ABSTRACT
The murder of Dr David Gunn in 1993 by Michael Griffin made a decisive break with the pro-life rescue movement’s 20-year history of non-violent protest against abortion in America. That act opened the floodgates to other violent attacks on doctors, and brought to public notice a violent splinter sect of the larger millenarian subculture dedicated to the ‘rescue’ of the unborn. This essay seeks to detail the stages through which the radical fringe of the rescue movement passed before they came to embrace the necessity of ‘Defensive Action’. By allowing the rescuers to speak in their own voices, it is hoped that the study will contribute to a greater understanding of the process by which a millenarian movement turns from non-violent witness to violent activism.
