Abortion Dr. gunned down in church
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| Sun, 05-31-2009 - 5:33pm |
"Pro'lifers" that kill are an oxymoron to me. This Dr. provided legal, medical, services to women. A friend of mine used to go to an OB/Gyn that the pro-lifers would protest. They would picket in front of her office and commit crimes aginst her home, office and property. My friend would get so angry at them because this same Dr. had given her the surgery and fertility treatments that had allowed her to keep her organs and bear children. I guess I'll never understand the brains that only think in black and white. It seems this man provided so much more to the community than just abortion services. Even if that is all he provided, women DO have a legal right to SAFE< PRIVATE, medical services. Even the late term abortions he supplied weren't illegal.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090531/ap_on_re_us/us_tiller_shooting
WICHITA, Kan. – Prominent late-term abortion provider George Tiller was shot and killed Sunday in a Wichita church where he was serving as an usher, his attorney said. The gunman fled but a city official said a suspect is in custody.
The city official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. The official did not provide additional details.
Long a focus of national anti-abortion groups, including a summer-long protest in 1991, Tiller was shot during morning services at Reformation Lutheran Church while his wife was in the choir, his attorney Dan Monnat said. Police said the gunman had fled in a car registered in Merriam, a Kansas City suburb nearly 200 miles away.
Tiller's Women's Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy.
Tiller's killing is "an unspeakable tragedy," his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement issued by Monnat. "This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."
The family said its loss "is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence."
A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. More recently, Monnat said Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller's safety was in jeopardy.
In early May, Tiller had asked the FBI to investigate vandalism at his clinic, including cut wires to surveillance cameras and damage to the roof that sent rainwater pouring into the building.
Anti-abortion groups denounced the shooting and stressed that they support only nonviolent protest. The movement's leaders fear the killing could create a backlash just as they are scrutinizing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose views on abortion rights are not publicly known.
"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down," Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president, said in a statement. "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."
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.
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.
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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>"Most of his patients are women who discover their unborn children have horrid defects."<
>"The man charged with gunning down a Kansas abortion doctor was described Monday as a mentally ill extremist who believed in "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
The ex-wife of 51-year-old Scott Roeder said while he never thought of himself as mentally ill, "everyone else did."
"His anti-abortion rhetoric was very strong," said Lindsey Roeder, who filed for divorce in 1996 after a 10-year marriage. "It scared me," she told the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The suspect's brother, David Roeder, said his family always saw "Scott as a kind and loving son, brother and father who suffered from mental illness.""<
Quote & segment
Some PL individuals speak out on the murder of Dr. Tiller.
But Regina Dinwiddie, a 54-year-old grandmother, said Roeder once confronted a doctor at a Planned Parenthood center, telling the physician, "Now I know what you look like."
Dinwiddie said Tiller's slaying was "absolutely" justified
And in Iowa, Dan Holman, of the anti-abortion group Missionaries to the Preborn, told CNN that Tiller's death was something to "cheer."
"I was cheered by it, because I knew he wouldn't be killing any more babies," Holman said.
Holman protested a May 17 speech by President Obama in which the president urged Americans to find common ground on abortion. He told CNN that "all abortionists are deserving of death, and they are not the only ones. There are politicians and judges, and others who support this murder are also deserving of death."
Asked to name names, he said, "George Bush, Barack Obama -- any politician that gives our tax money to Planned Parenthood and organizations that kill babies or participate in the killing of children deserve the same penalty."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/01/kansas.doctor.killed.charges/index.html
Time to start adding to the list of those who support and advocate domestic terrorism.
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Just a quick followup on Kansas abortion
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I've noticed the concerted effort to avoid addressing the elephant in the room.
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The "cowardly act" is an abolutely correct description in this horrendous murder of an unarmed man, in his place of worship no less.
The accused murderer possesses twisted thinking and twisted logic.
Here we have a "man", Roeder, who is armed with a gun allegedly shooting to death another man who is not armed.
The suspect's brother, David Roeder, said his family always saw "Scott as a kind and loving son, brother and father who suffered from mental illness.""<
Anyone who can murder in cold blood is mentally ill...however, I don't believe for one second that he didn't know exactly what he was doing.
Excellent info.
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