Violence wrong but so is abortion
In the early morning hours of March 4, 24-year-old Zachary Klundt allegedly broke into and vandalized Susan Cahill’s abortion clinic in Kalispell, destroying much of what was there with a viciousness that was sickening. Klundt was caught attempting to break into another building nearby with $915 in his pocket, shards of glass on his clothing and cuts on his hands. Klundt has been charged with four felonies, bail has been set at $100,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned on March 27.
The suspect’s alleged conduct was reprehensible. Burglary, theft, and destruction of property are serious crimes, and I suspect that if convicted he is going to spend time in prison, as he should.
However, what must not be overlooked in this criminal act is that abortion is also wrong, and the fact that an abortion clinic was attacked does not make abortion morally acceptable. While I applaud Ms. Cahill’s efforts to provide non-abortion services to her patients, I cannot support her efforts to end the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
Like me, I suspect most people in Flathead County support the idea of Ms. Cahill continuing to provide non-abortion services, and I imagine the number of her supporters would grow exponentially if she merely chose to stop aborting babies.
I was disappointed to see so many in our community use Ms. Cahill’s tragedy as an opportunity to verbally attack their Christian neighbors. This behavior is not helpful, and it divides rather than unites us. Sadly, those who carry the banner of tolerance highest often fall short of their own standard in practice. When abortion supporters use the criminal acts of one to wrongly accuse their innocent Christian neighbors of promoting violence and criminal behavior, it moves the conversation in the wrong direction, and it gives reason for the battle lines to be dug in even deeper.
It is frustrating that Ms. Cahill’s supporters are mute to 99 percent of the violence and criminal activity in our community and only express outrage when one of their own is attacked. I urge those who support Susan Cahill to stop inventing conspiracies that don’t exist so we can effectively work together to counter all violence and crime that permeates our community.
Like genocide, slavery, and institutional racism, abortion is believed by many Flathead County citizens to be an abomination. For those of us opposed to abortion, we are not at war with women, but instead engaged in a struggle for human rights for all. We want Susan Cahill to continue treating her patients, but we also want her to stop aborting babies. I am sorry for Ms. Cahill’s loss and violation, and I hope the system brings her justice, but I also implore her to stop terminating young lives because in Flathead County, “love lives here.”
Coco is a resident of Whitefish