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PRO-LIFE LEADERS SHOCKED AND SADDENED AT KOPP GUILT IN ABORTIONIST SHOOTING

Scheidler states, "you can't kill abortionists… I’m shocked, surprised and disappointed” "

NEW YORK, November 20, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life leaders across North America were shocked and saddened to learn today that James Charles Kopp did actually shoot abortionist Barnett Slepian. As LifeSite reported earlier today, Kopp confessed to shooting the abortionist but insists he did not intend to kill him. "The truth is not that I regret shooting Dr. Slepian. I regret that he died," Kopp said. "I aimed at his shoulder. The bullet took a crazy ricochet, and that's what killed him. One of my goals was to keep Dr. Slepian alive, and I failed at that goal."

Joe Scheidler, President of the Pro-Life Action League commented on the news to LifeSite saying, "We are very surprised, we were all thinking he hadn't done it. It's the wrong thing to do, you can't kill abortionists. We've written about it and talked about it, it's stupid. It really complicates matters. I'm shocked, surprised and disappointed. We convert abortionists, hundreds of them, that's how you solve this problem through conversion. I'm very disappointed. That's all I can say."

Kopp said that despite his arrest, abortionists are still in danger. "They're still in danger, absolutely," Kopp said. "I'm not the first, and I probably won't be the last."

American Life League responded to LifeSite's query on the news by repeating its long-standing proclamation against violence which was also signed by over 100 other U.S. pro-life groups. The statement calls on "All perpetrators of violence to recognize that, far from being pro-life crusaders, they are nothing more than common criminals." The proclamation declares "that the deliberate cold-blooded killing of a human being, from fertilization to natural death, is always wrong. This belief is the essence of what it means to be pro-life."

The Buffalo News reports that Kopp declined to say whether he was involved in four similar, but nonfatal, shootings of abortionists three of which took place in Canada. (Perinton, Monroe County; Ancaster, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Winnipeg, Manitoba) Kopp's lawyer Bruce A. Barket responded to the inquiry saying, "We'll defend one shooting at a time."

John Hof, President of Campaign Life Coalition British Columbia told LifeSite "We are pro-life, Kopp's actions were anti-abortion. What he did and what he has admitted to doing was wrong, wrong, wrong. If he has a pang of conscience over this shooting we encourage him to come clean if there were any more shootings so we can close this chapter."

Kopp argues that his actions were a justified use of force: "I didn't intend to kill Dr. Slepian," Kopp said. "Why do you think I used force against Dr. Slepian when he was within 10 hours of taking the lives of 25 babies? The question answers itself."

On October 21, 1999, the one year anniversary of Slepian's shooting death, Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition Canada released the Campaign Life statement against violence. "CLC is and always has been committed exclusively to non-violent means of overcoming abortion," said Hughes. "CLC is and always has been strongly and absolutely opposed to the use of violence against those who provide, support, promote, advocate or patronize abortion." Mr. Hughes concludes that "the pro-life movement, CLC included, believes that the violence of abortion will not be overcome by still more violence, but by working toward a universal recognition of the sacredness of every single human life without exception."

See the Buffalo News coverage of their Kopp interview:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20021120/1018841.asp

CLC and ALL proclamations against violence:
http://216.122.249.80/clc/press/1999/991021.html
http://www.all.org/news/proclam.htm

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