BUFFALO, N.Y. — Anti-abortion activist James Kopp admitted in a jailhouse interview Nov. 20 with the Buffalo News that he fired the shot that killed abortionist Dr. Barnett Slepian on Oct. 23, 1998.

Kopp said he did not intend to kill Slepian but only wanted to wound him to prevent further babies from being aborted.

“The truth is not that I regret shooting Dr. Slepian. I regret that he died,” Kopp told the newspaper. “I aimed at his shoulder. The bullet took a crazy ricochet, and that's what killed him. One of my goals was to keep Dr. Slepian alive, and I failed at that goal.”

Slepian was shot in the presence of his wife and four sons as he warmed soup in the microwave in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, a Buffalo suburb. Kopp said he saw him appear in the window as he put the soup in the microwave and knew he'd be back in the same spot to get it soon after.

Kopp quickly became one of the suspects and was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list. For two and a half years he traveled to Mexico and Ireland wearing disguises and using fake identities. He was eventually captured in Dinan, France, in March 2001.

Kopp said his outrage over abortion prompted him to shoot Slepian. When other tactics, such as leafleting, writing protest letters to government officials and blocking abortion clinics didn't work, he said, he decided to take more drastic action. He admitted stalking Slepian for months before hiding in the woods behind Slepian's home on the night he fired the shot that killed him.

Kopp said he decided to make a public confession because he believes his supporters have been misled, and he wants them to know the reasons behind his actions. He also said he feels sorrow for Slepian's wife and four sons.

Kopp's supporters described him as a pacifist and a poor marksman. Others had suggested the FBI might have framed him. Both the Denton, Texas-based pro-life organization Life Dynamics and Catholic World Report magazine had questioned some of the evidence in the Kopp investigation.

The reaction to Kopp's confession from most pro-life groups was one of condemnation.

So was the reaction of pro-abortion groups. Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Gloria Feldt described Kopp as “an extremist, a terrorist and a confessed murderer.”

Feldt described Kopp's confession as “a ploy that comes at a time when the Bush administration and Congress are poised to enact a laundry list of restrictions to under mine a woman's right to choose. Kopp's confession is a painful reminder of the dangers to our individual rights posed by extremists who will go to any lengths to impose their ideology on others.”

Father Frank Pavone, president of Priests for Life, said violence against abortion providers stops needed work from being done.

“One of our areas of specialty at Priests for Life is dialogue with abortion providers and assisting former abortionists on the road to reconciliation and healing,” he said.

Father Pavone said he recently signed a joint statement with Bill Baird, the “father of the pro-choice movement.” In the statement, the two declare that “respectful dialogue, while not expecting either party to compromise his or her beliefs, can lessen or stop dangerous, dehumanizing assumptions about those on the opposite side of this issue. … We believe that regular meetings, including social ones, between opposing sides should be conducted at least once a month to encourage people to form civil relationships.”

With regard to violence against abortion providers, Father Pavone said the reason it is wrong is that “the sanctity of every human life really means ‘every,’ no matter how young, how small, how sick … or how wrong. As the Pope writes in [his 1995 encyclical] The Gospel of Life, ‘Not even the murderer loses his personal dignity.’”

While the Stafford, Va.-based American Life League had no comment on the case, it referred to its “Pro-Life Proclamation Against Violence,” which says the organization rejects violence and those who commit violent acts. The statement also says “all perpetrators of violence, far from being pro-life crusaders, are nothing more than common criminals.”

Some in the pro-life movement wonder if the news won't lead to a backlash from pro-abortion groups. “Our opponents might try to capitalize on it,” said Laurence Behr, president of Western New York Lawyers for Life and executive director of the Association for the Arch of Triumph, a Buffalo nonprofit that hopes to erect a 700-foot-high pro-life arch in Buffalo containing a shrine dedicated to the Holy Innocents.

“There were previous letters to the editor of the Buffalo News by individuals who felt it was inappropriate for us to be proposing a pro-life arch in the same community where an abortionist was murdered,” Behr said.

Still, Behr was not concerned about Kopp's confession impacting his efforts to move ahead with plans for the Arch of Triumph. “Our supporters are not people who would approve of what Kopp did,” Behr said.

Innocent of Murder?

Kopp has pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree murder and interfering with the right to an abortion and is scheduled to go to trial in Erie County Court in February.

Behr questioned whether a court would allow Kopp's defense.

“It's basically a justification defense and courts have not allowed such a defense for abortion protesters who have blocked clinic access,” he said. “I would be surprised if such a defense would be allowed.”

“Clearly, it's always wrong to turn to violence in such circumstances,” said Cathleen Cleaver, director of Planning and Activities Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, “just as it's wrong to turn to abortion to solve the problem of a crisis unplanned pregnancy. Using violence in the name of pro-life makes a mockery of the pro-life cause.”

“This has been an unresolved case for many years,” Cleaver said of the Kopp case. “Any step toward its resolution, including the latest revelation, is a good step.”

Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.