THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180534
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WICHITA, KAN. LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
An activist who last year signed a declaration advocating killing doctors who perform abortions is conducting seminars in Wisconsin on how to raise militias that bring together those who oppose abortion, gun control and taxes.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Wednesday released a video on Matthew Trewhella, pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee and co-founder of the militant anti-abortion group Missionaries to the Pre-born. In the video, Trewhella is shown addressing a crowd at the U.S. Taxpayers Party's Wisconsin state convention.
The convention, held May 27 and 28, was filmed by Planned Parenthood employees who attended the event incognito.
``Our government wants to disarm us,'' Trewhella says in the video. ``What should we do? We should do what thousands of people across this nation are doing; we should be forming militias.''
Trewhella, 34, is one of about three dozen anti-abortion activists who are the focus of a federal investigation into whether a conspiracy exists to shut down abortion clinics across the country.
The investigation began shortly after the July 29 killing of physician John Britton and abortion-clinic escort James Barrett outside the Pensacola Ladies Center in Florida. It focuses on a list of activists who signed a declaration advocating the use of lethal force to stop abortions.
A copy of the video was turned over to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno on July 30, said Planned Parenthood director Pamela Maraldo. That same day federal marshals were deployed to guard clinics in about a dozen cities across the country.
Marshals arrived at Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk on Monday. They were requested here because two Hampton Roads anti-abortion activists were among those who signed the lethal-force declaration.
On the video, Trewhella tells those in the audience what they can do to fight governmental control.
``Churches can form militia days and teach their men how to fight,'' he said.
Parents should quit teaching their children games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Trewhella says: ``We need to start blindfolding them, sitting them down on the living room floor and saying, `Now, put the weapon together.' ''
He draws applause when he says he recently told his congregation, ``This Christmas, I want you to do the most loving thing. I want you to buy your children an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition.''
KEYWORDS: ABORTION by CNB