In Memory of Dr. Tiller: Reflections on the Death of An American Hero

From:
Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:


It’s been a year since Scott Roeder shot and killed Dr. George Tiller, the only late term abortion doctor in Kansas and one of the few left in the country. This was a major loss for women who need fetal care in the late stages of pregnancy and a gain for the Anti-abortion people (they prefer the term pro-life even though they are responsible for several abortion doctor murders in the last 10 years). The antis shut down another abortion clinic and there are none now presently in Wichita. Some local members of the Tea Party have praised this situation, saying it is the work of God that such a clinic was stopped.
Obviously the feelings between pro and anti abortion activists are polarized and bitter. Extreme right-wing groups lead the fight to close Tiller’s clinic down. They harassed women who came for abortions, or any medical help, they harassed businesses that helped in anyway, such as hotels where the patience stayed at. They did illegal acts of sabotage and usually got away with it. They hounded Tiller around the clock, protesting at his him and even at his church.
The routinely demonized him and his supporters and being either in it strickly for the money or they were portrayed as Satanists. Their tactics were often juvenile. But they kept on, until someone finally killed Tiller for them.

This year we have an even called; Honor Dr. Tiller, One Year Later...Vigil at Old Town

Monday, May 31, 2010
8:00pm - 9:00pm
Old Town Square- North Mead
Wichita, Kansas

Here is an article by an abortion activist Julie Burkhart:

In Memory of Dr. Tiller: Reflections on the Death of An American Hero

One Year Later
By Julie Burkhart, TrustWomenPAC
31 May 2009; En Route from Washington, DC to Wichita, KS
Today began as a clear crisp sunny day in Washington, D.C. I was at a conference for a national advocacy organization. I found out at 12:30 pm that my recent boss, mentor and father-like figure had been murdered ---gunned down at 10:15 am in the lobby of his church – Reformation Lutheran Church while waiting to return to where his wife was singing, as a member of the choir.
This is a devastating day in American history.
I guess we were too successful – I could feel it in the months just before his assassination. The anti-choice, domestic terrorists couldn’t stand that the laws in this land gave him the right to practice medicine. They couldn’t stand that juror after juror wouldn’t kowtow to their beliefs and prosecute him and shut him down. They couldn’t stand that we defeated elected officials at the polls and could win races against their antiquated philosophies. They couldn’t stand it – so they murdered him in cold blood in the church where he worshiped his God.
Those forces of hate, bigotry and rigid ideology are just like the forces of the Taliban that so many Americans rail against, which are merely separated by culture and geography. These are the same people who say that “All life is sacred.” This statement should be amended to say – “All life is sacred if and only if you prescribe to a certain ideology that defines our existence in very narrow terms. Then, life is sacred.”

For the rest click here.