'Pro-Choice Terrorist' Sentenced for Threatening to Kill Pro-Life Advocates
A man in New York City who described himself as a "pro-choice terrorist" and threatened to kill pro-life leaders, Priests for Life director Frank Pavone and Princeton University's Robert George, in 2010, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.
In January 2010, abortion advocate Theodore Shulman threatened to injure the two pro-life advocates through a message on a blog called, SecondHandSmoke, that appears on the bipartisan news site FirstThings.com.
The 51-year-old pro-choice advocate, who pleaded guilty in May 2012, threatened that if Scott Roeder - who was convicted in 2010 for the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a doctor who provided abortion services - is acquitted, someone will respond by killing Pavone and George.
Shulman, a self-described "pro-choice terrorist," was sentenced by Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan federal court last Wednesday. Apart from the prison term, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment fee.
Pavone told LifeSiteNews that he had already publicly forgiven Shulman and prays for him every day. "I also renew, with my friend Bill Baird, known as the Father of the Pro-Choice movement, the joint statement we made years ago rejecting hatred and violence in word and deed between those on opposite sides of the abortion issue."
After Shulman pleaded guilty five months ago, Pavone said, "Mr. Shulman is in my prayers and I extend to him my personal forgiveness."
Shulman was in possession of cyanide, castor beans, and rosary peas at the time of his arrest in February 2011. He had been held without bail since his arrest. The May plea deal included an agreement that prosecutors would not charge Shulman for the possession of cyanide and other deadly substances.
Shulman ran a blog called "Operation Counterstrike," which said, "Right-to-lifism is murder, and ALL right-to-lifers are bloody-handed accessories. Swear it, believe it, proclaim it, and act on it."
The pro-choice extremist had also targeted LifeSiteNews blogger Jill Stanek, writing at least 4,000 comments over four years. One of the comments read, "I'm looking forward to watching a documentary entitled 'The Assassination of Jill Stanek.'"