Abortion Doc Compares the US Anti-Abortion Movement to the Taliban

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:29 pm

Dr. Warren Hern, who is one of the last doctors in the United States who performs late terms abortions, was on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, where he said that the American anti-abortion movement is made up fanatics, and the only thing that separates them from the Taliban is 8,000 miles. Check out the video.

Here is the video:

Dr. Hern said about the murder of Dr. Tiller, “This was not the act of an isolated single nutcase guy who decided to go into some church and blow somebody away. This was a political assassination, and it is not isolated. It is the culmination of the inevitable result and product of 35 years of constant, relentless, anti-abortion fanatics offering hate speech, hate rhetoric, violence, intimidation, and assassinations, and a general message that it is okay to kill someone like Dr. Tiller…”

He also compared anti-abortionists to the Taliban, “President Obama made a wonderful speech at Notre Dame and offered an effort to be conciliatory, and to encourage common ground, but there is no common ground with fanatics who want to kill you. The only difference between the American anti-abortion movement and the Taliban is about 8,000 miles.”

I think that it is only fair to point out that not all people who oppose abortion are extremists who become radicalized into action by the rhetoric. He is correct to point out the jihad like mentality of the radical anti-abortion movement. He is also correct that there is no middle ground with someone like Randall Terry. The people who engage in violence against abortion providers are domestic terrorists.

There is a political motive behind their violent actions. Protests are constitutionally protected, but violence isn’t. Hern is was also right to describe the Tiller murder as a political assassination, because if he had been practicing in a different branch of medicine, he would not have been killed. I think the lesson to be learned here is that not all dangerous zealots fly airplanes into buildings. Some are grown right here in the US of A.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association