An extradition order has been signed for James Charles Kopp to return to the United States to stand trial. Kopp is charged with the 1998 sniper-style assassination of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an Amherst, New York obstetrician-gynecologist who performed abortions. Kopp, who has also been indicted in the 1995 shooting of Ontario abortion provider Dr. Hugh Short and is the primary suspect in three additional shootings of abortion providers in Canada and New York, spent almost three years as a fugitive and was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List before being captured in March 2001 in Dinan, France. Because of an additional appeal process, it could be another year before Kopp returns to the United States.
Kopp is believed to be a member of the clandestine anti-abortion extremist group the Army of God and is believed to be “Atomic Dog” in the Army of God terrorist manual, establishing him as a key member of this violent underground network.
For more about James Charles Kopp, the Army of God, and the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project, see previous articles on Feminist News.
