THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 4, 1995 TAG: 9501040408
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Pro-choice groups said Tuesday that last week's assault on three abortion clinics in Boston and Norfolk may represent an alarming shift in the tactics of extremists who believe that violence is a justifiable way to stop abortion.
In the past, say the groups, extremists targeted only doctors. But when John C. Salvi III allegedly opened fire on two Boston clinics, the shooting was indiscriminate, killing two women and wounding five other people.
``Paul Hill went out there specifically to kill Dr. Britton,'' said Gina Shaw of the National Abortion Federation.
``Same thing with Michael Griffin and Dr. Gunn. But this guy just opened fire, and he did not care who was in the way. That follows with the kind of language we've been hearing lately: `We're going to get all of you. The staff, the physicians, the congresspeople, all of you.' ''
Hill, 40, was recently sentenced to death for the July murders of Dr. John B. Britton and his clinic escort, James Barrett, outside a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic. Griffin is serving a life sentence for the March 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn, also outside a Pensacola clinic.
Shaw and others pointed to a letter mailed to lawmakers and other public officials last summer by Alabama anti-abortion extremist David C. Trosch. The letter, which Trosch says he mailed to every member of Congress, every governor and every Supreme Court justice, outlined a strategy of terrorism against all those associated with abortion rights and warned that they would be ``sought out and terminated as vermin are terminated.''
``We will see the beginning of massive killing of abortionists and their staffs,'' Trosch wrote.
``In time, the killing . . . will begin to spill over into the killing of the police and the military who attempt to protect them. Thereafter, it will begin to affect those who direct them to protect abortion providers. This will include, but not be limited to, city councilmen, mayors, governors, representatives, the president and his staff, judges, and others seen in any way as fostering protection of mass murderers.''
Several members of Congress gave copies of the letter to pro-choice groups, Shaw said.
Trosch, a 59-year-old Catholic priest, signed a 1993 petition advocating violence to stop abortion. The petition, which was also signed by local activists David Crane and Donald Spitz, was circulated by Hill, a former minister and friend of Trosch's.
Trosch has been removed from his parish in Mobile, Ala., because of his anti-abortion activities.
``He's very visible and very vocal,'' said Katherine Spillar of the Feminist Majority, a Washington-based pro-choice group that monitors violence against clinics. ``He preaches the murder strategy, and he's very vocal about it. He is active in the Mobile area, and he's a close friend of Paul Hill's.''
Spillar said she knew of no connection between Trosch and Salvi.
Reached Tuesday night at his home in Mobile, Trosch said he has never met Salvi but would like to visit him in jail.
``I feel a bond with Salvi in the sense that he has had the courage to directly defend unborn human beings,'' Trosch said.
``The same as I have a bond with Michael Griffin, whom I never have spoken to, and Paul Hill, whom I did know, and Shelley Shannon (convicted of the 1993 shooting of a Kansas doctor), whom I only lately have been corresponding with.''
Trosch said he has no problems with Salvi's alleged acts. The women who were killed in Boston, he said, were ``direct accessories. They were accomplices to murder by abortion.''
Like Salvi, who was thrown out of a New Hampshire Catholic church on Christmas Eve after shouting during a service that the church wasn't doing enough to stop abortion, Trosch said he blames Catholic bishops for allowing abortion to remain legal.
``The teachings are clear,'' he said. ``But the bishops are not following through.''
Trosch said his letter of last summer was meant to warn Congress of the impending violence.
``Certainly I'd rather stop abortion without the additional violence,'' he said. ``But it was not my belief that they would pay any attention to it. People just don't pay attention until violence becomes absolutely necessary.'' MEMO: Staff writer Joe Jackson contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: CLINIC SECURITY CLINIC SHOOTINGS AFTERMATH ANTI-ABORTION
VIOLENCE DAVID TROSCH by CNB