Eric Rudolph Pleads Guilty to Bombing Olympics, Abortion Business 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 8, 2005
Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) — Eric Rudolph has plead guilty to several bombings, including the 1996 Olympics and a 1998 bombing at an abortion business in Birmingham, Alabama. The plea would give him life in prison and help him avoid the death penalty.
Rudolph has no connection with the pro-life movement, the he has been incorrectly described as an "anti-abortion crusader" by the Associated Press and "the alleged antiabortion bomber" by the Washington Post.
The Post also claimed Rudolph "became a folk hero of sorts among some on the far-right."
Instead, Rudolph is affiliated with a small religious sect that also targets churches, homosexuals and others.
Jury selection in the trial for the Alabama abortion facility bombing had begun Wednesday.
The January 1998 bombing killed a police officer and nurse at the abortion facility and abortion advocates used the incident to paint the pro-life community as violent.
Jeff Lyons, husband of nurse Emily Lyons, told AP he and his wife were "extremely disappointed" by the plea agreement. Under the terms Rudolph would receive four life sentences instead of being subject to the death penalty.
"As they say, let the punishment fit the crime. That was a death sentence,” he said.
Rudolph has also been charged with a bombing at a gay nightclub and with another incident at an abortion facility in 1997.
The former soldier used survival techniques to live in the hills of western North Carolina for over five years before he was caught by a rookie policeman stealing food from a grocery store garbage can.
