Murder of Abortion Docs as Justifiable Homicide

But over time the notion of justifiable homicide has stuck, although it has no legal basis whatsoever. The Army of God uses the term to justify the assassination of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder, for example. Roeder, although he had discussed justifiable homicide in 1993 with Army of God leader Michael Bray, sought to use the necessity defense in court, but the judge denied this approach was applicable.

No court in the country to my knowledge has allowed any defense in which the crime is acknowledged but excused via a necessity defense or the argument that murder of an abortion provider constitutes justifiable homicide. That is why it would have been significant if the South Dakota legislators pushing the idea had prevailed in passing the bill. It would probably have been struck down by the courts, but it would have once again raised into national debate about whether the entire notion that the assassination of abortion providers was somehow moral and legal.

In 1993 the idea that even a few people thought that the murder of a doctor was justified was shocking. But as woolly-headed as it may seem to some, the idea lives on.

(For a more detailed discussion of the origins of the theory of the murder of abortion providers as justifiable homicide see my book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, Common Courage Press, 1997.)

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