Remembering Jim Pouillon

One week ago today, Jim Pouillon was murdered outside of Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan as he held a sign depicting the graphic aftermath of abortion. By all accounts, it is the first time in U.S. history that someone has been killed for their opposition to abortion. As someone whose active opposition to abortion began with exposure to similar imagery, and who has displayed graphic abortion images on college campuses hundreds of times, I feel a connection to this man – though I never met him. One of the reasons, I've waited this long to formally respond to the tragedy is because I wanted to see what the response would be from the abortion industry itself. Would they respond with outrage, as so many pro-life groups did in when George Tiller was killed? Or would they respond with silence?

A week later, it's fair to conclude that the abortion industry has largely decided to respond in silence. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Abortion is about violently eliminating inconvenience – and so was the murder of Jim Pouillon. The man who allegedly shot him was simply "offended by [his] anti-abortion material". Mr. Pouillon was interfering with this man's emotional well-being and so he ended his life.

On my first full-day of pro-life activism – in January, 1999 with CBR's Genocide Awareness Project at the University of Florida – a student walked up to me, looked at the signs (many of them extremely graphic), listened to CBR director Gregg Cunningham interact with a hostile crowd and told me, "he's going to be shot some day". And now here we are. When the value of individual human life and dignity is denigrated, it comes back to haunt all of us.

May God bless the courage and conviction of Jim Pouillon!