Tough Choices

On-line Forty-Niner

April 22,1998

Pro-lifers were handed a major setback Monday by a federal civil jury in Chicago. Threatening the property of abortion clinics and attempted extortion were crimes of which a handful of pro-lifers were guilty. And although for years these groups have also threatened the lives of clinic employees, the use of an anti-racketeering law has been the deus ex machina that brought this beast down.

 

There seems to be no safe ground on either side of this controversial issue. The Chicago ruling sends out a message that no matter how passionate a single person or group feels about an issue, one has no right to use terrorism to get satisfaction for one's cause.

 

Somewhere in all of the bombings and killings, God fits in. Those who claim to be His avenging angels and dedicate their existence to saving sinners usually are the ones who are in need of salvation.

 

Hypocritically, many of those who claim to champion the rights of unborn babies have at times been a part of taking the lives of abortion clinic workers.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled long ago in Roe v. Wade that women should be able to make their own choices about their reproductive machines.

 

Pro-life organizations should realize they have the power to bring about change through peaceful means. They can vote. They should fight at the polls, not at clinics or in makeshift bomb factories.

 

By having the Racketeering-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute applied to it, the pro-life movement stands accused with the likes of the Mafia. With the ruling, militant pro-life organizations are finally losing credibility.

 

Pro-lifers - those who respect the lives of the born and their right to privacy - will realize education and family planning are more godly means of preventing unwanted abortions

 

The decision to have an abortion is never an easy one to make for any woman. For militant vigilantes to make it a fearful decision is an even worse sin.

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