Antiabortion Extremism and Violence in the United States

Winter, Aaron (2013) Antiabortion Extremism and Violence in the United States. In: Extremism in America. University Press of Florida, pp. 218-248. ISBN 9780813044972

Abstract

This chapter examines the history of extreme and violent anti-abortion activism in the United States. Numerous actors compose this subculture, including mainstream militant direct-action organizations, such as Operation Rescue and Lambs of Christ; groups that advocate or perpetuate violence against abortion providers and patients, such as the Army of God and American Coalition of Life Activists; websites that advocate for violence, such as the Nuremburg Files; and so-called “lone wolf” terrorists, such as James Kopp and Eric Rudolph. This chapter interrogates their links to and relationships with the mainstream anti-abortion movement, the wider mainstream Christian right, and the extreme right. It also examines responses to these activists and anti-abortion violence by the media, the public, the government, and the mainstream anti-abortion movement.