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On June 17, 1994, Paul Hill, a Christian anti-abortion extremist and former minister, was heard shouting “Mommy, mommy, don't kill me” and “God hates murders and murderers” outside The Ladies Center abortion clinic, Pensacola, Florida (Ladies Center, 2003). Six weeks later, on July 29, 1994, Hill killed Dr. John Britton, 69, and his volunteer clinic escort, James Barrett, 74, with a barrage of bullets, in the driveway of the clinic, since renamed Community Healthcare Center. The reason: Hill believed he had to take “all godly action necessary to defend innocent human life including the use of force” (Army of God, 1993).
Hill, the first person in the United States executed, in 2003, for the killing of an abortion provider, became an icon for violent Christian fundamentalists bent on “restoring” the United States to a theocratic rule under God's law (Clarkson, 1997). For the mainstream Christian pro-life movement, which condemned his act, he became an embarrassment. Contrary to his grandiose expectations, his violent act of what he called “justifiable homicide” backfired, weakening the public standing of the movement. Since 1993, when violent Christian anti-abortion activists began to target the life of abortion providers, seven people have been killed and fifteen injured in six separate shootings and two bombings. Most of the killings and many of the more than 200 arsons and bombings of abortion providers were committed by people who, like Hill, were associated with the “Army of God” (AOG), an organization of “soldiers” of God (Pinkerson, Levin, & Voll, 2001) vowing to end legalized abortion by any means necessary (Clarkson, 1998). Active since 1982, it is led by Rev. Michael