My son runs into my office and said, "Mom, a minister is about to be killed in Tallahassee --Why?" Trying to explain "abortion" and "execution" to a 12 year old made me feel just awful. I found myself stumbling...I had to explain (in a generic way) abortion, then I had to explain that this minister killed an abortion Doctor and his body guard, etc... as a form of protesting abortion. I had to explain that it was wrong for this man to kill in order to "make his point"....
Then my son asked, "Well, why was the doctor killing unborn babies?"
This conversation was HARD… To my son, I must have sounded like I was trying to justify killing.. and why the state of Florida is legally killing a man who illegally killed another man who legally killed unborn babies...
In the end, he said, "So we killed a minister because he was trying to save unborn babies?"
I feel pretty uneasy right now. I am not sure if I handled this conversation right. I am wondering how you guys would have handled it… I also wonder how you feel about this execution..it is the first time in history that Florida executed a protestor.
Here's the full story below :
STARKE, Fla. (AP) -- Paul Hill, a former minister who said he murdered an abortion doctor and his bodyguard to save the lives of unborn babies, was executed Wednesday by injection. He was the first person put to death in the United States for anti-abortion violence.
Hill, 49, was condemned for the July 29, 1994, shooting deaths of Dr. John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, and wounding Barrett's wife, June, outside the Ladies Center in Pensacola.
Hill was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m., Gov. Jeb Bush's office said.
Death penalty opponents and others had urged Bush to halt the execution, some of them warning Hill's death would make him a martyr and unleash more violence against abortion clinics. The governor said he would not be "bullied" into stopping the execution.
Florida abortion clinics and police were on heightened alert for reprisals.
"Paul Hill is a dangerous psychopath," said Marti McKenzie, spokeswoman for Dr. James S. Pendergraft, who runs clinics in Orlando, Ocala, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Outside Florida State Prison, extra law enforcement officers, explosives sniffing dogs and undercover officers were in place to prevent protests from getting out of hand.
"We don't want an incident of national proportion," Bradford County Sheriff Bob Milner said.
Hill's religious adviser, Donald Spitz, stayed with him until just before his execution.
Since losing his automatic appeals, Hill has not fought his execution and insisted up to the day before his death that he would be forgiven by God for killing to save the unborn.
"I expect a great reward in heaven," he said in an interview Tuesday, during which he was cheerful, often smiling. "I am looking forward to glory."
Hill suggested others should take up his violent cause.
Fringe elements of the anti-abortion movement that condone clinic violence have invited attacks on Web sites that proclaim Hill as a martyr. Members of the mainstream anti-abortion movement have denounced the calls for violence.
Most abortion clinics in Florida reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday declined comment. McKenzie said security is always high at their clinics, but they are particularly cautious now because of Hill's call for people to follow his actions.
"The bottom line is when you work in the industry you're aware those people are out there every single day," she said.
Inspired by the 1993 shooting death of another abortion doctor in Pensacola, Hill purchased a new shotgun and went to a gun range to practice. The morning of the murder, as Britton and the Barretts entered the clinic parking lot, Hill shot James Barrett in the head and upper body. He then reloaded and fired again, hitting Britton in the head and arm. Mrs. Barrett was wounded in the arm.
Hill put down the shotgun because he did not want to get shot by police and walked away. When officers arrested him within minutes without incident, he said, "I know one thing, no innocent babies are going to be killed in that clinic today."
Hill was the 57th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third in Florida this year.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Then my son asked, "Well, why was the doctor killing unborn babies?"
This conversation was HARD… To my son, I must have sounded like I was trying to justify killing.. and why the state of Florida is legally killing a man who illegally killed another man who legally killed unborn babies...
In the end, he said, "So we killed a minister because he was trying to save unborn babies?"
I feel pretty uneasy right now. I am not sure if I handled this conversation right. I am wondering how you guys would have handled it… I also wonder how you feel about this execution..it is the first time in history that Florida executed a protestor.Here's the full story below :
STARKE, Fla. (AP) -- Paul Hill, a former minister who said he murdered an abortion doctor and his bodyguard to save the lives of unborn babies, was executed Wednesday by injection. He was the first person put to death in the United States for anti-abortion violence.
Hill, 49, was condemned for the July 29, 1994, shooting deaths of Dr. John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, and wounding Barrett's wife, June, outside the Ladies Center in Pensacola.
Hill was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m., Gov. Jeb Bush's office said.
Death penalty opponents and others had urged Bush to halt the execution, some of them warning Hill's death would make him a martyr and unleash more violence against abortion clinics. The governor said he would not be "bullied" into stopping the execution.
Florida abortion clinics and police were on heightened alert for reprisals.
"Paul Hill is a dangerous psychopath," said Marti McKenzie, spokeswoman for Dr. James S. Pendergraft, who runs clinics in Orlando, Ocala, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Outside Florida State Prison, extra law enforcement officers, explosives sniffing dogs and undercover officers were in place to prevent protests from getting out of hand.
"We don't want an incident of national proportion," Bradford County Sheriff Bob Milner said.
Hill's religious adviser, Donald Spitz, stayed with him until just before his execution.
Since losing his automatic appeals, Hill has not fought his execution and insisted up to the day before his death that he would be forgiven by God for killing to save the unborn.
"I expect a great reward in heaven," he said in an interview Tuesday, during which he was cheerful, often smiling. "I am looking forward to glory."
Hill suggested others should take up his violent cause.
Fringe elements of the anti-abortion movement that condone clinic violence have invited attacks on Web sites that proclaim Hill as a martyr. Members of the mainstream anti-abortion movement have denounced the calls for violence.
Most abortion clinics in Florida reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday declined comment. McKenzie said security is always high at their clinics, but they are particularly cautious now because of Hill's call for people to follow his actions.
"The bottom line is when you work in the industry you're aware those people are out there every single day," she said.
Inspired by the 1993 shooting death of another abortion doctor in Pensacola, Hill purchased a new shotgun and went to a gun range to practice. The morning of the murder, as Britton and the Barretts entered the clinic parking lot, Hill shot James Barrett in the head and upper body. He then reloaded and fired again, hitting Britton in the head and arm. Mrs. Barrett was wounded in the arm.
Hill put down the shotgun because he did not want to get shot by police and walked away. When officers arrested him within minutes without incident, he said, "I know one thing, no innocent babies are going to be killed in that clinic today."
Hill was the 57th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third in Florida this year.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
I can't even imagine trying to justify or explain every news event to a younger person and get him/her to understand. But what you did, was to discuss things that are happening and not just ignore his questions. It's great that he questions the world around him and doesn't take things just for fact.
