file: pub/resources/text/ProLife.News: pln-0412.txt --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 4, No. 12 August, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is intended to provide articles and news information to those interested in Pro-Life issues. All submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve . Please feel free to reprint and distribute this newsletter in its entirety. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) The New World: UNITED STATES *Another Pensacola Abortionist Murdered* A man identified as Paul Hill used a shotgun to killed two people and wound another Friday morning, 29 July at the Ladies Center for Abortion in Pensacola Florida. Paul Hill was taken into custody immediately after the shooting. He has been charged with two counts of murder in the death of Dr. John Bayard Britton, 69, of Fernandina Beach, and his escort retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, 74, of Pensacola. Barrett's wife, June, 68, a retired nurse, was wounded in the arm. They were attacked as they drove up to the Ladies Center, where Britton performed abortions. At the time of the murders, Hill was was free on bail after his June 17 arrest for shouting at people going into the clinic: "Mommy, mommy, don't let them kill me!" Hill, a former minister, is known as the director of the anti-abortion group Defense America of Pensacola, was well known for advocating use of force against abortion clinics and doctors. Hill has said that killing doctors who perform abortions is ``justifiable homicide.'' Pensacola is the same city where abortionist Dr. David Gunn was killed last year. His killer was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Britton had replaced Dr. Gunn at the abortuary. The clinics vowed to remain open. Eleanor Smeal, founder of the Feminist Majority and former president of the National Organization for Women, called for federal protection for clinics. "The extremists have embarked on a murder strategy," Smeal said. "We want federal marshals to come in to protect the [abortion] clinics. There is no reason [abortion] doctors, nurses, escorts and patients have got to risk their lives [to kill unborn children]." The next day, Pro-abortion sources also report that the US Justice department offered protection for any abortion clinics requesting it. Two days after the shootings, U.S. marshals were seen guarding Pensacola's two abortion clinics. The federal officers were not allowed to give their names or any information about their presence outside the clinics. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno wouldn't say how many abortion clinics in the country had been given protection by federal marshals. That same day, an abortion clinic in Falls Church, Virginia was firebombed. Among other places where marshals were stationed were Melbourne, Fla., where a clinic was the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision allowing limits on anti-abortion picketing; Fargo, N.D., the only place in that state where abortions are performed; and Wichita, Kan., the site of massive protests in 1991 and the wounding of a doctor last year. Pro-abortion groups have reported that federal marshals protecting clinics in Houston (Texas), Falls Church (Virginia), and Wichita (Kansas). Operation Rescue activist Randall Terry, demonstrating in Washington, D.C., in connection with the Whitewater hearings, responded by condemning the clinic murders but said federal marshals should not be brought in. "They [Federal Marshals] should put them in the gang areas and go after the drug runners," Terry said. "To call out federal marshals is an overreaction and it only exacerbates an already tense situation." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) The New World: UNITED STATES *The National Right to Life Committee Response* For immediate release: For more information: Friday, July 29, 1994 Michele Arocha Allen (202)626-8825 National Right to Life Committee Statement Concerning Abortion Clinic Violence The following statement is from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nation's largest pro-life organization, with 50 state affiliates and 3,000 local chapters: Today's [Friday, July 29th, 1994] shootings, allegedly committed by Paul Hill, are deplorable and reprehensible. Killing is not pro-life. No person who is truly pro-life could kill another human being in the name of protecting unborn children. In fact, past behavior and statements made by Mr. Hill have led many people to believe that he is mentally unstable. Unfortunately, over the past year, many in the media - include _USA Today_, _The New York Times_, and the "NBC Nightly News" -- have given Mr. Hill a national spotlight, providing him undeserved attention and likely increasing delusions of self-importance. The media has also created the illusion that he represents a constituency within the pro-life movement. Mr. Hill does *not* represent the millions of pro-life Americans who believe that the best way to express opposition to abortion and restore protection for unborn children is through legal, peaceful means. NRLC strongly opposes any use of violence as a means of stopping the violence that has killed more than 31 million unborn children since 1973. The National Right to Life Committee has always been involved in peaceful, legal activities to protect human lives threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. We have always, and continue to, oppose any form of violence to fight the violence of abortion. NRLC has a policy of forbidding any form of violence or any illegal activity by its staff, directors, officers, affiliated state organizations and chapters. NRLC's sole purpose is to protect human life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) News Briefs: Canada: *Human Life International Loses Charity Status* Ottawa-based pro-life group Human Life International of Canada has recently been stripped of its status as a charitable organization, after losing a year-long battle with Revenue Canada. Revenue Canada rules permit no more than 10 per cent of any registered charity's efforts to be devoted to what it calls "advocacy or partisan activity". Following their audit of Human Life International in May, 1992, Revenue Canada sent Human Life International a letter in July, 1993, telling them to either change their pro-life advocacy or lose their charitable status. According to Human Life International executive director Theresa Bell, Revenue Canada also said that the group could keep its status as a charity if it agreed to promote different points of view in the abortion debate, a suggestion the pro-life association found "absurd." Human Life International is fighting Revenue Canada's actions, and has since filed a complaint in the Federal Court of Appeal. Revenue Canada charity director Ron Davis denies that the judgment is part of a government program against advocacy groups. - Julian Smith Europe: *Clinton Sends Abortionists to Troops* Evidently, the Clinton Administration is set to redeploy abortion doctors to Europe. Since the 1993 executive order allowing elective abortion at U.S. military hospitals overseas, no abortions have been performed because military doctors have refused to perform them. Normally, Army health care providers who do not wish to assist in elective abortions are not required to do so, and evidently, this 'loophole' has been used a bit too much for the Clinton Administration's liking. To overcome this resistance, the Pentagon is now sending two abortionists to an Army hospital in Germany. But [the] Pentagon stated in a memo dated May 9 that when "it is not feasible to provide pre-paid abortion services...the military shall develop other means to assure access." One wonders how many other elective "medical" procedures the government would ship special practitioners around the world to guarantee their provision? This administration will stop at nothing to guarantee the mass destruction of human life. It would seem from their implementation of such policies that the goal is to make sure that if there is anywhere in the world where babies are not being slaughtered in the womb, that situation is changed. - Jonathan Bloedow ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Organizations Not Permitted Conscience Clauses *Attention American Medical Personnel* The Residency Review Committee (RRC) for OB/GYN is proposing changes to hospital accreditation requirements that would force hospitals to provide "experience with induced abortion as part of residency training." There is a conscience protection clause for individuals, but _not for institutions_. The RRC is a private entity whose members are appointed by three medical groups: > o American Board of OB/GYN > 2915 Vine St. Dallas, TX 75204 (214) 871-1619. > o AMA Council on Medical Education > 515 N. State St., Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60610 (312) 464-5000. > o American College of OB/GYN > 409-12th St., SW, Washington, DC 20024 (202) 638-5577. Please contact these organizations to express your opposition, especially if you have a professional affiliation with any of them. If your doctor or OB/GYN is supportive, please have them contact these organizations as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Reader Responses: The Pensacola Murders: "Yes, we think he was a murderer, but this is not justice. To murder him was wrong and deplorable." My wife Sophia said that actions like this show an underlying lack of faith in God's ability to bring men to justice, because in the end nobody gets away with anything. All men will be judged before God. In the here and now, we must act as men who know we too will have to stand before God. We need the Martin Luther King, Jr. approach, not the Malcolm X approach for our civil rights cause. - Craig Hansen -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Time to Respond: We pro-lifers who oppose these murders should write their newspapers, TV stations, and other media outlets showing that these violent radicals do not represent the pro-life movement and that they do not support militant and unlawful tactics within the right-to-life cause. I'd really like to see us help push such an effort. I'm really upset the way these hypocrites put such a bad light on our already tarnished image. I really think if we can blitz the media this coming week with letters to the editor, we might be able to reduce the impact somewhat. And I think it may be up to us, because groups like ACL and NRLC never get any media attention when they speak against this sort of thing. And from what I know, no pro-life group has ever put forth a letter campaign to react against this. So, we need to do something. - Steve Ertelt -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- What These Killings Could Mean: Don't these two men [Hill and Griffin] realize that by killing these abortionists, they become murderers themselves and are no better than the ones killed? Could they not stop to think that every killing they do sets back the prolife cause many years (and many more young lives)? Are we now going to need to make our own security groups at protests to make sure one who claims to be one of our own does not lower himself to the standards of those we stand against? The murders at the abortion mills are no less tragic and no less a crime against humanity than the killing inside. Please don't call people like the killers prolife around me. Rather, they are so anti-life that they will perform post-natal abortions. Murder is murder, no matter which side of the abortion mill door one stands. - An ashamed Floridian, Lara Ray ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Announcements *HOT ISSUE ALERT* Write Now to Stop Mandatory Abortion Coverage If you want tax dollars to pay for abortions, state laws that regulate abortions to be voided, and abortion clinics to spring up in every region of America, then disregard this letter. Otherwise your voice must be heard on Capitol Hill *now* -- before Congress recesses for the summer. Versions of the health care bill coming to the House and Senate floors in the next several weeks mandate the following: (1) All health insurers must provide, and every employer and working American must purchase, all of the health benefits package defined by this Act. The package includes *all* abortions performed by medical professionals. Medical professionals are defined by the Act as both physicians and non-physicians. (2) The services defined by this Act must be made available and accessible within each region of each state, requiring a large increase in the number of abortion clinics. (3) Federal subsidies will provide tax-funded abortions to lower-income Americans. (4) States cannot place any restrictions on services provided by the Act, i.e. [sic]: possible nullification of parental consent requirements, waiting periods, etc. There are *no* conscience exemption available to health insurers, employers or individuals who have sincere religious or moral objections to paying for abortion coverage. The only religious conscience exemption is granted to doctors and hospitals, allowing them not to perform abortions if they are religiously or morally opposed to it. However, there must always be at least one abortion provider in each local health plan. The Act has now gone through four Congressional Committees: Senate Labor and Human Resources; House Ways and Means; House Education and Labor; and Senate Finance. *All* four committees voted to keep abortion in the required benefits package. The Senate Finance Committee was the only committee to adopt limited abortion coverage amendments: > 1) a health plan can refuse to provide abortions; > 2) an individual or employer can refuse to purchase a plan which > includes abortion; > 3) the mandate requiring that abortion be made locally available > and accessible was removed; > 4) State abortion regulations would be protected from nullification > by the Act. *However*, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will bring to the Senate floor a "substitute" bill that contains the full-blown abortion mandates. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt will introduce a "substitute" in the House with should contain only cosmetic limitations. These bills supersede the four Committee bills. THEREFORE we strongly encourage you to call, write or FAX your U. S. Senators and Representative immediately, letting them know that you do not want abortion coverage provided in the benefits package *at all*. Time is of the essence: Congress plans to vote on a health care bill in the next several weeks. It is crucial that your representatives hear your voice for life TODAY. Call (202) 224-3121 to find out the names and phone numbers of your U. S. Senators and Representative. [Alternatively, a list of these is available from the ProLife news Archives. Contact the editor for more information. Ed.] Sincerely, Steven T. McFarland Director, Center for Law and Religious Freedom ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote of the Month: "Our first obligation is to recognize, publicly, that each human being's life is sacred from fertilization onward and is created in the image and likeness of God. Thus the death of anyone diminishes each one of us. American Life League grieves over this morning's events in Pensacola, and I pray for all those who have been affected by this tragic loss of life. We are called to convert abortionists and their accomplices, not kill them." - Mrs. Judy Brown, President of American Life League responding to the murder of Abortionist Dr. John Bayard. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1 - Many thanks to Sean Smith. | | 3 - European notes taken from _Washington Watch_, July 1,1994, published by| | the Family Research Council, 700 13th St., NW, Suite 500, Washington, | | DC 20005. Phone 202-393-2100. Many thanks to reader Tony Cowley. | | 4 - From the June, 1994 _Action Bulletin_ of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the | | Professional Women's Network. PO Box 112514 Pittsburgh, PA 15241. | | 6 - The Christian Legal Society, Center for Law and Religious Freedom can | | be contacted at 4208 Evergreen Lane, Suite 222, Annandale, VA 22003, | | Phone: (703) 642-1070. Many thanks to reader Ed Gehringer. | |QOM - Many thanks to Sean Smith | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.