Some might think that it would be a bit unseemly to compare a man who performed late-term abortions with a heroic crusader for civil rights. But the type of individual who would perform late-term abortions is also not likely to be concerned about appearing outrageous:
Dr. LeRoy Carhart, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions, called on the federal government to treat as hate crimes all activities by “anti-choice domestic terrorists,” compared the slain Dr. George Tiller to Martin Luther King and said planting crosses was equivalent to actions by the Ku Klux Klan.
“This is the equivalent of Martin Luther King being assassinated,” Dr. Carhart said of the May 31 slaying of one of America’s best-known late-term abortion providers. “This is the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitania and any other major historic event where we’ve tolerated the intolerable for too long.”
Carhart is obviously out to lunch, but I’m confused about his analogies. What intolerable things were we tolerating too long before Pearl Harbor or the sinking of the Lusitania? Did Carhart just run out of things to compare the murder to? In the director’s cut of the speech I’m sure there was a reference to the st0rming of the Bastille and the invasion of Moscow (by Napoleon, not Hitler). Hey, whatever sticks.
“I just got off the phone with Mrs. Tiller,” he said, “and I know no decisions have been made about anything. What I want to assure the press and reassure the women of America is that we will somehow, somewhere continue to provide abortions later in gestation.”
Well, that’s a load off of one’s mind.
As disgusting as all this is, the following is by far the strangest thing Carhart said all day, and one of the most outrageous justifications for abortion that I have ever read.
“God gave that fetus a ‘guardian ad litem’ when he chose the mother that fetus is born with,” he said. “That mother, I feel, has been charged by God to make the right choices for that child during its unborn and early born years.”
I’m not even sure Peter Singer would go this far. According to Dr. Carhart a woman is granted—by God, mind you—the ultimate responsibility for guarding a child while it is in the womb. And if the mother decides that killing the child is the appropriate course of action, well, God Himself would approve because he has given her that power.
This is assuredly the desperate cry of a man who cannot possibly live with an easy conscience about the things he has done. The only way to justify such gross violations of the sanctity of life is to stretch reason beyond the breaking point. Truly shameful. But again, this is a man with no obvious sense of shame.
June 9th, 2009 | 2:51 pm
Paul, where MLK would have stood on abortion is somewhat a matter of dispute. We know that Coretta Scott King supported so-called abortion rights. MLK was a supporter of Planned Parenthood and received the Margaret Sanger award. Reading his speech carefully, he said nothing about abortion but it seems that he was a supporter of using birth control for eugenics purposes, i.e., to winnow out the criminal and ignorant portion of the black population that understanably embarasses the educated black class both then and now. Whether that would have extended to abortion is, as I said, not stated, but it’s hard to believe that, in an era where “abortion reform” was in the air, he would not have supported abortion decriminalization. Also, given his penchant for carousing while on the road, it is fairly probable that MLK or someone in the movement on his behalf quietly paid for abortions to hush up any scandal.
On the other hand, my pastor made an interesting statement at this past year’s Respect Life Sunday. He claimed to have attended a local DC MLK celebration at a local synagogue where one of his children, I believe MLK III, claimed that, if he were still alive, MLK would be on the pro-life side. I’m not totally sure I buy this claim, but if one of the children actually did say this, they might be in a better position to surmise than anyone.
June 9th, 2009 | 3:02 pm
Correction: the person who supposedly made the statement at the Washington Hebrew Congregation Annual Shabbat Service and Dinner about MLK being opposed to abortion was Andrew Young. That is, to me, a surprising comment, but if he said it, then he said it. I hope it’s true.
June 24th, 2009 | 4:16 pm
Paul,
While Carhart’s assertion that God’s giving us free will equates to approval is the most ridiculous part of his comments, it isn’t the most telling thing he said. I was particularly taken with this passage: “This is the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitania and any other major historic event where we’ve tolerated the intolerable for too long.” That actually would be a more accurate statement if made by someone trying to explain the actions of Tiller’s killer. I don’t condone the murder of Tiller. However, it is very clear that we have tolerated the intolerable for FAR too long. If abortion is intolerable (and it is) and yet we as a society tolerate it then when do we reach a tipping point? Do we all share the stain of this evil for tolerating it just as our country’s founders share the stain of slavery for tolerating it?
Tiller’s killer is clearly unstable. John Brown was called a madman. Killing Tiller will not end abortion. John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry did not end slavery, but lead to the Civil War. A Civil War was necessary to end the greatest evil of the 19th century. Will a war be necessary to end the greatest evil of our times? I pray it doesn’t come to that.
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