Poll | 06/15/2009 11:00 pm
Should violence against medical doctors who perform abortions be viewed and prosecuted as domestic terrorism?
The recent murder of Dr. George Tiller has revived the conversation about anti-abortion violence. Click here to read more about the topic on PBS.org/Now.























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Absolutely. Laws are laws. One deranged person is never exempt from obeying the law and s/he can certainly never speak for all of us anyway.
Domestic terrorist? No. Murderer yes.
I know, KIT, I ruminated on that one for a while. In the end I decided to go the way of how the US Government defines "domestic terrorist."
US Code: Title 18.2331 defines it as:
(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that— (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended— (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.Andrea….thanks for the clarification. I am not aware of any manifesto that was written concerning the Tiller murder, or of any note left that referred to either (i),(ii)or (iii). There may have been, I do not know.
I do agree that (c) is relevant. It seemed to me that Tiller was targeted as an individual, that his own personal actions were the trigger.
Were the other two late term abortionist attacked by this same assailant?
Hi, Kelly,
I don’t know who attacked the other late-term abortionists but it does not appear that Scott Roeder was the attacker. Roeder had a history of aberrant thinking, though [read the brief Time article linked below].
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1902189,00.html
Kelly,
I believe there is evidence on all counts of domestic terrorism.
the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
The way I see it:
B(i): Roeder intended his actions to be a deterrant to other abortionists.
B(ii): Roeder MAY have been trying to make a statement to the USG.
B(iii): I’m not sure what the intent of this section was when they built this federal code, but I’m guessing that Roeder’s actions were his attempt to affect how the government handles such a crime. [I could be way off base here.]
Chris, please cite where any "evengelicals" have supported the killing of Tiller, or do not agree with you that "Thou shall not murder"?
In every report that I have seen, the murder of Tiller was called a "murder" by the religious right.
When the murder of one puts others in fear, it is unarguably an act of terrorism.
As long as there is such a national movement against such legal procedures; as long as there are people who demonize, stalk, harass, intimidate, and threaten those who perform them; such a murder is an act of terrorism.