Dr. Henry Morgentaler is hardly the appropriate person to be speaking about violence.

Nevertheless, he got on the soapbox yesterday in Toronto along with some of his cohorts in the pro-choice faction and railed against assorted religious leaders, the Catholic church and pro-life people in general.

It was standard tactical warfare by a special interest group -- call a news conference and when the media comes running, spew forth a bunch of hypocritical platitudes thinly disguised as righteousness.

Then, tell everyone who doesn't agree to keep quite because their opinions are unacceptable.

Very predictable. The whole exercise would be laughable if the subject matter weren't so tragic.

Morgentaler, flanked by by Ellen Magdison of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League and a couple of other pro-choice types, condemned the Catholic Church for the recent killings of two Massachusetts abortion clinic workers.

A leap of logic

The Catholic Church? Now there's a leap of logic.

Morgentaler insisted the Church, along with religious leaders of other denominations, must be held morally responsible for the killings simply because they take a pro-life stance.

"I call on all religious leaders who are preaching against abortion to consider the violence of words," Morgentaler intoned.

In other words, those who oppose him should shut up and let Morgentaler get on with his own brand of violence.

This is the man who in an interview a few years ago admitted to having performed 60,000 abortions in his career.

That's enough to populate two towns roughly the size of Brandon -- all wiped out at the hands of a single man.

It seems Dr. Morgentaler is the one who ought to be held responsible for quite a number of killings.

Magdison chimed in at this point with the ludicrous comment that pro-lifers that picket clinics and hospitals "contribute to a violent climate."

Really? What more violent climate could there be than the one inside the clinic itself? Systematic violence is the raison d'eire of the place.

The Massachusetts murders were the work of a zealot whose actions have been roundly condemned by every rational person concerned about violence.

Morgentaler's guilt-by-association argument is patent nonsense.

Next, he and his followers called on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to ask people to stop protesting abortions.

Kathleen Howes, a member of the splinter group, Catholics for a Free Choice, said it's no longer acceptable for abortion to be described as murder.

What euphemism would she prefer be used to describe it so not to trouble anyone's conscience?

It's highly unlikely the bishops are going to honor this request to keep quiet. They are not exactly known for indulging in moral relativism.

What this society needs is more people like them who take a firm stand on issues and do not apologize for refusing to be swayed by whatever current compromise passes for morality.

Naomi Lakritz's column appears every day except Monday and Friday