"The family of Dr. George Tiller announces that effective immediately, Women's Health Care Services, Inc., will be permanently closed. Notice is being given today to all concerned that the Tiller family is ceasing operation of the clinic and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic. ..."
The week following Tiller's May 31st assassination by a 'pro-life' terrorist, the Obama administration appointed someone who doesn't believe in contraception or maternal health exemptions from late term abortion bans to help administer the office that advises faith-based organizations on how to secure government funding for their work. Though he did wait a whole four days, which means he must like reproductive health advocates at least four times as much as the abortion opponents in whose honor he waited an extra day to repeal the global gag rule.
President Obama has called on leaders of both sides of the debate on whether women should have the right to legal abortion to come together to find "common ground."
But it is cold-blooded, vicious actions like today's assassination that make it hard for those of us in the pro-choice community to find common ground with those on the other side. It is lawless, violent behavior like this that makes us fear for our lives and our families. When they sit down across from us, they have no reason to believe that we come to the table with violent intentions. Today is a brutal reminder that we are not privileged to have the same sense of security.
It's not just violence, though. The violence is natural end of the logic of coercion, and coercion is precisely what anti-choice activists are all about. It's not just mere happenstance that violence comes from the anti-choice side, and not the other way around. This is the very essence of the issue: coercion vs. choice.
The murder of Dr. George Tiller is evidence of the re-emergence of violent rightwing extremism, which many observers expected in the wake of Bush & Cheney's exit from the White House. Indeed, a report released in April, Rightwing Extremism: Current. Economic and Political Climate Fueling. Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment (pdf), was subject to rightwing backlash, precisely because it accurately focused attention on the potential for increased rightwing terrorism at this time. While it didn't focus specifically on anti-abortion activists, it has been ten years since the last abortion provider was murdered. While the numbers of violent rightwing activists can be measured in the thousands, they are representative of a much larger segment of the population, measuring in the millions. However, this still represents only a relatively small political fringe in the total electorate, as can be seen by this chart, showing that total opposition to all abortions encompasses roughly one in 11 Americans, and one in seven Republicans:
(Source: General Social Survey. Interactively generated by author, May 31, 2009, Sun 03:04 PM PDT. Filtered for years 2000-2008.)
Abthreat is a combined scale, measuring attitudes toward abortion in case of rape, threat to the health of the mother, or significant birth defect.
Dr. Tiller was one of the few late-term abortion providers in the country. He had previously been shot, his clinic burnt down, harassed by ideological anti-abortion attorney generals, and threatened with death countless times. We've written about his many trials and tribulations here numerous times. Still, Dr. Tiller continued to provide abortions to women who desperately needed them, to save their own lives or health, or due to tragic fetal deformities. He put the health of women above his own life.
And now he is dead.
There is no word on whether or not there is a suspect in custody as of yet. I'll update as soon as I know. I've only just heard. And I'm in total shock. This is the first time an abortion provider has been murdered in over a decade. I have friends who work in abortion clinics. This is terrosism. And right now, I just don't have the words.
Suspect arrested in connection with slaying of abortion provider George Tiller
BY STAN FINGER AND JOE RODRIGUEZ
The Wichita Eagle
The suspect in this morning's fatal shooting of George Tiller is in custody, according to emergency dispatchers.
Authorities have yet to release more information about the arrest. Wichita police have scheduled a 4 p.m. news conference to discuss the case.
Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses, a city official and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.
Police had said they were looking for white male who was driving a 1990s powder blue Ford Taurus with Kansas license plate 225 BAB. The vehicle is registered to an owner in Merriam, which is in the Kansas City area.
Clearly, the resurgence of rightwing violence was expected by many observers once Republicans lost power. But that does not lessen the horror of this tragic murder.
