Citation

Mason C. New Polit. Sci. 2000; 22(1): 11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/713687891

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the 1990s, pro-life violence signaled a move away from protest and toward retribution. Pro-life litigation and legislation, especially as described in an underground manual titled Firestorm: A Guerrilla Strategy for Pro-Life America, also indicate this trend. In fact, pro-life guerrilla warfare and pro-life ''guerrilla legislation'' function together politically, even if they are not orchestrated. Close analyses of Firestorm and other primary sources show that pro-life ideology accommodates retributive violence not only implicitly and in practice, but explicitly and in principle. Pro-life retribution is seen as a way to restore the order of God. In this light, the phenomenon of killing for ''life'' is revealed not as an oxymoron, but as a logical consistency and a political manifestation of religious retribution.