Ebay refuses auction to support Dr. Tiller's murderer
A group of people wanted to hold an online auction to raise money for Scott Roeder, the man who shot and killed Dr. Tiller at his church in May.
Ebay refused to allow the auction.
Based on the details we know about the anticipated listings, we believe these would violate our policy regarding offensive material," the company said in a statement to The Kansas City Star. "EBay will not permit the items in question to be posted to the eBay site, and they will be removed if they are posted."
A letter from Dr. Tiller's family explained their position on the auction:
"These materials contain hate messages, glorify violence against abortion doctors who provide constitutionally protected medical services, and instruct on means of violence, including bombing, of abortion clinics," said Lee Thompson, an attorney for the Tiller family, in a letter sent to eBay on Tuesday and approved by Tiller's widow, Jeanne Tiller.
I'm glad Ebay took the right stand on this one, and appalled (but not surprised) that the people in question would try to raise money in this way.
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"'They’re not only chilling the First Amendment of the Constitution, they’re raping the whole Constitution,' said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City abortion opponent and friend of Roeder."
massive fail re: the rape comment.
and last time i checked, ebay =\= congress.
I mentioned this in the comments of the What We Missed column a few days ago.
http://www.feministing.com/archives/018601.html
I have a close friend who works at an abortion-rights group that is not well known to the public, well known within the repro rights community. This person worked with eBay on the issue and had the best line I heard: "Would you let Michael Vick supporters sell dog fighting instructions to raise money for his defense?" As soon as I heard that, I knew eBay would pull the auction. Thank goodness they did. The line got a lot of traction where I work and I think it best encapsulates why this is just wrong. The auctioneers don't think Roeder is innocent, they think he's justified. Big difference.
Good for Ebay and to boot I got a sweet deal on an ipod on there yesterday as mine died of a lingering illness thursday and I cannot be without my music.