Choice Ireland

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York appeals court has upheld the life sentence given to a militant abortion opponent who admitted killing a doctor.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday all of the issues raised by James Kopp on appeal were without merit.

Kopp was sentenced in June 2007 for the sniper-style slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian in the kitchen of his suburban Buffalo home.

Kopp's lawyers claimed a trial judge erred by preventing him from asserting that he was saving children's lives by preventing abortions.

The appeals court disagreed.