Barnett Slepian

Barnett Abba Slepian (April 23, 1946 – October 23, 1998) was an American physician and abortion provider who was murdered in his home by James Charles Kopp.

Barnett Slepian
Born
Barnett Abba Slepian

(1946-04-23)April 23, 1946
Cambridge, Massachusetts
DiedOctober 23, 1998(1998-10-23) (aged 52)
Amherst, New York
Cause of deathAssassination by gunshot
Alma materUniversity of Denver
Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara
OccupationPhysician
Known forPerforming abortions

Biography

Slepian was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and raised in Rochester, New York; his grandfather was a Jewish immigrant from Russia. Slepian graduated from the University of Denver with a zoology degree but failed to be accepted to any American medical school.[1] He graduated from Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara medical school in 1978.[2]

Dr. Slepian worked at Buffalo GYN Womenservices, Inc. in Buffalo, New York, providing abortion for members of the local and surrounding communities.[3] He also ran his own private OB/GYN practice in Amherst, New York, where he also resided.

On October 23, 1998, Dr. Slepian had returned from synagogue, where he was attending a memorial service for his father, and was preparing soup in his kitchen when he was struck by a bullet fired through his window. The bullet shattered his spine and tore his aorta, barely missing his son's head as it exited.[4] He died two hours later.[5] Earlier that afternoon, Slepian's wife Lynne had forwarded a warning of potential attacks on her husband to a local police inspector.[6]

Within days of Dr. Slepian's murder, anti-abortion groups rallied and staged clinic protests in Buffalo and Rochester, New York. While local leaders from both sides of the abortion debate decried these rallies as potential incitements to further violence, more extreme members of the pro-life community, such as Flip Benham of Operation Rescue, labeled calls for nonviolence "pitiful" and suggested that unless abortion was outlawed, "we are in store for more bloodshed in the streets—the likes of which will sicken even the sturdiest among us."[3] This murder was the climax of a series of five sniper attacks in four years in northern New York and Canada. Dr. Slepian was the fourth doctor and up to that time the seventh person in the United States to be murdered for performing abortions.[7]

Following Dr. Slepian's murder, Kopp fled the U.S., but was arrested in France and extradited. He was tried and convicted of second-degree murder in Buffalo and is currently serving a 25 years to life term of imprisonment.

The Ani DiFranco song "Hello Birmingham", from her 1999 album To The Teeth, was written as a response to the Slepian murder.

See also

References
  1. Wells, Jon. Sniper: The True Story of Anti-Abortion Killer James Kopp. Wiley: 2009.
  2. Rogers, Patrick (November 9, 1998). "Ambushed". People. Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  3. Stein, Jeff (1999-04-17). "Celebrating murder". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  4. Robb, Amanda. "The Last Clinic Standing". Marie Claire. Archived from the original on 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  5. "Barnett A. Slepian". Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  6. "Murder in disguise". The Vindicator. October 29, 1998. pp. Opinion. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  7. NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. (2006). Clinic violence and intimidation Archived 2010-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 9, 2010
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