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Dr. George TillerAugust 8, 1941 - May 31, 2009
On May 31st, American women lost a courageous ally in the abortion rights struggle. Dr. George Tiller, 67, was shot to death during worship services at the Lutheran church in Wichita, KS, where he was a longtime member. Tiller was the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, in Wichita, one of only three clinics in the United States that provide abortion procedures after the 21st week of pregnancy. Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent but recovered. Dr. Tiller had also been the subject of many efforts at prosecution, including a citizen-initiated grand jury investigation. In the latest such effort, in March, Dr. Tiller was acquitted of charges that he had performed late-term abortions that violated state law.
In 2003, we first met Dr. Tiller and he agreed to be a speaker at the JAC Annual Meeting that year. At that time, he stated that he was one of only two doctors in the western hemisphere to perform late term abortions. His presentation was graphic in its depiction of the circumstances that make late-term abortion a rarely performed but necessary option. We heard the stories of thankful women whose lives and reproductive futures were saved as a result of these difficult procedures. A story that tugged at our heartstrings and renewed our pro-choice resolve was that of a nine-year-old girl who did not even know she was pregnant, who did not even know how a woman gets pregnant. She was raped by her father and no one knew she was pregnant until later in the pregnancy. Recognizing that a nine-year-old body could not handle the trauma of carrying a baby to term, Dr. Tiller likely saved the life of this child.
Because of his fearless commitment to full reproductive health services for women whose circumstances were the most dire, Dr. Tiller's days were always numbered. Those who are most in need of his courage and his skill have lost a compassionate champion.
The murder of Dr. Tiller is a grim reminder that our work is not done.
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