Antiabortion-Rights Movement, Churches Must 'Loudly Denounce' Violence Against Abortion Providers, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 29 Oct 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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"The murder of [Kansas abortion provider] George Tiller was appalling on its own," but now extremist supporters of Scott Roeder, "the man accused of shooting the physician point-blank in his church," are holding a fundraiser to support his legal defense, according to a Kansas City Star editorial.

According to the editorial, the fundraiser is a "malevolent plan" from the antiabortion-rights movement's "extremist fringe." The fundraiser features an online auction of such items as an autographed copy of "A Time To Kill," which is "a memoir of a man who served time for firebombing abortion clinics," and a manual from the "Army of God" that advises people on how to close family planning clinics, including by bombing.

The editorial says that abortion-rights supporters "are asking eBay to bar the event from its network" and that some of the proposed items up for auction "appear to run afoul of [eBay's] guidelines, which eBay should be vigilant about enforcing." EBay "declines listings that are judged to promote or glorify 'violence, hate, racial or religious intolerance' or items that promote illegal activity," according to its proprietors.

The editorial concludes, "This is the time for ethical opponents of abortion, including churches, to loudly denounce violence as a means of achieving an end" (Kansas City Star, 10/26).

EBay Will Not Allow Auction

On Tuesday, eBay announced that it will block the planned auction, the AP/Boston Globe reports. In a statement, the company said, "Based on details we know about the anticipated listings, we believe these would violate our policy regarding offensive material," adding, "We do not allow items that encourage, promote or instruct others to engage in illegal activity and will not be a platform for those who promote violence toward others" (Sudekum Fisher, AP/Boston Globe, 10/27).

'Rachel Maddow Show' Reports on Auction

MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Monday included an interview with Lee Thompson, the lawyer for Tiller's estate, about the auction (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 10/26). The program's Web site also features a segment from an Iowa NBC affiliate reporting on the auction (Benson, KSHB, 10/26).

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