Kansas abortion doctor shot and killed at church

Ok look I know ther's lots of reasons that have to do with the health of the mother,but if you're going to sit and tell me women dont get abortions for reasons like I mentioned your nuts. Let me tell you something just so you know where Im coming from.I dated a girl in my early 20's who had an abortion for this reason and I was crushed It's not what I wanted I wanted to keep it or we could have at least put it up for adoption. So please dont assume Im just some crazed pro lifer cos Im only speaking from what I experienced.

prfctlefts wrote:

This man was a sicko how could any one live with them selves let alone even sleep at night. why would any one want to perform late term abortions

For the record, I think this is the question I've been trying to answer.

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/4758
Let Dr. Tiller's patients tell his story

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Phillip Wood and his wife were joyfully preparing for the births of twin boys when, midway through the pregnancy, everything went wrong.

An amniocentesis revealed a disease of the placenta. Both twins were dying. With his wife prone on a cot in the back of a van, Wood drove from their home in Columbia, Mo., to a hospital in Florida for a surgical procedure that might save one of the boys.

Doctors at the Catholic-affiliated hospital told them neither twin would survive, and his wife was at risk of a ruptured uterus. That would make her infertile and could threaten her life.

“They had no information as to where we should go. They just said, find an abortion,” said Wood, a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Wood and his wife drove to a clinic in Illinois, but doctors there elected not to abort the fetuses, saying the size of one twin’s head was larger than their guidelines allowed.

With his wife in physical and emotional distress, Wood drove to Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

They ran the gantlet of protesters, who pleaded with Woods’ wife not to end her pregnancy. Inside, they signed forms required by the state informing them, among other things, that their sons looked human and could feel pain.

After all that, they met George Tiller.

“I wasn’t prepared for this active, energetic, very vocal guy,” Wood said. “He took time to listen to us. He was very appropriate and involved me in all steps of the abortion.”
After the twins had been aborted, Tiller gave the parents time with them. They performed a brief baptismal ceremony.

“While I held the bodies of my sons he stood to the side and wept, very quietly and very briefly,” Wood said.

Tiller, the physician slain on Sunday in Wichita, was too often defined by his adversaries. On Web sites, TV and radio talk shows, and in legislative hearings, they portrayed him as the reckless “abortionist,” willing to euthanize babies close to birth just so the mother could fit into a prom dress or attend a rock concert.

That portrayal always defied logic. Would someone in the third trimester of pregnancy really travel to the heart of Kansas and pay a $6,000 medical fee just to fit into a size 6 party dress?

“There has been a very deliberate strategy by the most extreme opponents of abortion to demonize Dr. Tiller and the kind of service he provided, and by extension to demonize women and their motives,” said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

It’s a cruel deception.

The overwhelming majority of the 250 to 300 women a year who sought late-term abortions from Tiller had planned their pregnancies. They came to him heartbroken and afraid, carrying fetuses with malfunctioning kidneys, missing organs and syndromes certain to cause death in the womb or soon after birth.

A much smaller number of late-term patients were rape and incest victims, sometimes very young girls. Some were directed to Tiller by prosecutors.

Contrary to the false portrayal of him by anti-abortion activists and politicians, Tiller didn’t automatically consent to perform an abortion for any patient who requested one. He understood the constraints of Kansas law and he knew he was being watched.

But even in those instances, he tried to help. Over the years, Tiller arranged dozens of adoptions, Brownlie said.

Inside Tiller’s fortressed clinic, Phillip Wood and his wife met two other couples who, like them, were in the throes of crisis pregnancies.

The walls of the clinic, Wood noted, were papered with hundreds of cards and letters from patients expressing gratitude. Wood and his wife later added one of their own.

Wood wrote another letter this week. It was to the congregation of Reformation Lutheran Church, the sanctuary where Tiller was shot while handing out bulletins before the Sunday service.

“I believe you have lost a selfless and dedicated health care professional and someone who did the best he knew how to serve others,” Wood wrote.

The prom queen who talked her way into a late-term abortion doesn’t exist. She’s a creation of Tiller’s enemies.

Wood and his wife are real people, and so are the thousands of patients who wrote the thank-you notes that now serve as a memorial wall to a fallen physician. They are the ones who should define his memory.

cincybearcat wrote:

And none of that matters (but it is an interesting read, thanks).

Because no matter the circumstances of what he was doing, he didn't deserve to die.

And it's sad that a legit issue has now come to this. While the prom queen looking for a 3rd timester abortion may not exist...the number of "prom queens" and "prom kings" looking for their little problem to go away after conception is still huge and certainly a legit issue to discuss.

absolutely.

however, right along with that.....how and what he did for a living more than likly is the reason why someone targeted and killed him, and also where this topic continued on.


scb - thank you! excellent articles, most especilly about the fetal abnormalities. and yes, for providing illustrative numbers for just how many (rare) late term abortions truly are...and many of the agonizing reasons for them. i think far too many think it is simply an 'easy decision' that someone makes at the last moment.


cincy.....as to the prom king/queen....i hear ya. i do know how you feel on the topic of abortion so for those 'convenience' issues, we absolutely disagree. in those instances, it absolutely comes down to when you truly believe human life begins. i know i fully support the rights for abortion, do not believe a full, human life begins at conception....and certainly before a central nervous sytem comes into existence, no sensory perception, etc. however, of course i would far prefer to see less/next to no abortions...b/c it would be better for all involved not to have to get to that point. thus, education and ease of access to all forms of contraception is so important, and i am also a big proponent of the morning after pill......far better than an abortion later, tho i know some consider them abortion as well, and even IUDs. there is no way to appease everyone on the topic, that's for sure.

i think it's great for everyone to be truly educated on the topic...so again, thanks for all your excellent/informative posts scb. and you bet, as abortion IS legal, even late-term abortions in certain cicumstances.....it's even more disturbing that not only was someone murdered, but murdered b/c he was providing a completely legal service to assist women.

ajedigecko wrote:

i just hope there were no kids to witness this.

i dont think you have to worry about that. im sure the doctor aborted all the kids before he died.