US anti-abortionist faces execution The first man to face the death penalty in the United States for killing a doctor who performed abortions is to be executed on Wednesday.
Paul Hill, 49, is due to die by lethal injection in northern Florida, following his conviction of the murder of two people outside an abortion clinic in 1994.
There are fears that his execution may lead to a backlash from anti-abortion campaigners against doctors and clinics.
The planned execution has been criticised by an unusual alliance of anti-abortion Christian protesters and anti-death penalty activists.
However Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican who is also the brother of US President Gorge W Bush, appears unlikely to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.
I believe the state, by executing me, will be making me a martyr
Paul Hill
"The fact is that he is a murderer," he said.
"He has not asked for appeals and on 3 September, I guess he will be executed."
Hill - a father of three and former Presbyterian minister - has said he would kill again to save the unborn and is looking forward to dying for his cause.
"I believe the state, by executing me, will be making me a martyr," he told a news conference on Wednesday.
Violent tactics
Abortion clinics in Florida have been placed on high alert after extreme anti-abortion activists warned of imminent attacks and several officials received death threats.
However mainstream pro-life groups have distanced themselves from violent tactics.
Anti-death penalty activists, for their part, are urging the Florida governor to "stop the martyrdom of Paul Hill".
"Please commute Paul Hill's death sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole, because killing Paul Hill will actually encourage more murder," a group called Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty wrote in an open letter to Jeb Bush.
Hill has been convicted murdering Doctor John Britton and his driver James Barrett outside the Ladies Center in Pensacola, Florida, in 1994.
Hill gave himself up to police, saying that he had carried out the killings to prevent innocent babies being killed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3077040.stm
Published: 2003/09/03 09:23:54 GMT
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