Killer killed

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Killer killed
260
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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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 5:54pm
Nope. I figured anyone who wanted it done that badly would find a way to get themselves to the location that would do it for them.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 5:58pm

Ah, but it is relevant, quite so.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:01pm

No?

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2009
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:04pm

~Are you speaking of adoptions in Canada only?~


No.

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:10pm

"The circumstances of why a perfectly legal medical procedure isn't available shouldn't be relevant to those who are truly concerned that women have availabilty of all aspects of "women's health". The poster was decrying that late term abortions were now not available in an entire area. My procedure wasn't available in my whole state. Nor was it available in the state to the north, nor the west.


So where were all the concerned advocates of women's health care when I didn't have access?"


More details would help.






iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:11pm

Okay, let me get this straight... You oppose abortion, and would prefer the mother adopt the child out if she couldn't keep it.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2009
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:12pm
Oh :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:26pm


iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:28pm
Only because women's health advocates have placed greater value upon access to this procedure (abortion) than the one I couldn't get in my state. Thus the constant complaint regarding the percentage of US counties that don't have abortionists doing abortions.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
In reply to: postreply
Wed, 06-10-2009 - 6:34pm
Trying to downplay the contextual differences again?

 


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