Hill’s scheduled execution on Sept. 3–the nation’s first involving the killer of an abortion doctor–has convulsed both sides of the abortion debate. Opponents of the practice worry that the political progress they’ve made could be set back by a reminder of the movement’s violent extremists. Abortion-rights proponents fear that fringe activists–several dozen of whom plan to descend on Florida this week–will hail Hill as a martyr and unleash a new wave of attacks against clinics and doctors. Those concerns escalated two weeks ago when four Florida officials, including the judge in Hill’s case, received envelopes with live bullets and threatening letters–at least one of which reportedly named Gov. Jeb Bush. (The latest issue of the radical Abortion Abolitionist features Hill on the cover and a quote by antislavery crusader John Brown: “Let them be shown bullets.”) According to Vicki Saporta of the pro-choice National Abortion Federation, violence against clinics typically increases in the months following an extremist’s conviction. Facilities nationwide are on high alert, authorities in Florida have ratcheted up security at clinics and the FBI is monitoring known extremists. “We’re going to see more [violence],” says Hill supporter C. Roy McMillan. “I think it’s inevitable.”
Such sentiments have prompted a diverse chorus of protest against Hill’s execution. Opponents span the political spectrum–from ultraconservatives who applaud his killings, to liberal death-penalty foes, to mainstream anti-abortion activists intent on depriving him of martyr status. Yet few options remain for Hill, who says he’s ready to die. Last week the Florida Supreme Court quickly rejected an appeal his former lawyers filed without his approval. Despite his Roman Catholicism, Governor Bush hasn’t been swayed by bishops’ entreaties to commute Hill’s death sentence to life in prison without parole. “I will not yield to a threat” from extremists, he told The Orlando Sentinel, and Hill “won’t be a martyr.”
Until now, most had assumed that the abortion battle’s bloodiest days had passed. After the 1998 killing of an abortion doctor (there have been seven abortion-related murders and 17 attempted ones so far, according to Saporta), Attorney General Janet Reno established a task force to combat such violence, and it abated. Tough laws enacted in the mid-1990s curbed protesters who tried to block access to clinics. The legal crackdown persuaded many to migrate from the streets to the legislatures, where they’ve become potent lobbying forces. They’ve struggled to insulate their cause from any association with Hill’s fanaticism. Even those still in the streets mostly draw the line at nonviolent civil disobedience–like Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America, who says he’s urged members not “to join that circus” in Florida. On the eve of his scheduled execution, Hill is planning a final appearance on the national stage with a press conference from death row. Once he falls silent, activists on both sides can only hope that his most ardent admirers do so as well.
