COPS will be keeping a close eye on city abortion clinics today as Florida prepares to execute abortion-doc killer Paul Hill – for fear his death may inspire violent acts by those who want to follow him into martyrdom.
“He hopes people will rise up and protect unborn babies,” said the Rev. Donald Spitz, a former Queens native who acts as Hill’s spiritual adviser and visits him daily at Florida State Prison.
Hill, who was in a “good frame of mind” yesterday and had “joy in his heart,” will be executed at 6 p.m. for the shooting death of Dr. John Britton, 69; his volunteer escort James Barrett, 74, and the wounding of Barrett’s wife outside a Pensacola clinic in 1994.
“He knows what he did was right and he is willing to give his life for the unborn child,” said Spitz, 55, who grew up in Queens Village.
“He will become a martyr for the unborn and many people will consider him a hero.”
Those are the people abortion clinics are concerned about.
Joan Malin, the president of Planned Parenthood for the city, said she has alerted cops to the potential for violence that may be inflicted on their clinics in the South Bronx, downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn when the execution occurs.
“We have taken all the necessary precautions,” said Malin, who charges that a small fringe of the local anti-abortion movement has waged a campaign of violence, harassment and intimidation against the organization.
“Every day we make sure the people who come to us, our clients and staff, are safe,” said Malin, who refused to detail the security measures.
Local anti-abortion activist Chris Slattery, who helped co-found Operation Rescue in 1988, doubts any of the movement’s “radical fringe” will act against city clinics.
“The pro-life movement in New York City has not produced a single violent pro-lifer,” he said.
Slattery disagrees with Hill’s idea that the execution of an abortion doctor is “justifiable homicide,” and also with Hill’s execution.
“Killing the killer of a baby killer isn’t going to stop the killing.”