Randall Terry Warns of ‘Horrific Consequences’ if Abortion is Publicly Funded

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry and other militant anti-abortionists announced yesterday their plans to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the National Press Club, a Washington, D.C., organization that’s become the venue of choice for a rogue’s gallery of white supremacist hate groups, anti-immigration extremists and other right-wing extremists.

According to a press release, Terry plans to “discuss what he and other pro-life leaders will and will not do if healthcare passes and includes paying for child-killing, and what convulsions follow.”

Terry has been criticized in recent weeks for his organization’s vicious demonizing and targeting of Wichita, Kan., abortion provider George Tiller right up to the day Tiller was gunned down in May in his own church, allegedly by a man with a long history of antigovernment and anti-abortion extremism. Despite the heat he caught following Tiller’s murder, Terry shows no signs of toning down his rhetoric.

In fact, if anything, he’s ratcheting it up. A statement attributed to him in the press release about tomorrow’s presentation is loaded with fiery tax resister rhetoric, thinly veiled threats and warnings of violent retribution against elected officials and others who support abortion rights.

“Let all those in government be warned: They cannot order people to pay for the murder of babies, and betray God Himself, without horrific consequences,” Terry states.

Here’s the rest of his statement:

“Background: It is clear that many elements in the pro-abortion congress and White House want to force Americans to pay for the murder of the unborn in their ‘healthcare’ program.

“If that happens, it is tantamount to the government putting a gun to taxpayers' heads to pay for the brutal murder of an innocent child. This is tyranny and evil of the highest order.

“Please understand: neither I, nor any thinking person wants the convulsions that would inevitably come from such a government policy — the decision to force Americans to pay for the murder of their neighbor.

"Nevertheless, the sheer horror and frustration of such an evil policy will lead some people to absolutely refuse to pay their taxes. And I believe — if my reading of history from America and around the world is correct — that there are others who will be tempted to acts of violence.

"If the government of this country tramples the faith and values of its citizens, history will hold those in power responsible for the violent convulsions that follow.”

At Firedoglake, a liberal blog, Christy Hardin Smith wrote yesterday about Terry, in particular his relationship to the Republican Party. Smith criticized the GOP for keeping Terry at arm’s length but refusing to condemn his violent language:

“It’s well past time that GOP lawmakers were asked — clearly and without any ambiguity — what they think of Terry's fire and brimstone violence stoking on behalf of their policy agenda,” Smith wrote. “Because they cannot have it both ways any more that Terry can. Using Terry's dangerous rhetoric to push the Republican policy agenda makes them just as responsible for the ends of those means as Terry is. Either you embrace the violent ends that result from this and take responsibility.  Or you denounce it for what it is:  dangerous violence stoking rhetoric that poses a public threat, and is designed to scare public officials into inaction through threats of violence and retribution against their safety.”