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The BIRCH BARK BBS / 414-242-5070
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THE NEW AMERICAN -- October 3, 1994
Copyright 1994 -- American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated
P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI  54913  414-749-3784

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ARTICLE: American Opinion
TITLE: "Criminalizing Pro-Life Activism"
AUTHOR: William Norman Grigg

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The bullets that took the lives of Florida abortionist John Bayard Britton 
and clinic "escort" John Barrett on July 29th did nothing to save the lives 
of unborn children. Within hours of the shooting, the Pensacola Ladies Center 
for Abortion, the clinic at which Britton had plied his lethal trade, had 
found a replacement for the murdered abortionist and the slaughter quickly 
resumed. Britton's death provided the abortion culture with a new martyr and 
handed the Clinton Administration a new rationale to restrict the liberties 
of principled pro-life activists.

The 1993 shooting of abortionist David Gunn, which took place at the same 
Pensacola clinic where Britton and Barrett later were killed, arguably 
provided the momentum to ensure passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinic 
Entrances Act (FACE), a measure that makes a federal felony out of some 
forms of peaceful pro-life protest. Paul Hill, who stands accused of shooting 
Britton and Barrett, will be the first person to stand trial for violating 
FACE, and it is a strong possibility that the July 29th shooting will inspire 
legislation imposing even greater restrictions on pro-life activism.

Furthermore, there are disturbing indications that the tactics field-tested 
by federal law enforcement agencies against the Branch Davidians in Waco may 
soon be deployed against "extremists" in the pro-life movement. For years, 
the abortion industry and its allies have urged the federal government to 
crack down on what has been described as a "nationwide conspiracy" to commit 
acts of violence and vandalism against abortion clinics. Since at least 1991, 
federal law enforcement agents have acted upon the abortion lobby's premise, 
pulling on various threads of the pro-life movement in the hope of snaring 
"conspirators." By following leads provided by a former pro-life activist who 
was "deprogrammed" by "cult expert" Rick Ross -- a man of dubious background 
who served as a consultant to federal officials during the murderous Waco 
siege -- the federal government apparently hopes to consummate the abortion 
lobby's wishes.

Federalizing the Clinics

On July 30th, the FBI sent a confidential teletype message to all 56 of its 
field offices regarding an alleged pro-life conspiracy "that endeavors to 
achieve political or social change through activities that involve force or 
violence." Acting on information that had been "volunteered" by pro-abortion 
groups such as Planned Parenthood, the FBI teletype listed several abortion 
opponents who had signed a document describing the murder of abortionists as 
"justifiable homicide." Federal involvement was significantly expanded two 
days later when the Justice Department deployed federal marshals to guard 
abortion clinics at several locations around the country.

During an August 4th news conference, Assistant Attorney General John Schmidt 
suggested that the deployment of federal marshals was necessary, in part 
because of the reluctance of some local law enforcement officers to enforce 
FACE. Schmidt also acknowledged that the Justice Department's investigation 
of the alleged "national conspiracy" among abortion opponents antedated the 
July 29th shooting: "... the investigation didn't begin last Friday. There 
is no question that there is an intensified and more intensely coordinated 
effort underway through the task force that's now been acknowledged publicly, 
but I don't think that investigation in this area in any sense simply began 
last Friday."

The department also created an "inter-agency task force" on clinic violence 
for the purpose of discussing further measures, which, according to the August 
2nd New York Times, may include "wiretapping and infiltrating [pro-life 
groups] and planting informers within them" in a fashion similar to the FBI's 
investigation of the Ku Klux Klan.

The shootings of Britton and Barrett were fortuitously timed to set a precedent
 under FACE: On August 12th, Hill became the first individual to be indicted 
under the new law by a federal grand jury. According to the New York Times, 
"the federal indictment charges Mr. Hill not with murder, but with interfering 
with Dr. Britton's ... ability to provide 'reproductive health services' with 
the shootings cited as the underlying act." The same formula could be used in 
the future to prosecute peaceful pro-life activists who offer nonviolent 
"interference." Additionally, Hill's trial -- which will probably receive 
saturation coverage -- may have decisive influence on the public's perception 
of FACE and cultivate public acceptance of even more draconian federal imposi-
tions upon the liberties of peaceful abortion opponents.

Anchor Stone Phillips opened the July 29th NBC Nightly News by declaring, "It 
was all too familiar: An anti-abortion activist laying in wait outside a 
clinic, then opening fire, killing in the name of life. Only this time the 
gunman wasn't a foot soldier in the battle over abortion -- he was a leader, 
well-known in the battle over abortion" (emphasis added). Who had designated 
Hill, an excommunicated former Presbyterian pastor, a "pro-life leader"?

Biographical profiles published subsequent to the July 29th shootings depict 
Hill as a man of transitory enthusiasms; he was capable of passionately 
embracing a cause, only to abandon it abruptly a short time later. As a 
teenager, Hill was deeply involved in the drug culture. In April 1971, Hill's 
father signed an arrest warrant charging the 17-year-old with assault. 
According to the Coral Gables police department arrest report, Hill's parents 
hoped that police intervention would help their rebellious son overcome his 
drug problem, which included use of both marijuana and LSD.

Dubious Pro-Lifer

Hill became a born-again Christian in 1973 and was ordained a Presbyterian 
minister in 1984, after which he worked as a pastor in South Carolina until 
1989. Associates in the ministry reportedly found Hill to be confrontational 
and unalterably wedded to unorthodox theological views. It is not clear when 
Hill became involved in anti-abortion activism, or how he came to believe 
that killing an abortionist is an act of "justifiable homicide." Hill's odd 
rise to prominence is described in "The Abortionist," a remarkable essay 
published in the February Gentlemen's Quarterly which profiles both Hill and 
Britton and, with uncanny foresight, predicts that Britton and Hill would 
eventually collide in violent conflict. According to GQ writer Tom Junod, 
Hill "showed up at the Ladies Center with the timing of a prophet, six weeks 
before Gunn's murder; no one knew him, no one had heard of him, but two days 
after Gunn died, Hill called The Phil Donahue Show and told a producer what 
he had to say."

During the trial of Michael Griffin (who was convicted of murdering abortionist
 David Gunn), Hill appointed himself director of a Pensacola-based organization
 called "Defensive Action." Hill's group composed a manifesto declaring "the 
justice of taking all godly action necessary to defend innocent human life 
including the use of force.... We assert that if Michael Griffin did in fact 
kill David Gunn, his use of lethal force was justifiable provided it was 
carried out for the purpose of defending the lives of unborn children. There-
fore, he ought to be acquitted of the charges against him." This document, 
which was signed by a handful of abortion opponents across the country, 
provided grist for numerous "news" stories and made Hill a media star.

In May 1993, shortly after Hill and his message of "justifiable homicide" 
became a media phenomenon, his Presbyterian congregation excommunicated him. 
However, Hill retained his constituency within the Establishment media, 
garnering coverage on ABC's Nightline, CNN's Sonya Live, and other national 
talk shows. Hill's sudden ascendancy puzzled mainstream pro-life activists, 
among them Helen Avare, a spokeswoman for the National Conference of Catholic 
Bishops, who debated Hill in December 1993 on ABC's Nightline program. "All 
of a sudden, the media made him a celebrity," Avare recalls. "After the broad-
cast, all the pro-lifers we work with day to day were saying, 'Who was that 
guy? Where did he come from?'"

Nor were the media inclined to grant similar exposure to legitimate pro-life 
spokesmen. Michele Arocha Allen of the National Right to Life Committee 
(NRLC), the nation's largest pro-life action group, points out that "since 
March 1993, Mr. Hill has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, Nightline, and 
Donahue, and has been quoted by USA Today and the New York Times, just to 
name a few." Allen notes, "During the week of the shooting, NRLC encountered 
many instances where, instead of urging viewers to follow the peaceful, legal 
activities of groups like NRLC, reporters were intent on fueling the flames." 
Allen relates that a producer for a talk show aired on the Fox television 
network summarily canceled an appearance by a mainstream pro-life represen-
tative in favor of a more confrontational activist; this was done, the 
producer candidly admitted, in order to create more "conflict" on the 
program.

The constant media exposure nourished Paul Hill's radicalism: Following 
Griffin's conviction, Hill was quoted in USA Today suggesting the possible 
organization of a "pro-life" group modeled on the terrorist Irish Republican 
Army. According to an August 1st Washington Post dispatch from Pensacola, 
"Hill began a crusade to advocate the killing of abortion doctors ... so 
suddenly that local leaders in the antiabortion movement here wondered if 
the federal government had put him up to it to bring shame to their cause."

In response to the "Defensive Action" manifesto, nearly every pro-life group, 
especially those involved in clinic outreach and sidewalk counseling, issued 
statements disavowing violence. Nevertheless, some law enforcement agencies 
interpreted Hill's "justifiable homicide" theory as an authoritative statement 
of the pro-life position. Fred Hobbs, a special agent with the Florida depart-
ment of law enforcement who has been assigned to monitor "anti-abortion vio-
lence," told Time magazine, "We feel that sometimes these pledges [of nonvio-
lence] are a means to avoid prosecution under RICO [federal racketeering] sta-
tutes." This suggests that, in Hobb's mind at least, pro-life activists with 
no record of violence were laboring under a presumption of violent or criminal 
intent.

Mystery Man

Pensacola pro-life activist Vicki Conroy is among those who have been unjustly 
tainted by Hill's actions. Conroy told The New American, "The first time any-
body in the pro-life movement here heard of Hill was about three or four days 
after the Gunn shooting, when he appeared on Phil Donahue. That's when the 
mystery started. We had calls asking who he was and where he came from. There 
was nobody here who knew him."

On May 7, 1993, a few days after Hill's raucous national debut on Donahue, the 
mysterious "pro-life activist" crashed a prayer vigil that had been organized 
by Conroy and her associates. "He was the last to arrive, he was uninvited, 
and he prayed the loudest and the longest of anyone there," Conroy recalls. 
"He tried to leave in a hurry when we were done, but we stopped him and tried 
to find out where he had come from and what he had been doing."

Conroy recalls that Hill's answers were less than satisfying: "His name tag 
said he was from West Palm Beach, and he told us that he had been involved 
in protests against an abortion clinic there. So I called some contacts there, 
and nobody there had heard of him. He also told us that he had been involved 
in the pro-life movement while he lived in South Carolina, but nobody there 
knew him, either."

Despite the fact that Hill and his family appeared to exist without a visible 
means of support, Hill had sufficient means to attend the trial of Rochelle 
Shannon in Wichita, Kansas. (Shannon shot and wounded an abortionist outside 
a Wichita clinic in 1993.) When he moved to the Pensacola area in late 1992, 
Hill purchased an auto detailing business, which he operated out of the back 
of his truck. The Washington Post reports that Hill's activism discouraged 
auto dealers from hiring him. Presumably, this would have created an appetite 
for whatever work could be found, but Conroy recalls that Hill wasn't receptive
to business offers. "We had an individual call Hill and ask him to work on his
car," Conroy reports. "He [Hill] just offered an excuse and turned down the 
job."

Hill was somehow able to pay $76,500 in cash for a Pensacola home in October 
1993. The August 7th Washington Post reported that Hill, who had a wife and 
three children to support, never made more than $30,000 a year as a pastor. 
According to the Post report, "No one is sure how the Hills managed to afford 
their house, the auto paint franchise and Paul's protest activities, which 
included some travel." Mrs. Hill was a practicing CPA; however, for the past 
several years she had set her job aside to supervise the home schooling of 
the Hill children.

When Hill appeared on the scene at the time of the first Pensacola shooting, 
he was a fully-realized caricature of a "right-wing fundamentalist." Says 
Conroy, "If you wanted to discredit biblical Christianity and the pro-life 
movement, there is no better way than to make Hill a representative of those 
groups. Here he was described as a pro-lifer, a Biblical fundamentalist, and 
a home schooler." Hill's relationship with the Pensacola pro-life movement 
was anything but productive. According to Conroy, "He'd go before the press 
and urge violence against abortionists, and I'd be left to repair the damage." 
But Hill's ambitions were not limited to Pensacola. Conroy recalls, "On many 
occasions Hill told me that his goal was to become the national spokesman for 
the pro-life movement."

A Nut or a Plant?

Conroy has occasionally been jailed on minor misdemeanor charges stemming 
from clinic protests, but Hill's record was unblemished until the July 29th 
shooting. Conroy recalls that "Hill told me more than once that he wouldn't 
allow himself to be arrested for something as insignificant as blocking a 
clinic entrance." This odd combination of aloofness and stridency provoked 
Conroy's suspicion: "For more than a year he was running in front of cameras 
and microphones, urging people to commit acts of violence, and nobody rose to 
the bait. Finally Hill himself pulls the trigger. If somebody had planned all 
of this, somebody had to shoot another doctor sometime, and Hill was the only 
one willing to do it."

The suddenness of Hill's arrival, the ease of his access to the media, the 
opacity of his background, and the "central casting" quality of his "radical 
fundamentalist" behavior have led Conroy to suspect that Hill was more than 
just an aberrant fanatic: "I've had thoughts that he was a 'plant' working 
for the U.S. Department of Justice. We know the character of the people in 
this Administration, and they showed what they're capable of in Waco.... It's 
far easier for me to believe that it's a Justice Department conspiracy than 
that he was just a nut. People are willing to entertain the notion that 
there's a 'pro-life conspiracy' out here, but in the light of Waco it's far 
easier for me to believe that the Justice Department is involved in all of 
this."

Whether or not the Pensacola pro-life community was the target of a conspiracy,
 the area's right to life movement had done some damage to the abortion indus-
try's interests. Vicki Conroy and her husband Mike are the founders of "Legal 
Action for Women," a group which files lawsuits on behalf of women who have 
suffered at the hands of abortionists. "Since 1985, we have filed lawsuits on 
behalf of more than 250 women," Mrs. Conroy told The New American. "As a result
 of two of our lawsuits, six clinics have been closed and several abortionists 
have been suspended."

Battling the Butchers

The efforts of the Conroys' group helped bring about the suspension of abor-
tionist Thomas Tucker, who had performed some 70,000 abortions as a "circuit 
rider" in Mississippi and Alabama, earning an estimated $200,000 a year and 
driving to his appointments in a chauffeured Cadillac. Tucker, who has been 
praised as a champion of "women's rights" by pro-abortion groups, was impli-
cated in the abortion-related deaths of Alabama natives Michele Jordan and 
Angela Hall. Former employees have testified that Tucker ordered the falsifi-
cation and destruction of records in order to conceal his background and prac-
tices. (See The New American, May 30, 1994, page 38.) A maternal death resul-
ting from an abortion performed in a Pensacola clinic was under scrutiny from 
Conroy's group at the time the abortionist was shot.

On June 26th, 31-year-old Pamela Colson died at Pensacola's Bay Medical Center 
after undergoing an abortion. Colson, whose pregnancy was nearing the second 
trimester, displayed no symptoms when she left the clinic in the company of 
friends at about 4 p.m. on June 25th. However, she soon began to complain of 
stomach pains and passed out at a Panama City motel. An ambulance took Colson 
to the Medical Center, where she underwent an unsuccessful emergency hyster-
ectomy; she was pronounced dead at 1:09 a.m. Dr. Steve Havard, an associate 
medical examiner in Pensacola, diagnosed the cause of death to be blood loss 
resulting from a perforated uterus. According to Havard, such perforation is 
a "recognized complication" of abortion.

Sandy Sheldon, the clinic's co-administrator, told reporters, "We're all just 
devastated" by Colson's death, but sought nonetheless to minimize the incident:
 "It's just very, very rare.... It's a tragedy and we are beside ourselves with
 sorrow, but it happens." Sheldon insisted that Colson's abortion "went just 
like any other surgery we do." In the immediate aftermath of the death, Sheldon
 refused to reveal the name of the abortionist who had performed Colson's 
"procedure," stating that he had requested that his name not be disclosed to 
the public.

Although the clinic's staff greeted Colson's death with relative equanimity, 
the Conroys and other local pro-life activists were horrified. An outraged 
Vicki Conroy told local reporters: "This woman died and no one is saying a 
word. What kind of message are we sending, that dead women don't matter, only 
dead abortionists?" Partly in response to pressure from pro-life activists, 
the clinic dismissed William Phillip Keene, the doctor who had performed the 
botched abortion, shortly after Colson's death.

Although an investigation was promised, by June 30th the matter of Colson's 
death was closed by local authorities. Ed Towney, a spokesman for the Florida 
Agency for Health Care Administration, told local reporters: "We'll go in 
there [the clinic] and make sure the facility is in compliance with the laws --
 check their paperwork and things like that." Sergeant Jerry Potts, a spokesman
 for the local police, stated that because the abortion which killed Colson 
"was performed by a licensed doctor at a licensed facility ... we don't see 
any reason to continue a criminal investigation. It is a civil matter." The 
June 30th St. Petersburg Times reported that police would continue to patrol 
the neighborhood in which Keene lived in order to deter protests. Apparently, 
in certain jurisdictions pro-life protest is a more serious matter than lethal 
medical negligence.*

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*NOTE: According to at least one report, some law enforcement officers in 
Pensacola "moonlight" as guards at local abortion clinics.

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John Britton, the abortionist who was gunned down by Paul Hill, neatly 
embodied the corruption and arrogance that characterize the abortion 
industry. The John Britton who was profiled in the February issue of 
Gentlemen's Quarterly is anything but the meek idealist who was described 
in post-shooting eulogies. A photograph published by GQ displayed the 
abortionist defiantly wielding a gun; the magazine declared, "As far as 
Britton is concerned, he's just doing what he's trained to do, and if the 
pro-lifers come to get him, he's prepared to shoot first." According to GQ 
essayist Tom Junod, Britton considered himself to be a "therapeutic nihilist" 
graced with special insight regarding the value of others' lives: "It is this 
-- his willingness to answer questions of life and death -- that permits Dr. 
John Bayard Britton to believe that one day, should his enemies come to kill 
him, he will find the courage to kill them first."

Although press accounts of the July 29th shooting have focused on the cowardly 
ambush in which Britton and "escort" Barrett were killed, the victims of that 
attack had contemplated shooting pro-life protesters. Junod recalls that 
Britton had spoken of shooting protesters through knotholes in the fence 
surrounding the clinic -- "target practice," in his words. Post-shooting 
profiles of Barrett have depicted him as a refugee from a Norman Rockwell 
painting -- a civic-minded American who didn't believe in abortion but placed 
his life in danger to protect "freedom of choice." However, eulogies in the 
homosexual publications The Advocate and The Washington Blade described 
Barrett's commitment to pro-homosexuality causes. Barrett apparently 
subscribed to the entire gospel of political correctness and was a full-time 
soldier in the culture war. Like Britton, Barrett was armed and willing to 
shoot. Junod quotes Barrett as saying, "I like to keep an eye on those p*****
heads.... I do not miss. These hands are small but I know where to put them. 
I have survived this long because I shoot first." While serving in Korea, 
Barrett was rebuked by his superiors for his "hyperaggressiveness."

A Dismal Record

Even by the emancipated standards of competence that govern the abortion 
industry, John Britton was a singularly unlikely champion of "women's health." 
On April 11, 1978, he was expelled from his practice at the Fernandina Beach 
general hospital because of emotional and mental instability. In 1981, Britton 
was censured by the Florida state medical board for prescribing 1,900 percodan 
and percocet tablets to a drug addict. The board also found that Britton was 
"unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety." On the advice 
of his attorney, Britton agreed to two years' probation. Britton faced similar 
sanctions on other occasions.

Despite his background, Britton was readily accepted by the abortion industry. 
Junod notes, "The clinics would welcome a pariah, so long as he could deliver 
a safe abortion." But there was ample doubt regarding Britton's competence to 
deliver a "safe" abortion. In the 1960s, Britton facilitated "back-alley" 
abortions. The Roe vs. Wade decision was Britton's professional salvation. 
Writes Junod: "As soon as the Supreme Court wrote Roe vs. Wade into law, 
[Britton] applied some heat to the shaft of a ballpoint pen, fashioned it into 
a cannula (the stiff tube that's inserted through the cervix during an 
abortion), attached the cannula to a hose and the hose to a small vacuum and 
went into business." At least one of Britton's "patients" died from abortion-
related complications.

During the Pensacola visit recorded in Junod's profile -- apparently a typical 
business day for an abortion "circuit rider" -- Britton performed 32 abortions,
 turning a personal profit of $50 for each. As depicted by Junod, Britton's 
bedside manner was abrupt at best and mildly sadistic at worst, leaving his 
customers -- which included confused teenage girls -- unsettled and frightened.
 Among the other clinic personnel described in the article is a lab technician 
who refers to herself as a "recovering Catholic." It was this technician's job 
to piece together the fetal remains of Britton's victims. Junod's article 
quotes this technician's variation on the "Nuremberg defense" (i.e., "I was 
just following orders"): "I don't approve, but it doesn't matter if I don't 
approve.... I'm doing my job. I'm doing what I'm trained to do, and so is Doc 
[Britton]."

Britton's worldview, as described by Junod, bears more than a passing resem-
blance to the Nazi medical ethic. Britton told Junod that he would occasionally
try to persuade a woman not to abort her child if "the baby has any chance at 
genetic qualities." He compared his work as an abortionist to the mercy-killing
of wounded barnyard animals or the "sacrifice" of laboratory animals. Britton 
described his ethics as "not Christian but medical" and insisted that he should
be free to follow his murderous muse: "I'm not taking life out of anger or 
cruelty; I'm taking that life for a purpose. I feel like the American Indian 
did -- I'm saying a prayer to that animal: Give me your life so that I can 
accomplish this purpose, 'speed thy spirit on to other places' so that the 
life that is lost will one day be replaced.'"

Britton's death has won him a place in the pro-abortion pantheon. According to 
a report in the August 20th issue of the communist People's Weekly World news-
paper, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has established a "Dr. 
Britton Fund for Women's Health," which will promote pro-abortion legislation. 
More significantly, Britton's death has led to growing cooperation between 
Planned Parenthood and Janet Reno's Justice Department in an effort to 
marginalize -- and perhaps eventually to criminalize -- pro-life activism.

Planned Parenthood held a news conference on August 17th to release what the 
group claimed was evidence of a "radical anti-abortion alliance." The group's 
primary exhibit was a videotape made during a May meeting of the U.S. Taxpayers
 Party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Speakers at that meeting included Operation 
Rescue founder Randall Terry and Milwaukee pastor Matthew Trewhella, founder 
of the pro-life group Missionaries to the Pre-Born.

As summarized by Janny Scott of the New York Times, Planned Parenthood insisted
 that there is "a growing alliance between opponents of abortion and extreme 
right-wing groups. The evidence ... included a videotape from a meeting in 
which one speaker urged parents to arm their children and another said, 
'Abortionists should be put to death.'"

The second and most shocking quote was uttered by Jeffrey Baker, a religious 
broadcaster from Florida. Baker told The New American, "What I said was that 
abortion is murder, and that it should be criminalized as a capital offense. 
I have never called for the murder of abortionists. I think that they should 
be punished, and that due process should prevail, but I don't think they should
be put to death by the likes of Paul Hill. If we do it that way, it's an 
anarchist solution, and anarchy breeds tyranny."

It was the speech of Reverend Trewhella that was depicted by the media as a 
call for "right-wingers" to arm their children. That speech was essentially 
a summary of arguments that many -- perhaps most -- Americans would find 
quite reasonable. Among Trewhella's putatively shocking opinions were the 
following: "The defining sign of tyranny is the disarming of the citizenry 
by our government.... Our government wants to disarm us. That should be a 
clear wake-up call to us that they want to be totalitarian gods over us. They 
want to rule every aspect of our lives and so we should never give up our 
arms." It was in this context that Trewhella recommended that Americans teach 
their children how to use firearms responsibly.

Opportunistic Smear

Alfred Ross, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood's national organization, 
insisted: "What we have shown is that individuals who are actively involved 
in the anti-abortion movement are now distributing manuals on how to set up 
paramilitary militias, recommending weapons, recommending that churches get 
involved in paramilitary weapons training. What we are saying is there is 
clearly an increased danger stemming from this." Nevertheless, Ross backed 
away from specific accusations: "... we're not saying we have proof that any 
particular militia has been involved in an assault."

But Planned Parenthood officials maintained that no specific expression of an 
intent to commit violence was necessary to implicate pro-life "conspirators." 
Richard Withers, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, declared 
(with more vehemence than grammatical clarity): "The combination of these 
groups' interest in guns and advocating against other people's rights has 
created a volatile situation." Under the definitions used by Planned Parent-
hood, a combination of pro-life and pro-gun opinions constitutes prima facie 
evidence of membership in the "radical anti-abortion alliance."

Both Trewhella and Baker quickly dismissed the Planned Parenthood press con-
ference as an opportunistic smear. "It's just part of a direct-mail fundraising
 effort," Baker told The New American. "Their revenues were way down this year 
and they needed something to fire up the troops." But it should be remembered 
that the Justice Department investigation launched in the aftermath of the July
 29th shooting made extensive use of information "volunteered" by Planned 
Parenthood. Justice Department spokesman John Russell confirmed to The New 
American that Attorney General Reno had received and seen a copy of the U.S. 
Taxpayers Party videotape from Planned Parenthood. Furthermore -- and more 
ominously -- the smear of the U.S. Taxpayers Party revealed that the Justice 
Department investigation of the pro-life "fringe" is making use of a key player
 in the federal government's persecution of the Branch Davidians.

The August 29th issue of Newsweek reported that Reverend Trewhella (who was at 
the time serving a month-long county jail sentence on charges arising from a 
protest) "is one of a half-dozen anti-abortion activists now under investiga-
tion as possible conspirators in a campaign of violence against abortion 
clinics." The magazine also charged that "Trewhella himself was a mentor for 
potentially violent anti-abortion extremists." The story referred to "John," 
a pseudonymous abortion opponent, who had belonged to Trewhella's group in the 
early 1990s. "John" had lived in Trewhella's home and participated in local 
protests.*

-------------------------------------------

*NOTE: Before his conversion to Christianity, Trewhella was a gang member, a 
life-style he now vigorously condemns. His protest methods are not endorsed 
by all pro-life activists. Furthermore, Trewhella's name appears on the 
"Defensive Action" manifesto supporting the use of "lethal force" against 
abortionists. Trewhella wrote to Paul Hill following Hill's December 1993 
Nightline appearance and requested that his name be stricken from the mani-
festo, insisting "I have no desire to be in any advocacy role whatsoever when 
it comes to those types of acts [i.e., killing abortionists]."

-------------------------------------------



Trewhella told The New American that "John" had evinced signs of emotional 
instability and eccentricity, and that he had suddenly disappeared in late 
1990 or early 1991 -- about the time when, according to Newsweek, "John's 
family hired cult 'deprogrammer' Rick Ross, whose clients included followers 
of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh." Trewhella believes that the depro-
gramming arose from a religious dispute between "John" -- at that time a 
recently converted evangelical -- and his Roman Catholic parents.

Shortly before John's disappearance, Trewhella recalls, "He was trying to 
write a fairly weighty work examining the philosophy of pro-life protest." 
Based on a description of the writings given by "John's" parents, Newsweek 
declared that they were "journal notes on apparent plans for a guerilla 
campaign of clinic bombings and assassinations of doctors."

In a telephone interview with The New American, Ross recalled, "I considered 
it ["John's" treatment] to be a successful deprogramming. He spent some rehab 
time in what you might call a retreat for ex-cult members under the care of a 
PhD psychologist." Ross said that it was more difficult to deprogram "John" 
than it had been to "treat" the Branch Davidians: "In the case of the Waco 
Davidians, it was done on a voluntary basis, meaning they were free to come 
and go as they pleased. However, in "John's" case, the family felt it was 
necessary to hire professional security to keep him confined in the home." 
Once Ross' labors with "John" had ended, the young man was ready to talk to 
the feds. Ross told The New American that "I've been interviewed by the FBI 
regarding this matter. The ATF has interviewed John subsequent to the depro-
gramming."

However one may perceive the views imputed to "John," what Ross is describing 
is the premeditated kidnapping of an adult, combined with the use of psycho-
logical duress -- actions that are criminal offenses even when committed by 
the politically correct. It is important to remember that "John" -- who is a 
major source for press accounts of the "radical anti-abortion alliance," a 
federal informant, and who may eventually be a witness in criminal prosecutions
-- broke with Trewhella's group as a result of Ross' ministrations. Thus Ross'
background and character are of great relevance to the soundness of "John's" 
account.

Ross, who is deemed an authority on "Bible-based cults," earns several hundred 
dollars a day to abduct people and "cure" them of their religious beliefs. 
Predictably, this line of work has often led Ross to court -- which, as we 
will shortly see, is a venue with which he was familiar even before he became 
a "cult authority." Ross told The New American that he became a "deprogrammer" 
in 1982 and claims to have conducted "hundreds of cases over the last 12 years."

From Ross' publicly expressed perspective, any "fundamentalist" religious body 
may be considered a cult. During a 1992 segment of Donahue, Ross squared off 
against three "fundamentalist" families -- a Mormon family from Utah, an 
Hasidic Jewish family from New York, and an evangelical family from South 
Carolina. He denounced all three families as "narrow," "insular," "cultic," 
and "fanatic." (Interestingly, Ross, a liberal Jew, reserved his harshest 
treatment for the Orthodox Jewish family.) The influence of Ross' prejudices 
arguably helped exacerbate the Waco disaster.

Playing the Waco Card

By his own admission, Ross was a consultant to the FBI during the Waco siege. 
Aside from "deprogramming" two former members of the Branch Davidian congre-
gation, Ross' chief contribution to the federal atrocity was to help poison 
the public's mind against the Branch Davidians: Many of the most envenomed 
sound bites demonizing David Koresh and his disciples during the siege came 
from Ross. He referred to Koresh as a "predatory, manipulative animal" and 
insisted that Koresh's followers were violent automatons incapable of reason. 
Following the April 19, 1993 holocaust at the Branch Davidian compound, Ross 
lost no time in blaming Koresh for the tragedy: "[He] saw prison as the 
inevitable outcome and would not submit to authorities. And he murdered the 
children."

Ross insisted that the lesson of the Waco disaster was that "religious extre-
mism can be deadly." This theme was echoed by President Clinton, who declared: 
"I hope very much that others who will be tempted to join cults and become 
involved with people like Koresh will be deterred by the horrible scenes they 
have seen.... There is, unfortunately, a rise in this sort of fanaticism all 
over the world. And we may have to confront it again." The Clinton Administra-
tion has apparently decided that the pro-life "fringe" will be the next group 
of "fanatics" to confront -- and once again Rick Ross is deploying all of his 
skills of manipulation and demagoguery.

Ross told The New American, "I think that the problem with the anti-abortion 
movement, as viewed through this case, is that it's a powerful movement domin-
ated by controlling, dictatorial leaders.... The anti-abortion leaders push 
their followers over the edge by using inflammatory rhetoric." Asked if he 
regarded the pro-life movement to be "cultish," Ross replied: "I think the 
real question about the anti-abortion movement is this: Are these people 
making decisions as individuals who have the capacity for critical thought, 
or are their actions dictated and robot-like responses to the rhetoric of 
their leaders?"

Others might suggest that another "real question" is this: What are Ross' 
qualifications to serve as a consultant to federal law enforcement agencies? 
Ross told The New American that, despite his 12-year career as a "cult expert,"
 he is neither a psychologist nor does he have a formal background in psycho-
logy. Ross was somewhat vague about his professional background prior to 
becoming a "deprogrammer" -- and with good reason. According to documents 
obtained from the Maricopa County Court in Arizona, in 1974 Ross was convicted 
of jewel theft, a crime for which he was sentenced to a brief jail term and 
probation. A year later, Ross found himself in court once again, facing 
multiple criminal charges. A psychological profile of Ross performed at the 
time found that he was emotionally unstable and displayed signs of sociopathic 
tendencies. (See the sidebar on the previous page.)

It should be remembered that in every police state, agents of the government 
consistently collude with criminals against law-abiding subjects. Those who 
hastily dismiss the suspicions of Conroy and other pro-life activists that 
Paul Hill was a federal "plant" may wish to reconsider that dismissal in light 
of the federal government's willingness to make repeated use of Rick Ross' 
"talents."

The Justice Department's investigation of an alleged anti-abortion "conspiracy"
comes on the heels of the Establishment's hate campaign against the "religious 
right," and many prominent representatives of the institutional left have 
asserted that the "religious right" bears collective guilt for the Pensacola 
shooting. Congresswoman Lynn Schenk (D-CA) declared that the act displayed 
"the horrible face of the radical right." Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) 
attempted to implicate all opponents of abortion and socialized medicine in 
Paul Hill's act: "Make no mistake: Anti-choice extremists are waging a nation-
wide war on the right to choose [abortion]. In Pensacola they use a gun. Here 
in Washington they use health care reform...." Representative Pat Schroeder 
(D-CO) suggested that those who oppose abortion coverage were abetting "those 
people who think they have the right to take the law into their own hands and 
shoot those who are out there trying to guarantee this constitutional right 
for women." These demented accusations were eventually adopted by Bill Clinton,
who characterized opponents of socialized medicine as "violent extremists."

The pro-life movement is a casualty of the shots fired on July 29th. Whether 
or not it is ever demonstrated that Paul Hill was an agent provocateur, the 
fact remains that his actions will redound to the benefit of those who seek 
to criminalize pro-life activism. While some understandably frustrated pro-
life activists may grudgingly approve of Hill's actions, the true hope for 
eventual victory resides in the restoration of America's moral law, not the 
negation of law through terrorism. As Joseph Sobran -- a commentator of 
impeccable pro-life credentials -- points out, "When you commit violence, you 
start something the Devil may finish."

END OF ARTICLE

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THE NEW AMERICAN -- October 3, 1994
Copyright 1994 -- American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated
P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI  54913

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obtained from the above address.

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