Man says he killed abortion provider to protect unborn

WICHITA, Kan. — Defiant and unapologetic, a man accused of shooting a Kansas abortion provider confessed to the slaying Monday, telling The Associated Press that he killed the doctor to protect unborn children.

Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., spoke to the AP in a telephone call from jail, saying he plans to argue at his trial that he was justified in shooting Dr. George Tiller.

"Because of the fact preborn children's lives were in imminent danger this was the action I chose. ... I want to make sure that the focus is, of course, obviously on the preborn children and the necessity to defend them," Roeder said.

"Defending innocent life — that is what prompted me. I mean, it is pretty simple," he said.

Roeder is charged with one count of first-degree murder in Tiller's death and two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers who tried to stop him during the May 31 melee in the foyer of the doctor's Wichita church. Roeder has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Tiller family attorney Lee Thompson and groups that support abortion rights decried Roeder as a terrorist who used violence to achieve his political agenda.

"It is precisely this unrepentant domestic terrorism — and those who fund it — that must be stopped or else we will see more clinic violence and people will be killed," the president of the National Organization for Women, Terry O'Neill, said in a statement.

Thompson has said allowing Roeder to use a so-called necessity defense would "invite chaos and be tantamount to anarchy." Courts have prevented others accused of killing abortion providers from using the same argument.

"It is my view legally that it is an absurdity and simply reflects he is doing nothing more than trying to get publicity," Thompson said.

Troy Newman, president of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, said Roeder's statements do not reflect the sentiments of most people who oppose abortion.

"The pro-life standard has always been to protect the dignity of human life, all human life, from the moment of conception until natural death," Newman said.