IFAS | Freedom Writer | August/September 1993 | trosch.html

Violence escalates in wake of Gunn murder

A Roman Catholic priest attempted to place a newspaper ad in the Mobile Register that advocated killing doctors who perform abortions. In mid-August, the Rev. David Trosch went to the Alabama newspaper and submitted an ad which shows a man pointing a gun at a doctor who is holding a knife over a pregnant woman. A caption reads "Justifiable Homicide."

Father Trosch, pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, told the newspaper, "If 100 doctors need to die to save over one million babies a year, I see it as a fair trade."

The 57-year-old priest's church is about 30 miles from Pensacola, Florida, where Dr. David Gunn was murdered at a clinic by a "pro-lifer" last March. Father Trosch said the shooting has intensified his anti-abortion feelings.

The newspaper refused to print the ad, and Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile denounced Trosch's actions.

Meanwhile, in Wichita, Kansas, a "pro-lifer" passing out anti-abortion literature at a clinic opened fire at a doctor, wounding him in both arms. The female assailant escaped in a waiting car.

Dr. George Tiller was treated at a local hospital and released. Tiller's clinic was one of three in Wichita targeted by Operation Rescue last summer.

© 1998 Institute for First Amendment Studies, Inc.