NBC's Brian Williams surely made the abortion lobby smile this week when he asked Sarah Palin in an interview, "Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist?" There's few things that abortion defenders love more than painting pro-lifers as violent bombers, arsonists, and assassins. But reality paints a different picture. The facts (pdf):
- There have been zero murders of abortionists and abortion clinic workers in the United States and Canada this decade. The last "attempted murder" was eight years ago, in 2000.
- There were zero such murders in the United States and Canada between 1973 and 1992.
- There has been one bombing of an abortion clinic so far this decade.
These stats must have been culled from some rabid pro-life group, right? Wrong. They come from the abortion lobby itself. They come from the National Abortion Federation (NAF). While any violence against a doctor, worker, or property is wrong, the facts show how rare violence against abortionists, abortion clinic workers, and abortion clinics really is.
But why let the truth get in the way of a good smear? For Brian Williams, it's already, "Mission accomplished."
(We've addressed this very issue before, in two previous posts: Here and here.)