The Appropriate Response
Slain Abortion Doctor Refused to Give In to Intimidation
Barbara Beaser
Posted on: 6/11/09 Section: Opinion
As our community was drawn to and recoiled from the displays that the anti-abortion group Justice For All presented a couple weeks ago, no one could have known that an act of domestic terrorism was imminent.
George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, was murdered in his church, shot to death by a suspect later identified as Scott Roeder.
Tiller provided women, some of them young girls, with late-term abortions.
The thing his patients all seemed to have in common is that they had no one else to turn to, and they were in desperate need of help.
The debate has been brought to the forefront of everyone's minds, after President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame, after the 20 foot tall posters of aborted fetuses were displayed on our campus for the better part of a week, and now, after the murder of a man doing legal, necessary work that he had been attacked for doing previously.
The debate, which has never been far from the surface, has risen again.
Tiller was a man who went to work under death threats. He wore a bulletproof vest to work. His clinic was bombed in 1986.
He was shot in both arms in 1993.
He continued to work and live his life. He did not wear a bulletproof vest to church, which is where he was killed.
This was not an isolated act of domestic terrorism. David Gunn, a doctor at an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, was shot and killed in March 1993. In 1994, Dr. John Britton was killed in Florida outside an abortion clinic.
Dr. Barnett Slepian was killed in 1998 outside his home in Buffalo, NY.
On television, Bill O'Reilly labeled Dr. Tiller as "Tiller the baby-killer." Whether or not his audience believed him has sadly become irrelevant. O'Reilly has freedom of speech, as we all do, but his hasty and easily disproved claims that he himself never used the phrase confirms that he believes part of the guilt lies with him.
It was not, however, the sole result of O'Reilly. There could be no such persona without an audience clamoring for it.
As with any act of terrorism, the desired result is to frighten people into compliance.
Tiller was not frightened into compliance, he continued to do his work, and live his life, and state his position as many times as it was relevant.
That is the appropriate response. It is the only response to people who refuse to compromise, will not be reasonable, and are determined to stay blind to the gray that takes up all of the space between black and white.
It is the only response to those who would commit any act of terrorism.
George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, was murdered in his church, shot to death by a suspect later identified as Scott Roeder.
Tiller provided women, some of them young girls, with late-term abortions.
The thing his patients all seemed to have in common is that they had no one else to turn to, and they were in desperate need of help.
The debate has been brought to the forefront of everyone's minds, after President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame, after the 20 foot tall posters of aborted fetuses were displayed on our campus for the better part of a week, and now, after the murder of a man doing legal, necessary work that he had been attacked for doing previously.
The debate, which has never been far from the surface, has risen again.
Tiller was a man who went to work under death threats. He wore a bulletproof vest to work. His clinic was bombed in 1986.
He was shot in both arms in 1993.
He continued to work and live his life. He did not wear a bulletproof vest to church, which is where he was killed.
This was not an isolated act of domestic terrorism. David Gunn, a doctor at an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, was shot and killed in March 1993. In 1994, Dr. John Britton was killed in Florida outside an abortion clinic.
Dr. Barnett Slepian was killed in 1998 outside his home in Buffalo, NY.
On television, Bill O'Reilly labeled Dr. Tiller as "Tiller the baby-killer." Whether or not his audience believed him has sadly become irrelevant. O'Reilly has freedom of speech, as we all do, but his hasty and easily disproved claims that he himself never used the phrase confirms that he believes part of the guilt lies with him.
It was not, however, the sole result of O'Reilly. There could be no such persona without an audience clamoring for it.
As with any act of terrorism, the desired result is to frighten people into compliance.
Tiller was not frightened into compliance, he continued to do his work, and live his life, and state his position as many times as it was relevant.
That is the appropriate response. It is the only response to people who refuse to compromise, will not be reasonable, and are determined to stay blind to the gray that takes up all of the space between black and white.
It is the only response to those who would commit any act of terrorism.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Pancho
posted 6/12/09 @ 12:12 AM PST
Tiller's clinic operated for about a quarter century under daily harassment from those who decided what was "sinful" and what wasn't. In their certitude, the fomented a culture and atmosphere of extreme violence. (Continued…)
Pancho
posted 6/12/09 @ 1:59 AM PST
How serious are the anti-choice groups about being upset by the assassination of Dr. George Tiller? Here's a clue:
Shelley Shannon: Fired numerous shots at George Tiller, attempting to kill him, hitting him in both arms. (Continued…)
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