Killer killed
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| Sun, 05-31-2009 - 4:39pm |
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090531/D98HDH9G0.html
Abortion doc George Tiller gunned down at church
By ROXANA HEGEMAN
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, a prominent advocate for abortion rights wounded by a protester more than a decade ago, was shot and killed Sunday at a church in Wichita where he was serving as an usher and his wife was in the choir, his attorney said.
Tiller was shot during morning services at Reformation Lutheran Church, attorney Dan Monnat said. Police said a manhunt was under way for the shooter, who fled in a car registered to a Kansas City suburb nearly 200 miles away.
National anti-abortion groups had long focused on Tiller, whose Women's Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy.
In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.
Some abortion opponents had resorted to attacks against Tiller long before Sunday's shooting. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985.
Anti-abortion group Operation Rescue issued a statement denouncing the shooting.
"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down," said Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president. "Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning."
Capt. Brent Allred said Wichita police were looking for a gunman who fled in a 1993 light blue Ford Taurus registered in the Kansas City suburb of Merriam, Kan. No other details about the shooting were immediately released.
The phone line at the home of Tiller and wife, Jeanne, had a busy signal Sunday.
Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.
"Pre-natal testing without pre-natal choices is medical fraud," Tiller once said.
After the 1991 protests, Tiller kept mostly to his heavily guarded clinic, although in 1997 he opened it to three tours by state lawmakers and the media.
Tiller remained prominent in the news, in part because of an investigation started begun by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent.
Prosecutors had alleged that Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires. A jury in March acquitted Tiller of all 19 misdemeanor counts.
"I am stunned by this lawless and violent act, which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law," Kline said in a written statement. "We join in lifting prayer that God's grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller's family and friends."
Abortion opponents also questioned then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' ties to Tiller before the Senate confirmed her this year as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary. Tiller donated thousands of dollars to Sebelius over the years.

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Some statements from LT abortion patients on Dr. Tillers compassion.
"I too wonder why there are over 200 children right here, at this link, that pro-lifers haven't given homes to? They sure need them. Why they haven't adopted them ? Why they haven't ponied up their money, their time and their energy, for their therapies and care? Some of them are, very, obviously special needs."
I wonder the same things about pro-abortion people. Don't they care about the born? Why haven't they stepped up to the plate here?
I've always thought that when we register to vote, we should register pro-life or pro-choice. Tax money could be taken from the pro-choice people, to pay women to carry to term, and raise the children. Taxes from the pro-choice crowd ,could be taken for family planning and reproductive services.
Oh, sorta like literacy tests, you know, like back in the good old days.
Edited 6/10/2009 3:38 pm ET by postreply
"Why don't these people so totally against any abortion offer to PAY the woman to carry the baby to term, pay for her delivery, then adopt the child!!!"
The pregnancies I've read about wouldn't end with a baby that could be adopted. Once the cord has been cut the baby, or what
And another place found so that women won't be subjected to unnecessary risks to their health and lives because of grossly hypocritical, narrow minded individuals who think they have the right to decide for others what they can and cannot do.
After all, wouldn't want women to have access to a full range of medical services, second-class citizens that they are.
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Except the possibility of yet another "pro-life" advocate killing those who work there for providing valuable and
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I'm actually pro-choice, not "pro-abortion. I've been a foster parent to a special needs child. Can you say the same?
edited to add: and I was a foster parent when I was SINGLE to boot. So much for the Conservative, pro-life, a child needs a mother and a father to have a good home and shot at life,
Non sequitur.
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"Well another place will have to be purchased to kill children so they won't die."
While you might prefer to die and bring your preborn child with you, some women would like the choice to live and be there for their families.
I'm wondering if this can bring about all sorts of vigilantes against causes they don't believe in, even if they're legal.
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