“With powerful backing from the Catholic Church and Christian evangelicals, abortion opponents dress themselves up in the moral garb of saints and lambaste the other side as murderers, creating a poisonous atmosphere in which terrorism against abortion providers is not only tolerated but in some circles esteemed as some sort of holy act.”
Washington Post columnist Judy Mann, in the October 28, 1998 issue of the paper. Described in Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. 1998 Report on Anti-Catholicism
One way that pro-choice individuals try to “shut up” pro-lifers is to accuse them of supporting violence. Even though violence is very rare in the pro-life movement and those who have engaged in violent behavior have been roundly condemned by every pro-life group in the country, some pro-choice activists blame pro-lifers for every act of vandalism or violence that is perpetuated by lone fanatics. If all animal rights activists were condemned because of the terrorist actions of a few, if civil rights activists were told to go away because of the actions of the Black Panthers, if Vietnam War pacifists were told that they were all to blame for they handful of bombings perpetuated by extremists in their movement, perhaps it would make sense for the pro-life movement to be as demonized as it is.
And let’s not forget the real violence here:
