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Killing of late-term abortion doctor leads to debate |
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The US Attorney General ordered increased security for several individuals and facilities in the wake of the slaying of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors who perform late-term abortions in the United States. Tiller was shot on May 31 – a killing that has lead to a heated debate on abortion in the country.
George Tiller was killed on a Sunday in his church in Wichita, Kansas. Abortion-rights activists have warned that this could lead to a fresh wave of clinic violence. The individual suspected of his killing, Scott Roeder, is being held on charges of first degree murder and aggravated assault. Roeder told the Associated Press that there will be more anti-abortion violence, saying that “I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal.”
The crime has put a spotlight on the violence of anti-abortion activists and militia. Supporters of Dr. Tiller have called him a martyr and compared him to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Le Roy Carhart, one of the countries few providers of late term abortions, called on the government to treat all activities of “anti-choice domestic terrorists,” as hate crimes, according to The Washington Times.
At the same time, abortion opponents warn that the murder could lead to a demonization of the movement. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Diocese of Kansas City said to lifenews.com: “When I heard reporters identifying the man suspected of shooting Dr. Tiller as anti-abortion, this for once seemed like the correct descriptor. The pro-life movement is about saving lives, not taking them. It is about a profound respect for the law, as evidenced by many laboring arduously and perseveringly to reform our present public policy in order to restore legal protection for the lives of unborn children. It is about a belief in the sanctity of each and every human life. Killing those who perform abortions builds up the culture of death, because it embraces its premise that we solve problems by destroying human life rather than honoring the truth that every human being is made in the image of God."
Tiller was one of a handful of doctors in the U.S. who performed abortions late in pregnancy, in the third trimester, for women facing life threatening complications, women whose children would be born dead or dying, and for women who had been raped. Dr. Tiller had been criticized for performing late term abortions also on healthy mothers and fetuses, and was repeatedly tried and acquitted in court. According to Time magazine, George Tiller explained why he kept doing his work: "Women and families are intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and ethically competent to struggle with complex health issues - including abortion, and come to decisions that are appropriate for themselves."
George Tiller knew his life was at stake, his clinic was bombed in 1986 and in 1993 he was shot in both arms. He had received death threats regularly, wore body armour and had a guard dog. A couple of weeks before the shooting, the clinic’s security cameras and lights were vandalized.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood, who organized a recent rally in Los Angeles to protest the killing, stressed that budget cuts threaten the shutdown of clinics and health centers, and that there have been around 6,000 reported acts of violence such as assassinations, bombings, death threats, acts of arson, assaults and kidnappings against women's health care providers over the last 30 years. The organization claims that thousands of women are also assaulted and harassed as they try to visit doctors.
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