To the editor:

In Ohio, the Operation Rescue van drives by an abortion clinic at five miles per hour. Plastered on it are the usual doctored and Photoshopped pictures of bloody fetuses with one chilling exception. Now added to that is a picture of Dr. George Tiller. With a bullet hole in his head.

At a clinic in North Carolina, anti-abortion protesters link arms and chant, “You’re next! You’re next!” as the owner of a women’s clinic enters the building.

On the Internet, T-shirts are being sold with a picture of Dr. Warren Hern on them. Under the picture are the words, “You’re next, Dr. Hern!” Dr. Hern is the physician at a women’s clinic in Boulder, Colo. He is one of the few physicians left in this country that provides late-term abortions to women with nonviable babies.

This is all being done under the guise of “First Amendment rights.” However, I want to know when incitement to murder of innocent people involved in legal activities became protected speech. How is this any different from terrorism? The First Amendment is there to protect citizens from being prevented by the government from engaging in free political discourse. But this is not politics nor is it political speech. This is intimidation and threat. Plain and simple.