Dr. George Tiller, who provided abortion services in Wichita, Kansas, was murdered in May 2009.

By: Catherine Lussenhop

Don’t let their name fool you. Operation Rescue isn’t so much about “rescue.” It is one of the more famous anti-choice groups in the country, one that isn’t at all hesitant to suggest violence in the name of protecting the unborn. They’ve been linked to this summer’s horrific murder of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, and members have been convicted of attempted bombings of other clinics.

Operation Rescue was founded by Binghamton-area native Randall Terry, and he ran the group until 1991. From there it went to Keith Tucci and then in 1994 to Flip Benham. Benham changed the group’s name to Operation Save America. Operation Rescue’s tactical director Jeff White broke off to form Operation Rescue West. Operation Save America now tackled all sorts of important issues, like opposing Gay-Straight Alliances in schools, while Operation Rescue maintains its focus on abortion. In 1999, Jeff White stepped down after an $880,000 judgment against Operation Rescue for harassing Planned Parenthood workers. Troy Newman took over and moved the headquarters to Wichita, Kansas to focus on—you guessed it—Dr. George Tiller.

After Tiller’s murder, Operation Rescue of course denied any involvement. Randall Terry called the murder “cowardly” and “antithetical to what we [pro-life activists] believe,” but he also said that the slain doctor “reaped what he sowed.”

“He was a mass murderer,” Terry said. “He sowed death. And then he reaped death in a horrifying way.”

Operation Rescue asserted that Scott Roeder, Tiller’s murderer, had never been a member or contributor, but Roeder claimed to have donated hundreds to the organization. More disturbingly, senior policy advisor Cheryl Sullenger’s phone number was found in Scott Roeder’s car, on the dashboard. Sullenger first denied any contact with him, but then revealed that she had been telling Roeder about times of Tiller’s court dates to help Roeder guess the doctor’s likely whereabouts.

Another pro-life activist, former nurse Jill Stanek, decided to go even further. A few days after Tiller’s murder, another late-term abortion provider, Dr. Leroy Carhart, declared that he would continue providing his services at his Nebraska clinic and also to take over Dr. Tiller’s Wichita clinic. Stanek responded by posting photos of his “nondescript” building on her blog, saying that she and her readers just wanted to “take a look.” Does it seem like a good idea to post such photos just days after Tiller’s murder? Late-term abortion providers like Dr. Carhart are always targets, and Stanek only jeopardized Carhart’s safety.

Why don’t these pro-life activists see the supreme irony in murdering someone in the name of life? Randall Terry especially seems to need a lesson in irony. Terry, like many other tireless champions of “family values,” seems to need a lesson in them.

After being married to his wife Cindy Dean for 19 years, he divorced her to marry Andrea Sue Kollmorgen, his former church assistant and 17 years his junior. Critics pointed out that he had written in his 1995 book, The Judgment of God, that “families are destroyed as a father vents his mid-life crisis by leaving his wife for a ‘younger, prettier model.’” Landmark Church in Binghamton subsequently tossed him out.

Terry is also one of those family-values conservatives who happens to have a gay child. His adopted son, Jamiel Terry, who came to his father’s defense when Terry was accused of racism and campaigned with him, came out as gay in 2004. He wrote an article for Out Magazine, an article his father summarily dismissed as lies. However, Terry still found cause to formally disown his son, blaming Jamiel’s sexuality on his biological mother, who was supposedly a prostitute.

With a leadership history like this, it’s no wonder Operation Rescue is in trouble. According to NPR, donations are down 30 to 40 percent, and current president Troy Newman hasn’t been paid in two months. Contributors to the group cannot make tax-deductible donations after the IRS decided in 2004 that they engaged in political action. They had originally offered to buy Dr. Tiller’s clinic after his murder, but they obviously won’t be doing any such thing without money. It may seem optimistic to hope that perhaps donations are down because contributors were put off by the murder of Dr. Tiller, but Operation Rescue maintains that their troubles are due to the economic downturn.

Don’t count them out yet, though. As Rachel Maddow reported in late August, Operation Rescue set its sights on Dr. Carhart. They sent a fundraising appeal out with a picture of Carhart and his clinic, accompanied by the call “With your help, we can stop him! Now that George Tiller’s mill is closed forever, Leroy Carhart plans to take his place and open a new late-term abortion mill in addition to the filthy, butchering mill he already operates in Nebraska…Carhart’s days in Nebraska could be numbered.”

We all welcome healthy debate and even protests, but when these protests not-so-subtly incite violence and murder, they should be roundly denounced. Dr. Carhart and the few late-term abortion providers are brave to continue their work, and they need to know they have support. Whatever your position on abortion, condemn violent protests and emphasize the need for finding common ground. Who knows, it could save more lives than you might think.