A murderer, not a martyr, is put to death in Florida

The execution of Paul Hill by the state of Florida for the 1994 murders of a doctor who performed abortions and his bodyguard should not be seen for anything more than what it is: an unrepentant killer receiving just punishment.
To make Hill out to be a martyr is to sanction murder. And that is unconscionable. Having a member of the clergy glaring into television cameras and calling the killings of Dr. John Bayard Britton and his unarmed bodyguard "justifiable homicide" is reprehensible. Such statements have no place in the national debate on abortion.
"If you believe abortion is a lethal force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to do to stop it," said Hill, 49, in his last statement. "May God help you to protect the unborn as you would want to be protected." His execution was by lethal injection.
Invoking the name of God in murder does not make it less of a crime. Indeed, it illustrates the perverted view Hill and his ilk have of faith and religion. In their world, killing a doctor who performs an abortion is right because abortion is wrong.
But as Sheila Hopkins, spokeswoman for the Florida Catholic Conference, put it, "We think that unborn children should be protected, and it should be through law." Hopkins rejected the notion that Hill was justified in committing the murders.
If only everyone opposed to abortion shared that view.
It is noteworthy that Hill's murderous rampage was inspired by the 1993 shooting death of another abortion doctor.
"I know one thing: No innocent babies are going to be killed in the clinic today," he told arresting officers after he fired the shotgun, thereby taking the lives of Britton and James Barrett, the bodyguard, outside a Pensacola abortion clinic.
High alert
Wednesday's execution has put abortion providers on high alert, and Florida state law-enforcement agents and the FBI are investigating threats made against state officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush. Bullets were mailed in letters to the judge who sentenced Hill, to state Attorney General Charlie Crist and to two state prison officials. The letters also implicitly threatened the governor because he signed Hill's death warrant.
To his credit, Bush said he would not be "bullied" into stopping the execution. That is the proper stand for all law-abiding citizens to take, especially those in positions of power. There should be no compromising when it comes to enforcing the law of the land.
Abortion is legal in the United States; murder is not. Period.
Those opposed to abortion can work within the system if their goal is to change the law to make it illegal. They must not be permitted to take the law into their own hands to punish those who do not share their views.
In 1998, after the bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., that claimed the life of a security guard and critically injured a clinic employee, Jim Cavanaugh, special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, made the following statement: "This was a vicious, wicked and diabolical act."
That's a fitting description of all the violence that has been aimed at abortion clinics and those who provide the service.