George Tiller was shot and killed today. Shot while he ushered a service at the church he attends.
It’s fitting, because for decades, he had done the Lord’s work.http://www.amptoons.com/blog/
George Tiller was the medical director at Women’s Health Care Services Clinic in Wichita, Kansas. The clinic provided reproductive health care, including abortion services into the third trimester. It was this that made Tiller a marked man; the fact that he had the temerity to provide legal medical services for women drove the anti-abortion movement crazy. He was shot in 1993, but stubbornly refused to give in to terrorism. He simply went on, providing medical care for women in difficult situations, walking boldly through the throng of detractors and haters, people who would rather women died on the table from complications of pregnancy than receive care from a medical professional.
Today, a killer ended Tiller’s life, and sent a signal to all providers of abortion services that they are not safe either. It is classic terrorism, the use of violence to achieve a political aim. The despicable Randall Terry of Operation Rescue chose to take the occasion of Tiller’s death to note that the doctor was a “mass-murderer,” adding, “I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; [sic] murder.”
Tiller was not a mass-murderer, no matter what the Randall Terrys of the world may claim. He was a doctor, one who helped women through a difficult procedure. He sacrificed his life today because he was unwilling to step aside, to let women’s rights die at the threat of violence. May all of us who believe in a woman’s right to choose honor Dr. Tiller with the same steadfast resolve; terrorism works only when we surrender to fear. And the terrorist who committed this act (and the anti-choice cheerleaders who encouraged and endore it) must not be allowed victory.
The terrorism label’s apt. Terry’s response eerily parallels the all too familiar “we condemn all acts of terrorism” response, meant to passive aggressively insinuate the victim’s associated with terrorism too. Then, before the blood is dry, these characters worry about the backlash to their community, rather than reflect how their beliefs and rhetoric may have enabled the terror the terror we just witnessed.
Always the victim, for these idiots.
this certainly is terrorism. Dr. Tiller’s death is such a tragic loss. i mourn not only for him, but the women who will be affected by this murder, and the threat it poses to other abortion doctors…
I can’t believe this sort of thing is still happening.
Do those actions include shooting doctors?
I just wonder what right wing pundits and blogs are saying about this….
Segio–
I’ve looked a bit at FreeRepublic, and believe me, it’s not pretty. There’s plenty of “Tiller the Killer” crap going on, and many people are saying he deserved it. I ran into some trolls at various feminist/progressive blogs discussing this as well–they’re vile little worms.
They’re making themselves comfortable in the comment section at my home site. I’m letting them, for now — I think it’s good that they’re reminding us that many of those who are wetting the bed over the potential for terrorists to be housed in a Supermax prison really don’t give a damn about actual lives of actual Americans they disagree with.
As it is, I’ve turned on the comment limitation warning here; I’d like this to be troll-free space. I need some right now.
Ugh, I don’t blame you. Just the top few comments on the Strib’s article were enough for me.
Thanks for the moving post. Dr. Tiller was a hero of mine for years. If I can paraphrase those who killed him, Dr. Tiller died for our sins.
Jesus stated “He without sin among you let him cast the first stone at her.” Some religious still stone raped women & own women. Who should own them as a slave? Exodus describes no penalty for women who choose to terminate pregnancy, nor does any Bible verse.
Do you want the government to outlaw your right to your bodily functions and quality care? I hope your loved ones are not turned away from quality doctor care. One of mine was. She was luckier than others and survived a nonprofessional abortion.
Medically, a fetus becomes a baby at its first breath. Then, siblings recognize it & it’s named, christened, given citizenship, & celebrates zero. Unless you’re a surrogate, the only way to give rights to unborn is to take away women’s.
Thank you centrists for allowing reproductive freedom rather than forcing women to create newborns or abort their pregnancies. Women value reproductive freedom, knowledge, privacy, and the right to privately regulate our own bodily functions.
Singling out providers who are willing to perform third trimester abortions has been a very effective tactic for the anti-abortion movement — reportedly Tiller was one of three physicians in the country, the whole of the United States of America, who would perform abortions at that point. The prohibitionists don’t actually have to win in the courts or pass a Constitutional amendment if they just kill off the few existing providers and thereby terrorize away any potential new providers. What good is a woman’s Constitutional right to a life or health-saving abortion in her third trimester if no one will perform it?
Notice the age of the folks who are still doing this? They became doctors before we even had Roe v. Wade. As medical students and residents in hospital emergency rooms, they tried to repair the damage of illegal, unsafe abortions. They know what abortion bans look like as written on the bodies of women. But given the risks created by the folks who freely declare abortionists murderers — going all the way up to senators and presidential candidates like Fred Thompson, who advocated the death penalty for abortionists (always more politically popular than “giving criminal sanctions to a 19-year-old girl and her mama”) — I cannot advise any young medical student I know to go into this field.
Singling out providers who are willing to perform third trimester abortions has been a very effective tactic for the anti-abortion movement — reportedly Tiller was one of three physicians in the country, the whole of the United States of America, who would perform abortions at that point.
Dam this makes me feel guilty. Technically, I could become the replacement third…but I’m not an OB, am lousy at surgery, don’t want to expose my child to Kansas*, much less Kansas AND crazies…all sorts of excuses. Does anyone know if any organizations are looking for MDs to volunteer to help fill the gap? I could probably help somehow or another.
*With apologies to any Kansans I’m insulting. It’s a personality fit thing not a “Kansas is evil” thing.
Dianne,
Please don’t feel guilty. As I was saying, I couldn’t recommend to anyone I care about that they do this. It’s like going into the military even for a war I believe in: I might do it if I had the requisite skill set, but I couldn’t tell anyone else that she should do it too. The people who will do it are heroes who deserve respect and support from the rest of us, but that doesn’t make the rest of us who don’t do it guilty.
I think what probably will need to happen is offering financial support to women who need third-term abortions to fly them to the bunkered-down couple of abortionists remaining who will perform the procedure. In some ways there might be more economic efficiency in redirecting my money from Planned Parenthood’s political arm and have them instead create a fund to help women who need abortions that are not available in their own state reach states like New York that granted reproductive rights even before Roe v. Wade. (Not that NY State as a whole is a safe zone for providers — Dr. Slepian was murdered in Buffalo.) It seems like a terribly pessimistic thing to do, but in terms of saving women’s lives and well-being at least in the short term, it might be the way to go.
ETA: A tribute to Dr. Tiller from the husband of one of his patients.
In that light, I’m going to be making my donation in Dr. Tiller’s honor to Medical Students for Choice. There are a lot of good organizations doing good work for reproductive health and justice, but it will be for naught if there is not another generation of doctors prepared to take on the burden. No, I couldn’t recommend that someone I care about do this kind of work, but I can support those who are willing to do it.
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I am a physician in Kansas, and it can be quite uncomfortable, what with all the holier-than-thous (including recent state AG, who enjoyed persecuting abortion providers). We used to have Sebelius in the governor’s house providing a voice of reason, but as soon as she left for DC the slimeball who replaced her approved building new coal-fired power plants.
People here voted for Bush, and many still think he did a good job. They disapprove of pre-marital sex (though many of their daughters don’t); in their fairy-tale world, there is no need for abortion (“if you weren’t a filthy sinner, you wouldn’t need an abortion”). Of course, it is the fundie daughters who get knocked up because they know nothing about contraception; they immediately scoot over to the big city for their abortions.
The anti-abortion movement is strong here, and it aggressively goes after anyone with the temerity to perform abortions. A friend used to do abortions but after the umpteenth report to the board of healing arts, etc, she couldn’t afford the legal fees anymore and quit.
The saddest thing is that many Kansans go through life with only this insular view of the world; the only thing they know about other perspectives is that the world is full of degenerates who don’t believe as they do. This is country where the EU is considered dangerously liberal. Almost all women in this area change their names when they marry (I can’t remember the last time I saw someone marry and not change her name).
PG – thanks for the link. I’m sure there are plenty of stories like that one behind Dr. Tiller’s services. I’d like to say that something like this surprises me, and I wish it did, but I lived in the Bible Belt and every word that Primadogga wrote is true.
Does it irritate anyone else that, besides killing someone (which is supposedly what Dr. Tiller’s “crime” was,) they did in his church? Against the protests of others there? What happened to sanctuary? I’m pretty sure the Bible warns against desecrating His churches. Hypocrisy knows no bounds, apparently.
If the pro-life movement wants to stand behind the gunman, they can have him. I just hope he doesn’t decide to disagree with any of their practices.
My heart goes out to Dr. Tiller’s family, and I am proud of what he stood for as well as all the women brave enough to cross those abortion picket lines to make the right choice for them.
Randall Terry holds a press conference and says that Dr. Tiller “reaped what he sowed” and calls the murder a “teaching moment for what child-killing is really all about.”
From Right Wing Watch, via Pam Spaulding at Pandagon.
SimpleTruth,
Operation Rescue folks have been proudly protesting at Tiller’s church for years. They’ve even interrupted services and taken a microphone to give their views to the congregation, then refused communion as not being the body of Christ, but the body of fetuses that Tiller aborted. Their view is that any church Tiller attended ceased to be holy.
There’s a reason why Roeder was posting on Operation Rescue’s website a couple years ago about going to the church to take action. He simply went that one step further than his compatriots.