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June 22nd, 2009, 2:54 pm · 2 Comments · posted by fsherman
Abortion opponents are reporting death threats against them in the wake of the Tiller assassination.
Even allowing for the fact some of the threats aren’t what I’d count as threats (”I hope someone kills you all.”), death threats aren’t an acceptable tactic. The fact that right-to-lifers don’t seem to be bothered by similar verbal tactics on their side (much as they may complain about people who decide to act on them) is no excuse.
That being said, I take issue with this statement by Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition: “I don’t want to go into detail, but I know for a fact that numerous pro-life leaders travel with bulletproof vests.”
As the blogger Digby points out, there has never been a reported assassination attempt on an anti-abortion activist. Threats on abortion doctors have been backed up by bullets, bombs and actions.
So as far as I can see, the only martyrs are on the pro-choice side.
Posters and Passersby,
Intolerance is a beautiful thing. What if people had been tolerant of slavery, segregation, child-labor, and even taxation without representation? Where would we be today?
Killing someone based on their development is unjust isn’t? Would it be ok for someone to kill someone cause they didn’t think they were worth anything?
Randall Terry has never advocated violence merely, warned that it is an outcome of robbing people of their God-given rights. Other people who have made statements about Terry have been sued and forced to pay monies for their slander by a court decision. Randall Terry advocates the truth and condemns the violence of such as Tiller’s murderer.
On the other hand while you and others call Pro-lifers “terrorists,” it is you that advocates baby’s heads be crushed and their bodies ripped apart and then pulled from their mother’s womb. It’s funny that only people who can talk are considered to have rights and are victims. Babies don’t have rights and there are 50 million+ that are the victims of murder. You abort a flight not a human.
Intolerance is not a beautiful thing.
Fighting against injustice doesn’t mean you can’t “tolerate” it–the fight against segregation and child labor, for instance, was managed by nonviolent protest.
And the law observes a clear line between born and pre-born on every other point–you get to drink 21 years after birth, not conception, you get to drive 16 years (in some states) after birth, you get to vote 18 years after birth–are you planning to base all human rights on the moment of conception?
Randall Terry’s Web site salutes right to life terrorists as heroes. Arguing he has “never advocated violence” seems to be a rather fine line to draw. Arguing that Tiller deserved to die but of course, violence is bad … yeah, right.
Oh, and the vast majority of abortions are in the first trimester, when babies do not have heads crushed and bodies ripped apart. And many of the late term abortions Tiller did involve serious risks to the mother’s health. So since you believe intolerance is OK, I presume if somene took action against right-to-lifers to make sure my wife could have a life-saving abortion, you’d be OK with it?
Or maybe just duplicate right-to-life nonviolent tactics: If you call up some abortion doctor’s kid and tell him “Daddy is a murderer” we call up your daughter and say “If you get pregnant and it made you sick, your daddy would want you to die rather than get better.”
Personally I think those tactics are beyond the pale, but since you don’t, I guess you’d think that was an acceptable response. If not, why not?
And I notice you also ignore women’s rights. If Terry’s really concerned about preventing abortion, how about we work on better access to birth control, which would reduce at least some abortions. But that would imply consideration for women as something other than homemakers and vessels for men’s seed.