Part of the discussion on this site (and others) following the murder of Dr. George Tiller has been the differences between fundamentalism and terrorist acts.  Most, if not all, pro-life organizations have released statements condemning the murder.  The one that’s gotten the most attention, though, is Operation Rescue.  Liberals contend that the suspect in Tiller’s murder, Scott Roeder, was a member of the organization.  OR, for its part, released a statement claiming that Roeder was never a member of the organization.

Yesterday, I noticed that the reports of a post-it note containing the phone number of OR supposedly being found in Roeder’s car provided an “ah-ha” moment to the pro-choice left.  To them, the smoking gun was found.  I can no longer find anything about a post-it in the news report (it’s been updated since being published), but I think this is unlikely to stop the spread of what is now a rumor.  Postings on a public forum and a post-it note with a phone number provide flimsy evidence at best for the assertion that Roeder was a member of OR.

That said, what if he was a member?

I would answer that this still doesn’t providen any proof that OR is an extremist organization.  All political organizations have their share of extremists.  Two of the arguably best known organizations in the United States, the Democratic and Republican parties, both have their extremist wings.  That doesn’t mean the parties are themselves extemist, it just means they have their share of weirdos.  The same is true for OR or any other pro-life advocacy group.  Today we allowed a comment to remain up showcasing the extremism of some people on the pro-life side.  This person defended the murder of Tiller.

They essentially did what we know Roeder did on OR’s forums.  So clearly, our allowing of this comment must indicate our acceptance of its contents, right?  We’re all a bunch of extremist pro-lifers here, plotting the next assassination, right?  I think not.  Only Bill O’Reilly would make a claim like that.* Or an extremist from the pro-choice side.

Unfortunately, as Jason and Orson have explained, the abortion debate tends to be dominated by the extremists from either side.  Their headache causing rhetoric (which also takes up more of my time moderating this site) drowns out the fair-minded people, which include both pro-lifers and pro-choicers.  Luckily, we’ve been able to have mostly civil debate here at Poligazette, and that’s the important thing.

However, I think what pro-abortion extremists need to learn is that pro-lifers are not all women supressing tyrants and anti-abortion extremists need to learn is that not all pro-choicers are baby killers.  If they could just do that, and denounce terrorism when it happens, the debate could be so much more enjoyable.

* Context