By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 12 years ago

Man arrested for attempting to murder abortion providers

From RH Reality Check comes the deeply disturbing news of a man who was arrested Wednesday and will face federal charges for intent to murder providers at a Madison, Wisconsin Planned Parenthood.

Ralph Lang, 63, was arrested Wednesday night when his gun went off in his motel room not far from the Planned Parenthood clinic that he planned to attack Thursday. According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court Lang said he had a gun “to lay out abortionists because they are killing babies.”

Ralph Lang holds a sign at an anti-choice protest
The image at right, which I found via @ClinicEscort and which was uncovered by @ucc3llina, shows Lang participating in a 40 Days for Life protest outside a Madison, WI clinic. He is holding a sign that reads “Abortion stops a beating heart.” Lang told police he purchased his gun about two years ago after participating in a protest. Just in case you had any doubt about these actions inciting their most extreme, unstable participants to violence.

More of Lang’s frightening statement, from the Wisconsin State Journal:

Lang said he planned on shooting the clinic’s doctor “right in the head,” according to the complaint. Asked if he planned to shoot just the doctor or nurses, too, Lang replied he wished he “could line them up all in a row, get a machine gun, and mow them all down,” the complaint said.

Lang picked Thursday to target the clinic because he thought it was a day abortions were performed.

Lang has been arrested before for targeting Planned Parenthood – at that time he told an officer, “the bible states that anyone involved with abortion should be executed.” In his motel room, police found a map with hand drawn marks identifying “some abortion centers” and the words “Blessed Virgin Mary says Hell awaits any woman having an abortion. Nurse or doctor who helps with one.”

A pdf of the criminal complaint against Lang can be found here.

The Planned Parenthood is open again after taking the necessary security measures with FBI and police help.

Make no mistake, while there are plenty of well meaning people who call themselves pro-life, there’s nothing “pro-life” about the radical anti-choice movement. This movement repeatedly incites violence against providers. They are waging a war against those who try to peacefully offer legal, vital medical care.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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