Major Update: The Washington Post is reporting that Scott Roeder is one of those pathological zealots in the pro life movement who have no problem killing ‘murderers’:

Scott Roeder, identified Sunday as a possible suspect in the slaying of prominent Kansas late-term abortion provider George R. Tiller, is known in anti-abortion circles as a man who believes that killing an abortion doctor is justifiable.

Two abortion opponents who had previously encountered Roeder, 51, said the Merriam, Kan., resident expressed support for their view that lethal force is not a criminal offense if it protects the lives of unborn children.

This vigilante justice and comes from the overheated rhetoric spouted by too many these days. I too have run into this kind of sick mindset. 

There are valid medical conditions that occur even in the 3rd trimester which might require an abortion. There are, of course, many people who will do anything for personal convenience, but let’s put that aside for a moment and deal with the valid cases.

 It is not always possible or legal for the doctor to be the morality police, deciding who has the valid medical concern. It is not their job. If it is legal then they cannot withhold medical treatment. So let’s remember that to deal with the serious cases, you have to deal with everyone equally.

I am not standing up for abortions, I just happen to know there are rare and extreme cases when they are morally valid. All recent efforts to legally curtail abortions recognize this. Dr Tiller was supposedly one of only three doctors performing late term abortions in the US (I have my doubts about this, but let’s just leave this as a given). Knowing the millions of children born each year in this country I can quickly calculate that Dr Tiller’s clients included a probable majority of cases that were morally sanctionable abortions. Simple odds show that the small, rare cases where a late term abortion may be called for probably still number more than what could be handled by 3 doctors across this vast country.

That means Dr Tiller was probably performing the morally valid procedures more times than not, and it was not his place legally to tell his patients they could not receive treatment they were seeking. This is the conundrum of the current laws we have.

There is no place in a modern society for vigilante justice which runs on myth and no facts. This is rightwing terrorism – make no mistake about it. Make no excuses for it. – end update

Scott Roeder may be in custody for the killing of Dr George Tiller this morning at his church in Wichita, KS:

Law enforcement authorities in suburban Kansas City have identified a man detained by police after a late-term abortion provider was shot to death in a Wichita church.

Johnson County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Erickson says Scott Roeder was the man whose car was stopped on Interstate 35 on Sunday, about three hours after the shooting of George Tiller.

It is no surprise that the man possibly arrested for killing Dr George Tiller is linked to Operation Rescue. Operation Rescue has its website down, but that is not enough to wipe the electronic history  clean. Check out this chilling comment on Operation Rescue’s website from only a few weeks ago:

1. Scott Roeder Says: 
   May 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pmBleass [sic] everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp. Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

Roeder mentions Tiller’s church, which Operation Rescue made public, and mentioned getting people inside. This is what Roeder was commenting about:

You are invited to join Operation Rescue on May 17-20 in Wichita, Kansas, the “Nation’s Abortion Capital,” to pray for an end to George R. Tiller’s late-term abortion business and for all pre-born babies everywhere to once again come under the protection of law.

I also found this from Sep 2007, where Roeder compared Dr. Tiller to Mengele, the infamous Nazi concentration camp doctor.

Scott Roeder

Mon September 03, 2007, 09:49:40

---

It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the “lawlessness” which is spoken of in the Bible. Tiller is the concentration camp “Mengele” of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgement upon our nation.

More here at Daily KOS. As I said before, this kind of heated rhetoric is how seemingly sane people go insane.

Tags: Abortion, Assassination, Dr Tiller, Scott Roeder