By Maggie Jackson, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

LeRoy Carhart has decided to take on George Tiller’s mission and may even move his clinic to Kansas. He has big and potentially dangerous shoes to fill.

Abortion is a touchy word for many people. It means the destruction of a life. However, for others it represents choice. Despite how a person may feel about the issue, using hatred is not the solution to the abortion debate.

The death of any person whether an adult or a fetus is sad, but the purposeful destruction of either life is incomprehensibly wrong. Opponents of abortion defeat their own objectives by promoting hatred toward any person whether they are behind the scenes activists or physicians who perform the procedure.

Pro-Life and Pro-Choice groups should follow the rules of civilized debate, peaceful protests as stated in the Constitution, and judicial rulings. The acts of screaming, fist pounding, or violence doesn’t produce effective change. Instead, these actions usually result in further resilience from the opposition.

Even for many pro-lifers, encountering aggressive anti-abortion groups who promote shame, hatred and graphic images to everybody within eye and ear shot is disconcerting. When promoting life over death a compassionate approach goes along way to proving a message of love.

Those who oppose abortion should use peaceful means of getting their message across. Likewise, those who are in favor of the abortion choice should be willing to listen.

If Carhart does indeed move his practice to Kansas it is not necessary to wish him success, but it is also not wise to use violence to spread a message of compassion.