David Trosch

Rev. David Charles Trosch (November 29, 1935 – October 12, 2012) was a Roman Catholic priest from Mobile, Alabama, who was the subject of controversy due to his promotion of the concept of justifiable homicide in the case of killing abortion providers.

He first attained notoriety when he tried to place ad in The Mobile Register news paper with a drawing titled "Justifiable Homicide", depicting a man holding a gun to the back of an abortion doctor performing an abortion. The Catholic Church directed him to "recant his stand or give up his job." Although the purported ad was never published, Trosch was relieved of his parish duties and suspended by his bishop due to his ongoing public statements in defense of his views of "justifiable homicide" of abortion providers.

Retired Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama clarified at the time of Trosch's death that he had never officially censured Rev. Trosch, but that Trosch had been restricted from acting in a pastoral capacity in August, 1993 and had "no public persona in the Church." However, Archbishop Lipscomb said that Rev. Trosch "was not a bad person" and "died in God's grace".

Trosch was a noted supporter of anti-abortion activist Paul Hill who was executed on September 4, 2003 for murdering Dr. John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett. Despite his immediate defense of Hill, Trosch denied having ever met Hill; however, it later was revealed that the two had dined and prayed together, and even signed the same document justifying lethal force against abortion providers.

Trosch died on October 12, 2012 in an Alabama nursing home from an extended illness. Approximately 30 to 40 people attended his funeral.

He maintained a website under the name of a non-profit organization called "Life Enterprises Unlimited" based in Mobile, Alabama until the time of his death, in which he criticized many people whom he characterized as "hell-bound sinners", including the Archbishop who disciplined him.