To the editor:

In her June 20 letter, Donna McKnelly claims:

• that Operation Rescue has plastered an image of George Tiller onto their van, complete with a bullet hole in his head.

• that anti-abortion protesters are chanting “You’re next!” outside a (conveniently unidentified) women’s clinic in North Carolina.

• that T-shirts reading “You’re next, Dr. Hern!” are sold somewhere on the Internet. (Dr. Hern is a late-term abortionist.)

These claims were originally made by a small blog found at feministcampus. blogspot.com, who fabricated the stories in attempt to raise money for Ms. Magazine. Not a single one of McKnelly’s outrageous claims has been verified, or even mentioned, by any media source. A Google search for “You’re next Dr. Hern” returns no T-shirt sellers, only copies of McKnelly’s letter.

I’m sure McKnelly needs no reminding that this nation’s abortion debate is already is terse and strained. Defamation will not help.