NBC's Williams Hits Palin With 'Abortion Clinic Bomber' Stereotype

NBC's Brian Williams surely made the abortion lobby smile this week when he asked Sarah Palin in an interview, "Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist?" There's few things that abortion defenders love more than painting pro-lifers as violent bombers, arsonists, and assassins. But reality paints a different picture. The facts (pdf):

  • There have been zero murders of abortionists and abortion clinic workers in the United States and Canada this decade. The last "attempted murder" was eight years ago, in 2000.
  • There were zero such murders in the United States and Canada between 1973 and 1992.
  • There has been one bombing of an abortion clinic so far this decade.

These stats must have been culled from some rabid pro-life group, right? Wrong. They come from the abortion lobby itself. They come from the National Abortion Federation (NAF). While any violence against a doctor, worker, or property is wrong, the facts show how rare violence against abortionists, abortion clinic workers, and abortion clinics really is.But why let the truth get in the way of a good smear? For Brian Williams, it's already, "Mission accomplished."(We've addressed this very issue before, in two previous posts: Here and here.)

Dave Pierre
Dave Pierre is a contributing writer to NewsBusters and the creator of TheMediaReport.com.