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The son of slain Owosso anti-abortion rights protester James Pouillon told the Flint Journal that abortion foes have selected the wrong man to lionize as a martyr for their cause.

Grand Rapids podiatrist James M. Pouillon has not had contact with

his father since 2001. But he isn’t staying silent about the way his

father is being called a martyr by some in the anti-abortion rights

movement.

“I don’t think he really cared about the unborn,” said

Dr. James M. Pouillon, a Grand Rapids podiatrist, who had not spoken to

his father since 2001. “I don’t think he was really pro-life.”

Pouillon’s sister disagreed with the doctor, saying her father was a Christian acting on his beliefs.

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“He died out there doing what he believed in,” 26-year-old Mary Jo Pouillon of Owosso said at a memorial service Wednesday.

But the son argues that the actions of his father, who would

regularly protest, carry signs and yell at passers-by, was all part of

a larger plan. The younger Pouillon called his father a “sociopath who

terrorized a small town while hiding behind his First Amendment.”

“You could speak with a couple of hundred people who

don’t agree with me, so who is right? I’m not going to try to yell

louder than my dad’s friends,” he said. The son also said his father used his abortion stance to terrorize

women and said his father abused his mother, Mary Lou Kadera. The two

divorced in 1987 and she died in a 2001 car accident. In a 1992 interview with The Flint Journal, the activist

acknowledged years of marital problems, including a fight where he

pushed his wife into a piano. Three days after the fight, he told the

Journal that “the Holy Ghost came on me.”

The senior Pouillon has been hailed as a martyr by Cal Zastrow of Kawkawlin, chairman of the Michigan Citizens for Life.

Pouillon was gunned down last week Friday while standing in front of

Owosso High School, something he would do regularly. Officials have

said the alleged shooter, Harlan Drake, told them he was offended by

Pouillon’s graphic signs and felt children should not have to view

them.

An attorney representing the Drake family put out a statement saying

Drake was suffering from depression and that they did not believe the

shooting had anything to do with abortion.

Drake is also accused of shooting the 61-year-old owner of a gravel

pit in Owosso Township. Drake is in jail without bond awaiting trial on

charges of first degree murder and weapons violations.