In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Yes, Jill Stanek and Operation Rescue, you are aiding terrorists and murderers. You know it, and you are doing it on purpose.

This is disgusting.

Anti-choice groups across the nation are busy insisting that since they didn’t personally pull the trigger, their protests, harassment, and hate speech are not to blame for the murder of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Yet some anti-choice activists — even now — seem only too happy to aid and abet the crazy ones who will resort to violence. Or else why, three days after the assassination of a medical doctor who provides late-term abortions, did Jill Stanek post on her blog photographs of the clinic of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, another physician who provides late-term abortions and who has said he is willing to take over providing services at Dr. Tiller’s clinic?

By way of introduction, Stanek writes, “Let’s take a station break to view photos of Carhart’s “nondescript building,” taken in March 2009 on the day it reopened following refurbishment after a fire (NOT blamed on pro-lifers). It was almost immediately shut down because Carhart reopened without getting an occupancy permit, as I previously reported, and was running his electricity off a generator…” She and her readers just want “to take a look.” Why? She wants to prove her point that it’s a dingy building? Over Carhart’s safety, and the safety of his staff and patients?

Combine that with Operation Rescue senior policy advisor Cheryl Sullenger’s admission, just reported by McClatchey, that she provided information to suspect Scott Roeder about Tiller’s planned court appearances when Tiller was tried for performing illegal abortions. (Sullenger’s name and the Operation Rescue phone number were found on a note in the dashboard of Roeder’s car.) “[Sullenberger] said Roeder’s interest was in court hearings involving Tiller. ‘He would call and say, “When does court start? When’s the next hearing?” ’ Sullenger said. ‘I was polite enough to give him the information. I had no reason not to. Who knew? Who knew, you know what I mean?’”

Yes, who could have possibly guessed?

These people are disgusting and should be ashamed. If there are any “pro-life” groups out there who actually oppose murder, they should sever all ties with Stanek and Operation Rescue.

Hilariously, Stanek has the nerve to suggest that pro-choicers are “intimidating” anti-choicers when we say that calling abortion a “holocaust,” referring to abortion providers as “baby-killers,” and publicizing personal information about abortion providers just may encourage violence against them. Get that one straight, kids: Criticizing the terms that anti-choicers use is “intimidation” bordering on a violation of Constitutional rights. Shooting, bombing, assaulting, stalking, harassing and threatening abortion providers, or encouraging others to do so (and providing them with the necessary tools and information), is “a movement of nonviolence.”


37 thoughts on Yes, Jill Stanek and Operation Rescue, you are aiding terrorists and murderers. You know it, and you are doing it on purpose.

  1. It’s just that many of these people think they have God on their side. When you think you have God on your side, it’s always a clash of absolutes. If you think you have God on your side, your enemies are God’s enemies.

  2. I still don’t understand how I’m intimidating them. I’ve had large men get in my face screaming “whore” and “baby killer.” I’m a very small woman, physically speaking, how is me quietly holding a sign in defense of a woman’s right to choose bothering them so much they need to try to PHYSICALLY INTIMIDATE me? They use violence but then our peaceful, quiet words are then called intimidation and evil?

    As for having God on their side, whenever I pass a group of particularly dangerous and militantly religious protesters I just repeat this: “Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

  3. Who would have thought that the private rhetoric of the pro-life movement, like all hate speech, would wither when exposed to the cold like of public scrutiny?

    Reap, sow, and all that.

  4. If you think you have God on your side, your enemies are God’s enemies.

    Which just makes me want to say ‘You’re fucking right I’m God’s enemy. Your god and every god.’

    Probably not helpful to maintaining a respectful dialogue, not that the jihad over whether or not women should be able to control their bodies and their reproduction is anything even vaguely resembling a respectful dialogue.

  5. When Stanek had an e-mail exchange with Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, she wrote she was “amused” that anti-abortion terrorism might make abortion providers “nervous.” Guess she’s not laughing so hard right now.

    Or maybe she is.

  6. If I view the child inside that I was a required part of that conception aborted at more than 20 weeks for reasons that did not includ the preservation of anyones life, or physical health over my strenuous objection, then I may become bitterly oppossed to late term abortion. This is just to illustrate that obnoxoius righteousness is not limited to one side

  7. Oh fuck off Steve. When you’re pregnant you get a vote. Until then, how about you try and actually read the stories of the women who have had to get late term abortions and understand why they happen. Every time I read a comment like that I thank my lucky stars for men like my husband who get the concept of “you get to decide because it’s your body that will have to go through this, not mine”.

    Back on topic, this makes me sick. I grew up in a pro-fetal rights household and it still makes me cringe to think I used to agree with these assholes in anyway. It must be nice to be able to say what you want without ever taking responsibility for the consequences. I have been researching some of these disgusting websites today and the absurd amount of hand-washing is mind boggling. “I never encouraged violence, I just took pictures of his house, car, business partners and church and posted them with addresses”. It makes me so angry that they are allowed to get away with this shit. So angry I cannot even begin to describe it.

  8. i’d like to suggest a slight revision to the title:

    Yes, Jill Stanek and Operation Rescue, you are aiding terrorists and murderers. You know it, and you are doing it on purpose.

    Stanek and OR are not just aiding terrorists. they ARE terrorists.

    also:
    Yet some anti-choice activists — even now — seem only too happy to aid and abet the crazy ones who will resort to violence

    can we just quit using this language? calling the terrorists “crazy” not only absolves them of responsibility, it is also ableist.

  9. If I view the child inside that I was a required part of that conception aborted at more than 20 weeks for reasons that did not includ the preservation of anyones life, or physical health over my strenuous objection, then I may become bitterly oppossed to late term abortion. This is just to illustrate that obnoxoius righteousness is not limited to one side

    Hey Steve, once you can manage constructing a sentence why don’t you try coming back with a little bit of evidence rather than some passive aggressive douchery hiding behind a strawman.

  10. Oh, Michelle Malkin is saying the Left is just as bad because some protestors–like four or five of them–wrote mean things in chalk and held up signs on John Yoo’s driveway recently. Because that’s exactly the same thing as stalking a doctor for years and shooting him in a church.

  11. If I view the child inside that I was a required part of that conception aborted at more than 20 weeks for reasons that did not includ the preservation of anyones life, or physical health over my strenuous objection, then I may become bitterly oppossed to late term abortion. This is just to illustrate that obnoxoius righteousness is not limited to one side

    Wow, you ejaculated! That’s totally a burden equal to 9 months of pregnancy plus childbirth. Poor, oppressed, you. I can’t believe anyone would want to take away your right to control your property sex partners’ bodies. It’s almost as if those silly women thought they should have the final say about their own medical decisions. The nerve of these hairy-legged manhaters!

  12. Steve,

    If your ability to write is a reflection of your ability to think, then you aren’t capable of critical thinking.

    See? It’s not hard to write a sentence in the conditional tense. Practice, and try again sometime.

  13. I hurried that post a little but here is the jist
    Murder is bad , very bad
    No one deserves to die.
    just making clear I do not condone or accept the killing of a living breathing human unless they are trying to kill me.
    However I understand the shock of seeing a standard bearer cut down.
    The illusion slips and for a little while you realize how tenuos life is and how easy it is to snuff out, and most of all No one can protect you. It is scary and I will acknowledge Raw emotions are understandable. If it happens once it can happen again and if it becomes normal then it never stops, so I understand the fear.
    But maybe the bloodshed should stop a little earlier, maybe a lot earlier. It is far to easy to become acustomed to death to vew it as nothing if we are not attached or do not have an interest. If we DeHuminize it. That is what is putting your nerves on end. DeHumanize a person and they become easy to kill. I don’t blame any of you for hating and fearing those who systematically deHumanzie people so as to make killing easier. Words and thoughts make actions easier or harder.

  14. Randall Terry says that he regrets Dr. Tiller did not get trail by a jury and the proper execution after.

    Think the radical right has finally screwed the pooch and tanked their party for good. Huffington posted the faces of the Republican party; Cheney, Limbaugh, and Gingrich. You can almost picture them pulling the trigger.

  15. Because I am bored and avoiding work, I’ll bother with an old fashioned fisking, Steve.

    I hurried that post a little but here is the jist

    I hurry through a lot of things and I’m generally pretty forgiving about grammar. Still, your poor writing got in the way of your content. If you’re too busy for your words to accurately transmit something resembling the meaning you intend to, you need to take a few things out of your day.

    Murder is bad , very bad

    Congratulations, you’ve managed a platitude. I think most people would agree that murder is bad, I also thing that the vast majority of those people would add at least a few qualifiers to that stance. Those five words told us nothing.

    No one deserves to die.

    Well, surely you don’t believe that. What about self defense? I’ll even hold back from the obvious old “what about a guy who pulls a knife and demands you let him use your liver for three quarters of a year while he lives in you large intestine” trope.

    just making clear I do not condone or accept the killing of a living breathing human unless they are trying to kill me.

    Ah, so murder is ok sometimes and some people do deserve to die (or their deaths just can’t be avoided). Again, you’ve told us virtually nothing here. All you’ve done is put yourself in a category almost any other human being falls into: generally you avoid killing unless your life is in danger.

    However I understand the shock of seeing a standard bearer cut down.

    Aside from the suspicious archaic military imagery and mock-understanding, I’m not sure I’d call Dr. Tiller a “standard bearer.” Maybe “a doctor” or even “a specialist,” but the last time I check it was assholes like Stanek and the “we-swear-we-aren’t-terrorists” Operation Rescue who were politicizing medicine and settled precedent. The pro-choice doesn’t need a standard bearer, we’re on the inside of the gates these days.

    The illusion slips and for a little while you realize how tenuos life is and how easy it is to snuff out, and most of all No one can protect you.

    Interesting how you seem to believe that there is only one fundamental spiritual/philosophical outlook, like there is some fundamental, intrinsic truth to the human experience, something that can tie us all together and allow you to show us the error of your own ways. I’d call that a lack of imagination. The little hint of threat is a nice touch, too.

    Also, your foreshadowing is kind of ham handed, I can totally see where you’re going already.

    It is scary and I will acknowledge Raw emotions are understandable.

    But only while doing so in a way that invalidates those emotions and places you in a position of superiority as the “rational person” who has managed to keep their wits about them as all these women collapse from the vapors.

    If it happens once it can happen again and if it becomes normal then it never stops, so I understand the fear.

    Your insight tells us more about the way you see the world than about ourselves. Thats called projection.

    But maybe the bloodshed should stop a little earlier, maybe a lot earlier.

    Like with babies! Oh wait…I’ll let you work your own way there.

    is far to easy to become acustomed to death to vew it as nothing if we are not attached or do not have an interest.

    Ooh, is it moral equivalence time already?

    If we DeHuminize it.

    Nevermind that most of the late term abortions Dr. Tiller did were medically necessary and were chosen by parents who desperately wished they had any other option. If the goal were to dehumanize I’m pretty sure the clinic wouldn’t have offered funeral services to help parents grieve.

    That is what is putting your nerves on end.

    Actually, whats putting my nerves on edge is rage, but thanks for your opinion.

    DeHumanize a person and they become easy to kill.

    Are you gonna get there soon?

    I don’t blame any of you for hating and fearing those who systematically deHumanzie people so as to make killing easier.

    Because you feel the same way about “abortionists.” Who you totally don’t believe deserve to die. But you can understand why someone else would. Not that you approve. In public.

    Words and thoughts make actions easier or harder.

    Thats it? Some empty mock wisdom? Have the courage of your convictions, don’t just leave an implication dangling.

    Seriously, Steve. Do us all a favor and just walk away. You aren’t going to change any minds and you’re making the rest of the external genitalia crowd look bad.

  16. wow, steve. those are some fabulous syntactical and word usage skillz that some hypothetical heartless woman did not allow you to pass along…assuming that one’s aptitude for writing things that make sense is nature and not nurture…

    NOT!

  17. Steve appears to be like so many of the folks I hear on talk radio and news shows like CNN, Glenn Beck and Hannity and even some of the yahoos’ at my Catholic church, who all pretend to be “down with Jesus”.

    The sad part is they are only hiding behind religion, most of who seldom attend church regularly but want to assume it is a higher class of society to pass judgment on others. That is not the tragedy, however, it is when they pretend to be “Holier than Thou”, http://www.holier.blogspot.com/ .

    I am left to agree with comments from Adrasteia, when she stated the Republican Party “Screwed the Pooch” this time. It will be a cold day in He@l before the voting elements in America forget all of the lies and bullsh@t that has continued to spew out of their mouths lately. It makes me sad, however, because there are still so many good folks in their political isle who are being smothered by the foul mouth stink of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, and Tricky Dick Cheney and the like.

    As an Independent voter, over the years I have nominated numerous Republicans for various political appointments including U.S. President. As the Radical Right-Wingers seemed to turn what used to be good, down-home politics into something out of the Storm Thurman and Jim Crow past, I could not see myself supporting a party who openly supports bigotry and who think it is OK to make up lies about people who they otherwise cannot compete with thus showing their moral turpitude.

    If you do not believe me, check it out as so many of the good Republicans continue to cross-over to other parties so-as-to preserve their reputations and standings in society as a whole.

    For all of us who read and write on this website blog, we do not need to stoop to the level of the radicals and hate-mongers, let’s beat them in another way. Love them and publicly put their words and policies out in the open. Trust me, they are better at kicking their own as@es than we could ever do to them “Legally”.
    In closing, I just want to extend my most sincere condolences to the family of Doctor Tiller.
    Sincerely,

    LavRal,
    Texas, USA
    Former Republican

  18. Steve:

    Please read The Elements of Style before you attempt to write a paragraph. Your comments are so poorly phrased that it would be easy to read them as being the product of a pre-op FTM transsexual who becomes pregnant and is having nightmares about a soldier with a flag.

    ****

    As for Jill Stanek, Randall Terry, and their ilk, they should be charged under the RICOH statutes. George Tiller’s blood, and the blood of the women who will die because he is gone, is on their hands.

  19. @Ellid
    Could we focus on the assassination of Dr. Tiller and the lesser crime of strangling the English language? Speaking of which, I could chide you about your syntax and manners in bringing up “a pre-op FTM transsexual,” but I’d rather go all passive aggressive on your ass.

  20. I don’t really get what either Ellid or steve was trying to say. But I do always appreciate it when William fisks people (as long as it isn’t me).

    Anyway–

    @Galling Galla:

    I don’t know that I would be for changing the title of the post. Aiding and abetting seems about the right speed. While I abhor the tactics these people use, I’m anti-hate-speech legislation as it can then be used to stifle the speech of ANY group the current party in power disagrees with.

    That said, they *could* certainly stand to be taken to court for slander and harassment. Shame we don’t get the donations to cover them in lawsuits the way they covered Dr. Tiller.

  21. Ellid@22:

    oh thank you so VERY FUCKING MUCH for your blatant transphobia. great way to make your fucking argument, by slandering every trans person (in this case especially trans men).

    you’re getting yourself in the same filthy stinking gutter as the forced-birthers when you pull that shit, you know that?

    Moderators, ban hammer please??!!??

    this kind of virulent hatred has NO PLACE on this blog.

  22. Dude, what the flying fuck?

    Yes, Ellid was just banned. I don’t know what the hell that shit was, but of course it has no place here. I’m just sitting here repeating “WTF?” over and over to myself.

  23. chava@26: please see the link supplied by norbizness@30 – roeder was in direct and repeated contact with OR’s Cheryl Sullenger, an executive with the org. i see what you are saying and might agree (or at least consider) had roeder acted on his own, but it is clear that OR gave him material assistance, therefore i will continue to assert that OR is a terrorist organization.

  24. Cara, thank you for taking care of that.

    Others, i apologize for not being able to delete that comment sooner. I have been away from the computer all day and just saw it now.

  25. @ Jill & Cara, I know you don’t have someone who sits here moderating everything 24/7 so thanks for taking care of it as soon as you noticed it.

  26. lol@ Law Fairy. I will forever hear caveman voices when reading ignorant/stupid comments on the internet!

  27. I am sickened by these holier-than-thou cretins who think they have God on their side in promoting the exposure and persecution of those who provide essential services to women and girls.
    Several years ago Dr. Tiller helped my 12-year-old niece who had been raped by her own father (now serving time) and because of threats by him to hurt her mom and siblings, kept quiet until the pregnancy was obvious. She was a tiny girl, less than 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds. Frankly I would have no problem with these so-called activists taking the father out but in my opinion Dr. Tiller was a saint.
    I am 70 and lived a good portion of my life before Roe v. Wade and saw the results of back alley abortions and the terrible toll on women.
    I never want women reduced to that horrible situation.

  28. I forgot to mention in my previous post that my “nephew-in-law” describes himself as a “true” Christian and was a staunch member of his fundamentalist church that teaches that women should be subordinate to their husbands.
    He explained his incestuous attacks on his daughter as “teaching her the way a woman should behave” and “she asked for it.”
    While jailed, awaiting trial, he tried to get his attorney to file an objection to the abortion but his attorney was so disgusted he asked to be replaced.
    Incidentally he was convicted by an all-male jury!

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