Paul Hill: Martyr or Murderer?

The planned execution of Paul Hill has lit a controversy within the pro-life community. It is my usual policy to try to be even-handed. I am making an exeception here and will not dignify the argument that Paul Hill is a martyr. Rather, I will selectively quote those who argue that he is a murderer:

"Pro-life means that you think that every life is created by God and it is sacred because it was created by God, so we wouldn't advocate the killing of anybody, regardless of what they had done," American Life League Vice President Jim Sedlak said last week.

"Obviously, some people are trying to make Paul Hill out to be some kind of martyr. He's not; he's a murderer who deserves whatever punishment the state deems appropriate," Sedlak added.

Florida Right to Life spokeswoman Lynda Bell agreed that Hill won't be a martyr, even though some people are bound to label him as one. She said the unborn babies who are aborted every day are martyrs, not a man convicted of killing two people and wounding a third.

"If you are pro-life, you do not kill to defend life," Bell said. "That is absurd. To say that you are going to take the life of an abortionist because it is justifiable is a contradiction."