Recalling Tiller, Six Months After His Murder

More than six months after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's precious few late-term abortion providers, two stories  appeared in the media last week discussing aspects of his legacy.

First, a New York Times article looks at the man who has taken up Dr. Tiller's mantle: Dr. Leroy Carhart, whose Omaha, Nebraska, clinic has now become an epicenter for the anti-choice protests. Protected by a heavy-duty security system and limiting his time in public, Dr. Carhart says that the greater danger would be the message backing down would send, making assassination seem like a viable method to achieve a political goal.

Late-term abortions cause plenty of controversy, even within the pro-choice movement, due to the fact that fetuses at this stage have reached the earliest point where they might (but still might not) be viable outside the womb. Dr. Carhart had previously helped out at the Tiller clinic, but when he announced that he would begin providing late-term abortion at his own practice, the Times article points out, some of his employees left.

Despite all the attention, this type of abortion is extremely rare (less than one percent of abortions performed), strictly regulated, expensive, and hard to get, since so few doctors are willing or know how to provide this service. The women who go through the trouble of seeking a late-term abortion are dealing with either serious dangers to their physical or mental health, or fetus abnormalities that would make giving birth a cruelty because it would lead to extreme suffering followed, in all probability, by the death of the baby. Rhetoric that faults women for frivolously seeking late-term abortions smacks of misogyny. Perhaps why Dr. Tiller used to regularly wear a button asking everyone to "Trust Women."

The other story, which appears in TruthOut.org, might serve as a reminder against heavy-handed, judgmental moralizing. The article recounts the situation of a devout, anti-choice Catholic couple who deeply wanted their child, yet who found themselves in the position of seeking a late-term abortion from Dr. Tiller. The baby they were looking forward to had developed major health problems that would require a serious of intensive surgeries, which still could not be expected to extend her life much more than a year. Examining the tenets of their faith, Gail and Robert Anderson decided that, while the Church opposes abortion, it also teaches mercy, and the merciful thing to do would be to have an abortion.

"It isn't a black and white issue as so many like to make it," Robert shares, having come to that realization himself through the ordeal. The couple mourned the murder of Dr. Tiller, a man who had shown compassion and understanding for their situation when their friends and religious community refused to, and faults the Catholic Church for prioritizing politics over the nuances of difficult real-life situations.

Photo courtesy of qwrrty's Flickr photostream.