Pro-life Terrorism

[gyeonghwa]

Link

Authorities say the man charged with setting fire to a Florida Panhandle abortion clinic long targeted by violence told investigators he was motivated by his hatred for abortion.
In an affidavit released late Thursday, prosecutors said 41-year-old Bobby Joe Rogers told investigators that he made a fire bomb and threw it at the Pensacola clinic early Sunday.

Rogers said he was pushed to action after he saw a young woman enter the clinic for an abortion while he was standing outside the clinic with a group of protesters recently.

The dailykos takes pro-lifers to the task:

It's almost hard to get worked up about stories like this, when they're so damned common. Bombs thrown, buildings burned, car tires slashed, patients stalked, doctors assassinated ... You can look at the statistics. You can read about the thousands of acts of violence and tens of thousands of acts of "non-violent" terrorism against health care providers and their staff and their patients and their landlords and their landlords' children. It's all part of the "pro-life" movement to save the fetuses. And hey, if some property, or some people, have to get hurt, well, that's a fair price to pay.

[Caitshidhe]

No discussion of this topic would be complete without pointing out that the perpetrators of 'pro-life' violence and seemingly all the most vocally and virulently opposed (or at least, the most public AND most politically powerful) to abortion tend to overwhelmingly be people upon whom an abortion cannot be performed.

Far be it from me to say someone can't have a vote or a voice in whatever issues they attach themselves to, it seems a little bit sideways to me to allow people to make laws regulating and enforce prohibition against something they are by definition incapable of directly experiencing the repercussions to. A man will have--and is by all means allowed to have--whatever feelings he likes regarding his wife or girlfriend's (or anyone else he's close to) abortion, but ultimately it's the woman who goes under the knife and bears the brunt of the consequences.

[deadpandoubter]

Weird...I was just reminiscing over my uncle's stupidity on this very topic. Got into it with him during our Christmas visit...couldn't help it, he just outright said that girls under 18 shouldn't be allowed to have Plan B (or as he called it, "that damn abortion pill") and that no woman should ever have an abortion unless the pregnancy's a product of rape or incest.

Which reminds me-- WHY is incest always referred to separately from rape? If your dad rapes you, that's rape, right? So why call it incest?

[ThunderWulf]

It's almost hard to get worked up about stories like this, when they're so damned common. Bombs thrown, buildings burned, car tires slashed, patients stalked, doctors assassinated ... You can look at the statistics. You can read about the thousands of acts of violence and tens of thousands of acts of "non-violent" terrorism against health care providers and their staff and their patients and their landlords and their landlords' children. It's all part of the "pro-life" movement to save the fetuses. And hey, if some property, or some people, have to get hurt, well, that's a fair price to pay.

[Caitshidhe]

Which reminds me-- WHY is incest always referred to separately from rape? If your dad rapes you, that's rape, right? So why call it incest?

You know, I never noticed this before but since you said this and I spared it a few minutes of thought, it does seem to be the case. I can't think why, when the two are meant in the same context and definition of non-consensual sex, they're mentioned separately. I mean, not all rape is incest and not all incest is rape, but when rape happens to be incestuous, why make a distinction at all? The only thing I can think of is that perhaps they go hand-in-hand because when legally persecuted in most (or maybe just certain) jurisdictions, they fall under the same laws or statutes. Other than that and both being inherently sexually squicky, I can't think of another reason.

[D Laurier]

There are some folks who need to have an abortion...
... and some who need to do so retroactively.

Bobby Joe Rogers' mother comes to mind.

[Smurfette Principle]

Why do I have a feeling that the reason they distinguish between rape and incest is that later on they can restrict it to just incest because flipper babies?

[Caitshidhe]

I'll be uncharacteristically optimistic here and hope it's just done for the purpose of making one act punishable under two or more different laws, thus allowing for a harsher sentence.

Please let that be the case...

[TheL]

Weird...I was just reminiscing over my uncle's stupidity on this very topic. Got into it with him during our Christmas visit...couldn't help it, he just outright said that girls under 18 shouldn't be allowed to have Plan B (or as he called it, "that damn abortion pill") and that no woman should ever have an abortion unless the pregnancy's a product of rape or incest.

Which reminds me-- WHY is incest always referred to separately from rape? If your dad rapes you, that's rape, right? So why call it incest?

Because the fact that it is also incestuous adds another level of psychological trauma, on top of the rape-trauma.  You're supposed to be able to trust your family members, even when you can't trust anyone else.  Rape is about the most serious breach of trust there is.

[Oriet]

I think there's more to it than just that. Many conservative Christians seem to view their children as their property. As such they don't see how a parent could rape their child, as it's "their own flesh and blood". Even if they would realise it's still rape when confronted on it they still think of it as an entirely different kettle of fish. It's sickening, but I have encountered people who feel that way.

[Cataclysm]

Oh, you're using that definition of incest. I thought it was taboo since the offspring had a chance of getting too many recessive genes, although I don't know exactly how harmful this is, and how harmful it is compared to other ways, such as an old woman having children.

[Lithp]

No discussion of this topic would be complete without pointing out that the perpetrators of 'pro-life' violence and seemingly all the most vocally and virulently opposed (or at least, the most public AND most politically powerful) to abortion tend to overwhelmingly be people upon whom an abortion cannot be performed.

I disagree with this, there are a number of anti-abortion females. As far as specific examples, Sarah Palin & Michelle Bachman come to mind. And there was that website Vene posted way back when, "The Only Moral Abortion Is My Abortion." Essentially, sensitivity to abortion rights appears to be independent of your potential to abort.

[Osama bin Bambi]

Klan Parenthood, one of the most virulent anti-choice sites on the web, actually lists the abortion clinics in every state, calling them "death camps." http://www.klannedparenthood.com/History_of_Abortion_Statistics/

[deadpandoubter]

Weird...I was just reminiscing over my uncle's stupidity on this very topic. Got into it with him during our Christmas visit...couldn't help it, he just outright said that girls under 18 shouldn't be allowed to have Plan B (or as he called it, "that damn abortion pill") and that no woman should ever have an abortion unless the pregnancy's a product of rape or incest.

Which reminds me-- WHY is incest always referred to separately from rape? If your dad rapes you, that's rape, right? So why call it incest?

Because the fact that it is also incestuous adds another level of psychological trauma, on top of the rape-trauma.  You're supposed to be able to trust your family members, even when you can't trust anyone else.  Rape is about the most serious breach of trust there is.

That makes some sense, I suppose; emotionally, I don't have much experience in "family can and should be trusted over anyone else", but I do know that I should've been able to trust my family and feel secure with them.

...but it still seems like a strange thing to say, though. Rape is rape is rape; it being incestuous rape would be one more horrible thing, but it's still rape, and if you're going to say "it's only okay if it was rape or incest" why are you even thinking about people raping their relatives as opposed to it being a family friend, a stranger, etc.? In other words, if you're going to be THAT specific, why not say "rape, incestuous rape, date rape, acquaintance rape, stranger rape, etc."?

[Lithp]

That actually might be a good idea, considering the phrase is frequently involved in questioning how a proposed abortion legislation is supposed to work.