Violence Will Backfire

by John Whitehead                                                                                        Vol. X, No. 8, Sep/Oct 1997

On January 22, the 24th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, thousands of pro-lifers descended on Washington, D.C., to protest the continuing genocide of America's unborn. Meanwhile, the nation wondered where an abortion clinic-bomb might detonate next. Just days before the annual "March For Life," bombs exploded at abortion clinics in Atlanta and Tulsa. Fortunately, no one was killed. But those behind these acts of terror, if they are anti-abortion activists, must learn that violent acts backfire.

Those within the anti-abortion movement who commit terrorist acts have embraced bad theology and desperate strategy of the deadliest kind. Bad theology teaches that God wants to protect the lives of innocent babies, no matter whose blood is shed in the process. It imparts a false [notion] that, in the grand scheme of things, the end justifies the means. The truth is, God values all human life.

Desperate strategy suggests that bombs and violence will reduce the number of abortions by scaring abortionists out of business and prompting women to think twice about the procedure. Violent tactics, however, will fail every time because violence outside abortion clinics only accelerates the demand for more private methods. With each act of terrorism, new and—according to some research—dangerous drugs such as RU-486 become an attractive alternative for women determined to abort their babies.

The government must share part of the blame for the violence that occurs outside—and inside—abortion clinics. By expanding the right of privacy to include a woman's right to abort, the federal government and, in particular, the Supreme Court, has opened the floodgates to violence on unborn children. And by passing the FACE legislation, Congress has poured fuel on the fires of injustice burning within the pro-life community and muzzled the free speech rights of a group of citizens.

Suppressing everyone's fundamental rights in reaction to the unlawful acts of a few never works. The FACE legislation—which severely limited the right to picket at abortion clinics—increased the frustration of pro-lifers. Combined with bad theology and desperate strategy, this frustration has led some to forget that bombing abortion clinics is definitely not pro-life.

Hope remains for those who are truly pro-life—for those who mourn the loss of an unborn baby murdered inside a clinic as well as the abortionist murdered outside. The pathway to becoming truly pro-life begins with an educated nation. The recent drop in the national abortion rate indicates that education about the value of life may be working.

However adamant the feminist movement and the pro-choice press have been in their 24-year campaign to convince us of a woman's "right to choose," some Americans have also been getting the other side of the message: abortion stops a beating heart.

The challenge for authentic pro-lifers is to rally alongside women who face unwanted pregnancies and give them the emotional, physical and financial support they need to choose an alternative to abortion. As pro-lifers reach out—instead of lash out—the violent bloodshed can end, and life will flourish.

[John Rutherford is president of The Rutherford Institute. This article reprinted with permission from the April 1997 issue of Action published by Rutherford, P.O. Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA 22906; 804-978-3888.]