At 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time this afternoon, officials in the state of Florida will execute Paul Hill, a 49-year-old former Presbyterian minister who in 1994, murdered Dr. John Britton and his escort, Retired Air-Force Colonel James Herman Barrett. If executed, which looks promising considering the fact that a stay of execution by Governor Jeb Bush does not seem likely - Hill will become the first person executed in the history of the United States of America for anti-abortion-related violence.

What you have here is three different faces of death. You have a doctor who conducts abortions, which some people feel is "murder." You have a Minister who confessed to murdering two people and injuring one more [Barrett's wife June] - and you have a Justice System that is going to administer a lethal injection to Hill - thus "murdering" him.

So who is right and who is wrong?

As for my opinion of this mess, I think that the only person that is a murderer here is Paul Hill. Dr. Britton was only doing the same thing that a podiatrist, cardiologist - or gynecologist was doing - his job. Whatever his personal choices, he simply chose abortion as his type of practice. And besides the choice he made - what about the choices of the women who went to his clinic? Were they dragged there, strapped down to the bed and forced to undergo an abortion - or did they voluntarily go to Dr. Britton to undergo the procedure by their own accord? Obviously the latter. And what about the choice of Colonel Barrett? All he did was choose to be the bodyguard of Dr. Britton. We do not even know his feelings on abortion - not that it matters. But it only matters because Hill could have killed someone who had the same exact views as he did on abortion. For all Hill knew, Colonel Barrett could have despised abortion and Dr. Britton, but guarded him only because it was his job - but Hill did not think of that when he pulled the trigger.

Hill's actions, while deplorable, is the easiest and only "black and white" side of this "death triangle." Murder is murder, end of story, It is, however, the view and personal opinion of capitol punishment and abortion that are the "gray area" and harder pieces of this complicated puzzle. There are some people in this country who are for abortion and capitol punishment, and some who are strongly against either one or both of those views. The abortion issue brings to light the argument of "when a human life begins." Some say at fertilization, and some say at actual birth. The issue of capitol punishment is no different. Some believe in the "eye for an eye" argument - and some believe that no death can be considered justified. But what happens when you have the abortion issue and capitol punishment issue wrapped around a murder case?

My opinion is that Dr. Britton was doing his job and his life as well as the life of Colonel Barrett were senselessly taken by the views of a religious terrorist. I am not questioning the views of Mr. Hill - just the extreme that he went for them. If you want to disagree with someone's views - including my own - that's fine. But to murder someone who has different beliefs then you makes you no different than those who carried out the September 11th atrocity. And to hear Hill talk to the media just hours before his execution, and saying that he has, "no remorse," and that he is, "looking forward to gloryŠand great rewards in Heaven" definitely makes me place him in the same category with such "esteemed gentlemen" as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

In my opinion, abortion is a woman's choice - because it is up to her as to whether she is mentally, spiritually or financially ready to raise that baby. I also feel that capitol punishment is a person's choice as well - because they chose to carry out such a deplorable crime that a jury of their peers convicted them of it and a judge sentenced them to death. That said, I do think that a Minister who preached the word of God - which last time I checked includes, "Thou Shall Not Kill" - and murdered two innocent lives because one was a doctor who performed a medical procedure and the other guarded the doctor from people just like Mr. Hill - absolutely deserves to have his life taken as well. And I get the feeling after he is executed, his "reward" will be a first class ticket to Hell - and a mandatory training course on human rights.