The trial of Scott Roeder has provoked widespread debate over the issue of abortion.

Pro-life extremist Scott Roeder has told a US court that he shot dead abortion doctor George Tiller in an effort to “save lives”.

Roeder has admitted shooting Dr Tiller in the head on 31 May 2009, and the jury is now deliberating whether he committed murder, after Roeder’s lawyers failed to argue for the lesser sentence of voluntary manslaughter. Such a sentence, under Kansas law, applies when a person’s actions are justifiable because they are preventing greater harm.

Dr Tiller was one of the few late-term abortionists in the US, performing abortions on foetuses more than 21 weeks old in the state of Kansa, where abortion is legal. In the past, he had also been shot in both arms and had his clinic bombed by anti-abortion protesters.

Roeder, a born-again Christian, expressed his thoughts about abortion in court: “From conception forward it is murder. It’s not man’s job to take life, it is our heavenly father’s.” He also added: “If I didn’t do it, the babies were going to die the next day”.

The National Abortion Federation (NAF), in conjunction with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), had asked the court not to allow Roeder to use his anti-abortion beliefs in support of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Vicki Saporta, of the NAF, said: “In a civilized society we cannot allow extremists to commit murder to advance their own religious or political beliefs. Scott Roeder should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The ACLU was concerned that the Judge, County District Judge Warren Wilbert, had allowed Roeder to put forward a case for voluntary manslaughter. Doug Bonney, Chief Counsel & Legal Director, of ACLU Kansas & Western Missouri, said: “This is a dangerous misinterpretation of the law. No matter what our political or moral beliefs, we are not entitled to kill those who disagree with us.

“We would not allow someone who murders a general to get a lesser sentence because the murder was motivated by a belief that war is unjustifiable.”

Roeder readily admitted killing Dr Tiller, and also admitted that he had considered other ways of hurting the doctor, including cutting his hands off with a sword. Asked if he had any regrets about the killing, Roeder replied simply “No, I don’t”.

According to the Guardian newspaper, Roeder does not agree with abortion in cases of rape or incest because “two wrongs don’t make a right” – then why does he believe that killing Dr Tiller was acceptable?