Conviction in Conviction

Scott Roeder, murderer of Dr. George Tiller, has been sentenced to the maximum 50 years without the possibility of parole. Roeder is 52 years old, so that’s pretty much it for him in terms of seeing the light of day as a free man. Justice is on our side for a change.

Roeder ranted and raved through some of the proceedings, and was led screaming from the court room. A Huffington Post article I found about the story mentioned something that I found pretty interesting concerning Roeder’s (ex, why am I not surprised) family:

{“Roeder's ex-wife said the outbursts were characteristic of the man she knew. Lindsey Roeder said she and their son, Nicholas, were relieved by the sentence.

"I think it will be a lot easier to put it behind us than it will be for the Tiller family," she said. "Their pain will continue long after ours has subsided." }

It’s quite telling that the most zealous of anti-choice activists, who supposedly cares so much for the “lives” of embryos and fetuses, potential children in their eyes, will think nothing of the suffering that they will cause their own living, breathing, perfectly personifiable children and families by their actions. It’s all about them, their ability to control others, and their self-inflicted martyrdom.

It is important to emphasize that Roeder is not a sane man in a world gone mad, as those that testified for him and many hard line anti-choicers paint him as. He is insane. He ruined his marriage and his relationship with his son persuing demons and strawmen that do not in fact exist in reality, but in his head and the heads of his ilk. Unfortunately, Dr. Tiller, through no fault of his own, was chosen to be one of those demons. This kind of behavior isn't restricted to anti-choice circles either, but runs throughout society (Solanas and Warhol, for example). Any divisive issue breeds this.

It is the hope of many that Roeder's conviction will deter zealous anti-choicers from this kind of violent behavior, but I fear it will only drive them further. Indeed I'm sure Roeder is sitting in his cell at this moment feeling quite the martyr. I can only hope along with the Tiller family that he not be allowed to, "foment hatred from his prison cell."