Writing in the Kansas City Star, Judy L. Thomas, the reporter who has most closely followed Dr. George Tiller’s murderer Scott Roeder, details efforts by anti-choice extremists to raise funds for Roeder by auctioning items on eBay. Roeder, charged with first-degree murder in the May 31 shooting of Tiller, is scheduled to go to trial in January.

An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing
time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn.

These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay
and other Web sites in a fundraiser for Scott Roeder, the Kansas City
man charged with killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

Other items to be included in the auction include three drawings she received in the mail Wednesday
from Roeder. Two drawings were done by another inmate at his direction,
but Roeder autographed all of them.

"This
is unique," Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist
who will sign the bullhorn told Thomas.

"Nobody’s ever done this before. The goal
is that everybody makes money for Scott Roeder’s defense."

One abortion-rights leader called the auction deplorable and said it could lead to more violence.

"The
network of extremists promoting and defending the murder of doctors is
contributing to escalating threats against clinics and doctors across
the country," said Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the
Feminist Majority Foundation.

Thomas writes that Dave Leach, an Iowa abortion opponent who is organizing the auction effort, said he was aiming for a Nov. 1 launch.

Thomas reports that an eBay official said the auction was unusual.

"A
lot of times people will raise money for charities and that type of
thing," said spokeswoman Alina Piacentino. "But rarely is it a
controversial kind."

The company would not reveal whether eBay would permit the auction to launch.

"EBay
does not allow listings that promote or glorify violence, hate, racial
or religious intolerance, or items that encourage, promote, facilitate
or instruct others to engage in illegal activity," the company said in
a statement.