bombings and arsons happen not at the hands of protesters but by the hands of clinic owners themselves, their petty rivals, and even boyfriends whose child was killed in the womb by the abortionist.

Likewise, many of the murders of abortionists were a result not of "anti-abortion violence" but of the consequences of the debased immoral lives abortionists live. Here's a few examples from a Wanderer article of December 10, 1998:

Among some of the more grisly-though not exactly atypical-deaths of prominent abortionists are these few from the files of the Pro-Life Action League in Chicago, provided to The Wanderer for this report:


*San Diego abortion clinic director, militant radical feminist, and lesbian Deborah Fleming, 35, shot herself in the head on May 26th, 1990 in a motel room in Yuma, Ariz. She was, apparently, distraught over her inability to conceive a child.

*Abortionist Lynn D. Weller of Kansas City was shot to death in his home in September, 1973 by two masked gunmen, hired by rival abortionist Dr. William Carlos, who was angry that Weller was having an affair with his ex-wife.

*Notorious Chicago abortion mill owner Kenneth Yellen literally died in the gutter after his gangland-style execution in November, 1979: five shots in the head as he walked to work. Police discovered that Yellen-who also was involved in the gambling, prostitution, and pornography- businesses -was more than $1 million in debt.

*George Patterson, who operated abortion mills in Alabama and Florida, was gunned down outside a porn theater in downtown Mobile in august, 1993, where he was a regular customer.

We must remember that there is Perfect Justice in Heaven for both baby killers and baby killer killers.

[Slings and Arrows]

Murder is murder, and Mr. Hill is a murderer. I hope that Mr. Hill puts his soul in order and repents his evil before his execution.

Reading this article, I'm reminded how the David Gunn murder made me aware of media bias. I was visiting my family in Chicago at the time, and the Chicago Tribune reported how 1100 anti-abortion groups had comdemned the murder, and one group of wackjobs in Virginia had applauded it. I then returned to Albany, NY, in time to read the same story in the Albany paper - with the condemnations omitted and the wackjobs emphasized.

It's amazing how your eyes open up when you realize you've been lied to - within a year I went from on-the-fence on abortion to pro-life.

[Da Mav]

"It’s time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send ’em all to their maker and he’ll settle ’em down"

Amen, another wacko off the streets permanently. I'm pleased to see that most Pro-Life groups do not support this kind of 'right to kill for my beliefs' nonsense which would be more appropriate to Bin Laden.

[bethelgrad]

"It's sad that people like Paul Hill would murder in the name of life."

Or that abortionists would murder in the name of choice.

Ok, I think what Hill did was wrong and he should pay the price for it, as it appears he will. However, was Bonheoffer wrong for plotting to kill Hitler? I find that I contradict myself. I am pro-life all the way, but could not kill to protect the unborn. But I would have killed if it meant Jews at a Nazi prison camp would be freed. Most of you feel the same I think--how does one work this out?

[swilhelm73]

Ok, I think what Hill did was wrong and he should pay the price for it, as it appears he will. However, was Bonheoffer wrong for plotting to kill Hitler?

Killing Hitler would have ended the Holocaust and would have most likely ended the war, and its butcher's bill, that much sooner.

Killing some random abortionist isn't going to end abortion in America, and is in fact likely to make abortion that much harder to ban.

Therefore judging the two situations the most important difference becomes obvious. What Bonhoeffer (well, more Stauffenberg and co really) was attempting to do would have saved millions of lives, what Hill and the like have done has most likely sentenced more innocents to death.

[Sir Charles]

"It's sad that people like Paul Hill would murder in the name of life."

Yes, this is reserved for those in Planned Parenthood. What a hypocrite!

I don't know the facts of this ten year old drama, but I do not believe the death penalty is warranted, not when I see so many who truly deserve it and avoid it. This man could be secured so he would never again be a threat to society, and, unless he's a nut, probably would not be such a threat anyway.

It will all be sorted out one day, but it does not seem just for this life to be taken for a crime which does not compare in most respects to the murders we allow every day in this sick society where abortion is as common and as ordinary as a headache.

[Texas_Dawg]

Ok, I think what Hill did was wrong and he should pay the price for it, as it appears he will. However, was Bonheoffer wrong for plotting to kill Hitler? I find that I contradict myself. I am pro-life all the way, but could not kill to protect the unborn. But I would have killed if it meant Jews at a Nazi prison camp would be freed. Most of you feel the same I think--how does one work this out?

Different situations. Bonhoeffer and the conspirators had tried every possible thing to stop Hitler and he was only getting stronger. So they tried what they did after much deliberation. The abortion situation is different because when people were attacking doctors, blowing up clinics, blockading clinics, etc., in the early 1990s, the poll numbers were very much against the pro-life crowd. Since taking a different approach (being forced to by federal restrictions, ironically), the pro-life crowd is increasingly changing minds and hearts on this. With time, and with our President appointing judges, the face of the judiciary on this issue will change. Killing doctors saves no children. Killing Hitler would have because it could have toppled the 3rd Reich.

[Texas_Dawg]

I don't know the facts of this ten year old drama, but I do not believe the death penalty is warranted, not when I see so many who truly deserve it and avoid it. This man could be secured so he would never again be a threat to society, and, unless he's a nut, probably would not be such a threat anyway.

The death penalty here is every bit as just as any other premeditated murder.

[2harddrive]

The resolution to the conflict is simple: You don't REALLY believe that unborn babies are human, fully deserving of all our rights and protections. You feel that killing them is wrong, yes.... but.....it's kind of like putting a family pet to sleep......

If babies are human, then either what Hill did is right, or anyone killing a Nazi to save Jews was wrong. Q.E.D.

[Imal]

Don't think of it as an "execution".

Think of it as "post-natal abortion".

[swilhelm73]

If babies are human, then either what Hill did is right, or anyone killing a Nazi to save Jews was wrong. Q.E.D.

Hill killed his target and exactly how many babies did his actions save?

[Mini-14]

Paul Hill is the John Brown of 2003.

[Revolting cat!]

O.J. walks, SLA and Weathermen heroes walk (with Ph.D's earned in prison and university jobs after that,) Manson Family lives comfortably inside sunny California prisons (earning their higher degrees as well.) What a country! We can discuss it all until the cows come home, but the country shows where its priorities lie no matter what we say here. Moider is moider? Rilly?

[Ronin]

I am a bit confused, here to be honest.

Historically, I believe, the use of deadly force has been condoned in the prevention of murder.

If abortion is murder, and I think it is, than what degree of force is justified in the prevention of those murders?

We can't have it both ways. Not logically anyhow. Either abortion is murder and needs to be prevented, or it's not and we have no business calling it baby-killing.

[Slings and Arrows]

Others on this thread have answered this question much better than I could have.

[CARepubGal]

Well said.

[Centurion2000]

Likewise, can anyone imagine Jesus Christ dressed in fatigues and black face, hiding in bushes behind an abortionist's home, clutching a high powered rifle, waiting for an opportunity to take the life of that abortionist?

The first time Jesus came to Earth he came as the lamb. The next time Jesus returns it will be as the Lion.

The Lion executing the murderers of babies ? Absoultely. After all Jesus beat and ran the moneylenders out of the temples.

[Imal]

Ah yes, the famed "fighting Jesus". Reminds me of an amusing tee shirt I once saw:

Jesus Is Coming
And Boy Is He Pissed!

[Centurion2000]

So other than trying to be sarcastic .. what is your point ? There are a lot of Christians that believe in using deadly force to save lives.