The Times Online - "'Pro-lifer' chooses death as abortion doc gunned down in church" by Ruth Gledhill

Yesterday, George Tiller, a doctor against whom a vitriolic media campaign has been waged for performing late abortions, was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas. It is clear the suspect had no formal connections with any pro-life groups, which have condemned the murder. Alpha Mummy at Times Online has a passionate post about this terrible murder, for which a suspect, a man with a history of mental illness, is now being held.

Howze writes: 'The zealots are out again in America. You know, the ones who are so focused on the sanctity of life, who so cherish the human condition that they urge harassment and even violence against doctors who perform legal medical procedures.

'George Tiller, a doctor who performed late-term abortions in the US, was shot in his church as he handed out church bulletins. Tiller has been the focus of rage and name-calling by anti-abortion activists and pundits. How is it that abortion in the UK is not as polarised and hate-filled? My sense of the issue here is that the UK government and pressure groups are more interested in stemming the growth of unplanned pregnancies.

'In the US, television show host Bill O'Reilly has been mounting a vitriolic campaign against Tiller since 2005 (calling him "Tiller the Killer"), comparing the doctor's work with the politics of Nazi German and Stalin's Soviet Union.'

Violence in houses of worship can never be justified, according to Kevin 'Seamus' Hasson, president and founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. 'The authorities seem to think they have this particular crime well in hand. Nevertheless, to repeat once again: We stand ready to defend houses of worship of any tradition-Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or any other-from violence, regardless of the cause that violence seeks to serve. The way to approach disputes over serious moral questions such as abortion is through reasoned public debate open to all.'

Rod Dreher mounts a cogent defence of the pro-life position, pointing out that all but an extremist element wants nothing to do with the tactics of violence. He writes: 'Maybe I'm naive, but pro-life conservatives have been on the record for a long time opposing violent anti-abortion extremists. Who on the respectable pro-life right defends or excuses these extremists? I'm not asking rhetorically; I really want to know. They have no defenders on the mainstream, not even on the far edge of the mainstream. I may be wrong, but I don't hear it, and every pro-lifer I know wants nothing to do with the zealots.'

Could this kind of thing happen here? What do you think? My own view is that it could, because all it takes is one lunatic zealot with access to a gun.

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