An Implicit Call to Arms

The staff sidesteps the critical fact that the Web site in question aims to incite violence against innocent citizens who perform a legal medical procedure. In so doing, the site weakens its claims to First Amendment protection, and we hope the Federal court in Oregon considers this question more seriously than the staff.

The site, in keeping track of the "wounded" and "fatalities" of the battle over abortion rights, encourages violence. The purpose of the site is clear to any reasonable--much more to an unreasonable--person. Those who kill babies must be stopped, the site says, and the way to stop them is to wound or kill those doctors yourself, to take the law into your own hands, to break the law.

To group this site under the auspices of the Bill of Rights demeans those very rights. While we share the staff's concern for the freedom of speech, we are equally concerned about the doctors' right to life, and we urge the court to consider seriously the line between political speech, which the rest of the site is, and violating the law. Jenny E. Heller '01,   Adam S. Hickey '99,   Caille M. Millner '01,   James Y. Stern '01,   Geoffrey C. Upton '99