There's a word for this, people.

(again, apologies for the lateness. I have other priorities)

From the Age:

A controversial provider of late-term abortions was shot dead yesterday as he walked into a service at his Kansas church, officials said.

And the White House's response:

US President Barack Obama has expressed outrage at the fatal shooting of a controversial Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions, in a statement released by the White House.

"I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr George Tiller as he attended church services this morning," said Obama.

"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," the President said.

...

US Attorney General Eric Holder says federal authorities have offered protection to "appropriate people and facilities" across the country, after the shooting of a prominent abortion doctor in Kansas.

...

"The Department of Justice will work to bring the perpetrator of this crime to justice. As a precautionary measure, we will also take appropriate steps to help prevent any related acts of violence from occurring," Holder said.

He called Sunday's fatal shooting of abortion provider George Tiller "an abhorrent act of violence".

Once again, we see politicians refusing to call a spade a spade. Anti-abortion related violence has been called murder, arson and vandalism, yet it has never been called what it is-terrorism. George Tiller was killed so as to send a clear message to all doctors who perform abortions: that they are not safe. That these doctors can too be murdered.

People who commit hate crimes (and that's precisely what this is) are terrorists because they are deliberately installing fear into a particular group, just as Islamic terrorists do today. Terrorism is when the Ku Klux Klan lynched African-Americans to prevent other blacks from voting. Terrorism is what happened to Matthew Shepard. Terrorism is when Steven Rogers was killed here, in Melbourne.

Terrorism isn't just brown people who talk funny flying planes into buildings and blowing themselves up to grab six dozen virgins in jihad heaven. Although the definition is contested, I would say that terrorism is the use, or threatened use, of violence against civilians for a political or ideological purpose. That would cover all forms of terrorism-Islamic, Christian, extremist environmentalism, etc.

The sooner people accept the broader reality of terrorism, the better.