UPDATE: Harlan Drake murder trial goes to the jury. Deliberation begin Thursday morning.

Prosecutor tells jury that Drake considers himself a hero for gunning down pro-life activist. “He knew what he was doing.”

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, Michigan – The Defense has rested and closing arguments are now underway as of this writing in the murder case of Harlan Drake, the man accused of gunning down pro-life activist Jim Pouillon, gravel pit owner Mike Fuoss, and planning the murder of a third man.

Drake took the stand in his own defense and told how he felt no remorse for the killings, yet believed that he deserved to die or be locked away for what he did.

Drake said that he targeted Pouillon because he and his mother disliked Pouillon’s graphic sign that he used while protesting abortion. He planned the night before to kill Pouillon if he found him protesting at Owosso High School the following day.

After shooting Pouillon several times, Drake said he pulled up and make the final shot up through the rib cage into the heart, because he saw that Pouillon was still moving.

Drake then told the court how he decided that since he had already killed one man, he might as well kill the other men that he believed needed to be shot that day. Police arrested Drake after he killed Fuoss, and before he could kill his final victim.

While in jail, Drake asked to view the autopsy photos. “I asked to see the autopsy reports so I could see what my aim was like,” Drake told the court.

Drake discussed how he had been involved in a fatal traffic accident in 2004, where two teens died. He blamed himself for their deaths even though the accident was not his fault. After shooting Pouillon and Fuoss, he considered killing himself, but did not want to make a mess in his wife’s pickup truck. Drake later attempted to slash his wrists while in police custody.

Prosecution rebuttal witnesses included a forensic psychologist who testified that Drake’s actions indicated that he had an understanding of the “the nature, the quality and the wrongfulness” of his actions, therefore did not meet the threshold of criminal insanity. Drake’s attorneys have argued that Drake was insane at the time of the murders.

Pouillon’s daughter, Mary Jo, indicated that she was “struck” by Drake’s lack of remorse and his comments that he did not want to hurt anyone who had not wronged him.

“He didn’t want to hurt anyone that hadn’t hurt him or his family, well that was unsuccessful because I am very hurt by it,” she said.

Since Michigan has no death penalty, Drake would face life in prison if convicted.

By Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor

Every year on March 10, abortion groups promote giving thanks for the dwindling number of abortionists in America, but could there be a bigger oxymoron than Abortionist Appreciation Day?

I don’t think that Eileen Smith has much appreciation for abortionist Rapin Osathanondh, who is set to stand trial in September for manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Laura. Osathanondh killed Laura when he gave her an abortion in September, 2007, without having proper staffing or emergency protocols in place. Smith suffered life-threatening complications from the same drug that killed Michael Jackson, Propofol, and died on the abortion table.

We won’t find many “thank you” letters from the patients of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, either. The State of Pennsylvania recently closed Gosnell’s abortion mill and suspended his medical license after the death of a patient from an apparent drug overdose administered during an abortion. Inspectors found “deplorable and unsanitary conditions” at Gosnell’s Philadelphia abortion mill along with a grisly collection of aborted baby remains dating back 30 years.

Caitlin Bruce is another abortion patient that won’t be thanking her abortionist this year. In fact, she filed suit against Alberto Hodari and his assistant for holding her down and forcing an abortion on her at his Flint, Michigan, abortion clinic in April, 2008. Included in the suit are six counts against Hodari, including lack of informed consent/medical malpractice, battery, fraud, misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and ethnic/gender intimidation. The families of Tamia Russell, Regina Johnson won’t be sending flowers to Hodari, either. Instead, they may choose to lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones who died from botched abortions done by Hodari.

California abortionist Laurence Reich is also unlikely to receive notes of appreciation from the two women he sexually assaulted during abortions, incidents that led to his second sex crimes conviction and license surrender in 2006.

Speaking of rape, Arizona abortionist Brian Finkle shouldn’t expect jailhouse visits from the 22 women he is convicted of sexually assaulting during abortions, charges that earned his 35 years in prison. I doubt very much if the other seventy women who came forward to tell how they suffered sexual abuse by Finkle will be sharing the love with him today, either.

Then there is the extended family of 19-year old Christin Gilbert, a loving Down’s syndrome teen who suffered a horrifically botched third-trimester abortion by LeRoy Carhart in 2005. Those broken hearts have yet to be fully healed.

These instances are simply the tip of an immense ice berg, proverbially speaking, of women who have suffered as a result of abortion.

Apart from those who have been subjected to serious injury or death, there are a growing number of women in America who deeply regret their abortions. One woman told me that she would give anything in the world to be able to hold her baby in her arms for even a moment. Her grief is still palpable even though her abortion was many years ago.

These women recognized too late the value of human life and the preciousness of their irreplaceable aborted children. They live their lives wondering what might have been, with a gnawing regret that simply doesn’t pass with time. These women have been there, done that, and learned the hard way that abortion was not the liberating experience they were promised.

An estimated one-third of all women will have had an abortion by the age of 45. With that number of women experiencing first hand the grievous tragedy of abortion, it is no wonder that support for abortion has plummeted in recent years and that support for the pro-life position is gaining ground.

Appreciation for abortion providers? Considering all the human misery that abortion has caused, the very thought seems ludicrous.

Do something about it:

Operation Rescue is offering $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of an abortionist who is breaking the law. Click here to learn more about Abortion Whistleblowers.

Washington, DC – Operation Rescue has released a 2 minute video urging Americans to contact their Congressmen and Senators in a final push to stop tax-funding of abortion in Obama’s proposed health care bill.

“Let’s be clear. Everywhere public funding of abortion has increased, abortions have also increase. Today, demand for abortion has fallen to new lows. An influx of our tax money into a failing abortion industry will artificially stimulate the child-killing and will cost the lives of thousands of innocent babies,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

A final vote on the bill is expected March 18.

Contact: Your Representative; Your Senator