John Britton (doctor)

{{Short description|American physician and murder victim (1925 – 1994)}}

{{Infobox person

| birth_name = John Bayard Britton

| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|5|6}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| name = John Britton

| image = JohnBrittonImage.jpg

| occupation = Physician

| known = Performing abortions

| alma_mater = University of Virginia School of Medicine

| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|7|29|1925|5|6}}

| death_place = Pensacola, Florida, U.S.

| death_cause = Assassination by gunshot

}}

John Bayard Britton (May 6, 1925 – July 29, 1994) was an American physician. He was assassinated in Pensacola, Florida,{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/abortviolence/stories/florida.htm|title=Abort violence|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=31 May 2019}} by anti-abortion extremist Paul Jennings Hill. Britton's death was the second assassination of a Pensacola abortion provider in under a year and a half; he had replaced David Gunn after the latter's 1993 murder by another anti-abortionist.

Born in Boston, Britton graduated in 1949 from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He then served in the US Army stationed in Korea, Mainz and Frankfurt, Germany, and became a lieutenant.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/964619789/ "Personal Notes"], The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, May 4, 1955, page 7. {{subscription required}} He also taught at the Medical College of Georgia. He then became a family physician in Fernandina Beach, Florida, spending much of his time delivering babies.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/31/us/at-center-of-abortion-shooting-an-avid-protester-and-an-uncertainmartyr.html |work=The New York Times |title=At Center of Abortion Shooting: an Avid Protester and an Uncertain Martyr |last=Verhovek |first=Sam |date=July 31, 1994}}

After Gunn's murder, Britton began flying across the state to Pensacola weekly in order to perform abortions at the Pensacola Ladies' Center. Because he had received harassment and death threats, he wore a homemade bulletproof vest, carried a .357 Magnum,{{Cite magazine|magazine=Time|title=Avenging the Unborn|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,981209,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204115403/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,981209,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2013|first=David|last=Van Biema|date=August 8, 1994}} and enlisted volunteer bodyguards.{{Cite book|title=Terrorism on American soil: a concise history of plots and perpetrators from the famous to the forgotten|last=McCann|first=Joseph T.|url=https://archive.org/details/terrorismonameri00jose|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Sentient Publications|page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorismonameri00jose/page/202 202]|isbn=9781591810490}}

Britton was notably ambivalent about abortion: he viewed abortion as a last resort option, and would sometimes turn away women seeking it, telling them to think about the decision and come back in a week if they still wanted an abortion. However, he described anti-abortion protesters as "fanatics."