Abortionist found guilty of murder

No, not for the unborn children he killed. Not for the two mothers he killed in botched abortions, either. After years of legal wrangling, Alabama abortionist Malachy DeHenre will serve 20 years in prison for the murder of his wife. He joins the esteemed ranks of abortionists Thomas Neill Cream, Conroy James Hayes, John Gwynne, and John Baxter Hamilton, all abortionists who killed their wives or girlfriends. I do not know of a single CPC director or other prominent pro-life advocate who has killed his or her spouse. If you’re aware of any, please share.

Jones County Assistant District Attorney J. Ronald Parrish told the laurel Leader Call newspaper last week that he was informed by the state high court that the conviction was upheld.

“No case I’ve handled since I’ve been here gives me as much gratification as this one,” he said. “The man is a despicable nasty person.”

“He not only killed his wife, that’s what he was convicted for, but I think people need to know about him. He also killed two other women during botched abortion. One was in Alabama and one in Jackson, Mississippi. And according to him, he performed 30,000 abortions on unborn children,” Parrish continued.

DeHenre’s New Woman Medical Center abortion facility in Jackson closed in 2005 and he was required, in December 2005, to pay substantial damages to a woman who was injured in a failed abortion in 2003.

It’s always risky to posit a connection between abortion and postnatal violence. After all, there are hundreds of abortion facilities in the United States, and most of those abortionists have thankfully not gone out and killed their wives! That said, it is a generally accepted theory in psychology that repeated exposure to violence has a desensitizing effect; abortionists themselves admit that abortion is a violent act and that committing one requires emotional detatchment.

So what can we do to end the violence? The Pro-Life Action League suggests that pro-lifers “adopt” abortionists: inviting them to dinner, befriending them, making the argument for life in a peaceful, personal way, and helping them transition to non-violent careers. Taking that first step is scary, but I feel that secular (particularly atheist and agnostic) pro-lifers are in an especially good position to try it. The worst you can hear is “No.” For the many SecularProLife.org supporters who are students, check out Medical Students for Life, an initiative of Students for Life of America. Through educational outreach, and by creating a support system for pro-life physicians in training, they aim to prevent abortion practices before they begin.