THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Paul Hill today sits in a Florida jail, charged with taking a shotgun last Friday and emptying it into Dr. John B. Britton and another man who was escorting the doctor into the Ladies Center abortion clinic in Pensacola, Fla., killing both and wounding the escort's wife. If he is found guilty, Hill deserves the most severe punishment.
But in the mad rush to stigmatize the entire pro-life movement as being beyond the political pale, a few facts should be reviewed.
First, it's not as though no one had taken note of Hill's extreme views before Friday. A former minister, he was defrocked by his own church because of his advocacy of violence against abortion doctors and clinics. Operation Rescue, whose tactics are not supported by most pro-lifers, refused to let him serve as a spokesman for the organization, though it is not clear if he was asked to leave the organization.
Nor is it clear that law enforcement was negligent or lacking. Pensacola police said Tuesday that they offered Dr. Britton a police escort, but that he had turned it down as unnecessary. As the U.S. Marines discovered in Lebanon, it can be almost impossible to stop a dedicated fanatic who sets out on what amounts to a suicide mission.
Pro-choice advocates have nevertheless charged that people such as Hill and the blockade tactics of Operation Rescue have created a ``climate'' that encourages violence against abortion clinics. The Justice Department is now investigating whether there is a nationwide ``conspiracy'' against abortion clinics, and it has taken the almost unprecedented step of deploying U.S. marshals as security guards for private facilities around the United States.
Exhortations to violent behavior are deplorable, but certain extreme elements of the pro-life movement scarcely have a monopoly on high-octane rhetoric or threats of violence. Extremist animal-rights protesters have broken into laboratories and threatened medical researchers; militant homosexual groups have disrupted church services; some environmental groups have ``spiked'' trees with the apparent intention of injuring loggers.
The rhetoric of the anti-Vietnam War movement could also be violent in the extreme, with terms like ``murderers'' and ``pigs'' being tossed around freely. It was some radical left anti-war groups that first insisted violence in the name of ``peace'' was justified.
Violence is an unacceptable political tool in the United States and is almost always counterproductive. Those who proclaim morally superior ends cannot profit by using despicable means. At the same time, the actions of a tiny fringe element should not be used as an excuse to ``crack down'' in a way that could threaten the First Amendment rights of an entire political movement. by CNB