Twenty-[FIVE]*

I honestly don't understand groups like "Operation Rescue." I know I'm pro-choice and am all for women being able to decide what to do with themselves and their bodies. But I also completely am aware that some folks don't share my views. And that's fine, they can believe anything they like. It's a free country, isn't it? As long as those views don't infringe on other women's rights, I don't have much of an issue with folks who are pro-life/anti-choice/however you want to phrase it. They don't have to have that procedure if they don't want to, but their views shouldn't infringe on the rights of those who do have it or need to have it.

That said, I really don't get groups like Operation Rescue. Or Army of God for that matter. They're the lovely (note my sarcasm) motley crew who has brought you the support for the premeditated murders and threats made on the lives of OB/GYNs who happen to perform abortions. Even many folks who don't like the procedure do not even condone the actions of these groups. David Gunn was the first of these professionals to be murdered by anti-abortion extremists, even though that procedure was not the only one he performed (he was also a gynecologist and obstetrician for lower-income women). Then after his death, six more OB/GYNs were threatened and then killed. Seventeen more of them (or plain old clinic workers like receptionists, counselors, and the like) have received death threats or attempted murders.

I honestly think that's such a huge hypocrisy. I know not every pro-lifer would do that (in fact, I'm sure most would be disgusted as well), but it strikes me as so hypocritical and disgusting. If someone wants to protect human/unborn life, then what makes it somehow acceptable to kill someone who's already living? That simply doesn't make sense.

*I hate to be a downer, but recently, a college-aged Planned Parenthood employee named Johanna Justin-Jinich was murdered by a stalker who drove across the country to commit this terrible crime. What will it take to make it stop? Guaranteed, her campus police took swift action to catch her assassin, but even one murder/attempted murder is one too many! I don't see how you can "choose life" and then kill a full-grown adult. As a college-aged activist, that strikes a little too close to home for me. My heart goes out to her and her family.