Posted on 08/29/2003 6:51:30 PM PDT by 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."
Did he kill them?
You're not saving any lives. You are actually going to lead to more killing by driving public opinion away from the pro-life direction in which it's moving.
Aye, there's the rub. Those who are pro-choice DON'T believe it is murder, particularly the earlier the pregnancy. Throw in the rabid folk who believe that since the pill rarely acts as an aborifacient and thus should be banned, or that an IUD in preventing implantation is "killing a baby," and the pro-choice argument makes a lot more sense.
Until such time as you can get a majority of people to believe that a 2-celled sperm/egg is the same as a baby, you're not going to get abortion banned.
Haha. That's great. Another good one that fits these wackos and the Roy Moore crowd just as much is:
Jesus is Coming!!
(Look busy.)
As a former confirmed Presbyterian, I have to admit my own surprise about there being any Presbyterians left who take their faith so seriously that they would kill or die for it.
As a Presbyterian, I thank God that the Presbyterians I know have a much better understanding of Christ and His grace than Paul Hill. And it shows in their lives.
None whatsoever. Sarcasm is just one of the services I offer.
Or saved.
Below courtesy of Monty Python.
Every Sperm is Sacred There are Jews in the world. There are Buddhists. There are Hindus and Mormons, and then There are those that follow Mohammed, But, I've never been one of them. I'm a Roman Catholic, And have been since before I was born, And the one thing they say about Catholics is They'll take you as soon as you're warm. You don't have to be a six-footer. You don't have to have a great brain. You don't have to have any clothes on. You're a Catholic the moment Dad came, Because... Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate. Children: Every sperm is sacred, Every sperm is great, If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate. Little Girl: Let the heathens spill theirs, On the dusty ground. God shall make them pay for Each sperm that can't be found. Children: Every sperm is wanted. Every sperm is good. Every sperm is needed In your neighbourhood. Mother: Hindu, Taoist, Mormon, Spill theirs just anywhere, But God loves those who treat their Semen with more care. Men on toilets: Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. Women: If a sperm is wasted, Children: God gets quite irate. Priest: Every sperm is sacred. Bride and Groom: Every sperm is good. Nannies: Every sperm is needed Babies: In your neighbourhood! Everyone: Every sperm is useful. Every sperm is fine. Undertakers: God needs everybody's. Male mourner: Mine! Female mourner: And mine! Corpse: And mine! Nuns: Let the Pagans spill theirs O'er mountain, hill, and plain. Statues: God shall strike them down for Each sperm that's spilt in vain. Everyone: Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is good. Every sperm is needed In your neighbourhood. Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite iraaaaate!
The heartbreaking truth is, objective truth is available for deciding this issue, but the sovereigns of America want to continue defending the indefensible while pleading that there is no objective solution to the notion of when individual lifetimes begin. I don't think that argument will stand before God and it is definitely leading our nation into cannibalism at an ever increasing pace. Your individual human lifetime began at conception, your unique conception. When scientists kill embryos to get their stem cells for treating another's infirmity, they are cannibalizing another individual human life. PERIOD. When an aborticutionist slaughters an alive organism ina human womb, that abortionist has killed an individual human being. PERIOD. I call abortionists 'serial killers' because that is precisely what they do for their income.
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