Terror on a Sunday morning

[Political Waves]

A heartbreaking act of domestic terrorism happened inside the Reformation Lutheran Church of Wichita, Kansas this weekend. It's being celebrated by some Americans, as we speak. Remember that old Righty slogan, "When guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns?" Well ... when wingnuts go hysterical, only hysterics will be waving them, cutting down fellow citizens who disagree with them.

Dr. George Tiller spent his life taking care of of Americans who agreed with him that, "Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud." Most of them came to him in dire circumstance, as did the person whose blog-post you'll find below; they came for help, not political rhetoric or discussion. But it was his political determinations that made him one of the last full-term abortionists in this country ... got him shot in both arms in 1993 ... and got him murdered yesterday. The man arrested for his death evidently has a bit of experience with bombs; just dandy, eh? The Christian Science Monitor ran this headline:

 

Concerns mount that suspect in abortion-doctor shooting had extremist ties

Well, hell -- ya think?

Homegrown terrorism is always pretty close to the bone; visible, festering, toxic and mostly ignored until it turns lethal. When the DHS released the report that cautioned against Right-wing terrorism, the TV stations here in the Pea Patch ... digging through the descriptions ... got a mighty bitchslap. I recall one anchor hesitantly mumbling, about issues of conservative Christian activity, " ... they could be describing me."

Yes, bubba -- they could; which is a stunning admission in the Big World, but here, in the Pond, simply wingnut opinion du jour. Christionist viewers were shocked that some of their own homegrown church-speak was considered dangerous akin to terrorism. They pushed back loudly, I recall, calling the entire report [produced by the Bushies] liberal Kool Aid.

The Charlie Bronson model ... or Dirty Harry, if you like ... of vigilantism may be a fantasy all relate to at some level, but it's just that -- fantasy ... unless you're armed and determined and fed swill at the trough of those like O'Reilly so that you become ... yourself ... a weapon, loaded and cocked. A suicide bomber for the Jesus Jihad.

There is no reasoning with hardcore pro-lifers, who see no justification for curtailing a flawed pregnancy; these are the same people who protect life in utero but refused to put down their tea bags to finance any nurture for life emerging past the womb. They live in bubbled indignation against those who require welfare, yet WHO among those who deliver profoundly needy children into the world can do WITHOUT assistance for the staggering costs ahead? Tough luck -- not the Righty's problem ... once you breathe.

Those of us who have had to wrestle the emotional implications of terminating a pregnancy know how profoundly difficult it is, an agonizing decision we'd rather not make -- but the pro-life bullshit that abortion is victimization forced on us poor little women, and that regret will eat us alive and damn our immortal soul is just that ... a big fat crock of homegrown delusion ... and the God they serve, if He's viable, ought to be embarrassed by the limited intellect and closed hearts of His flock.

Two things emerge with this last shooting incident -- first, this is the third assassination in a church according to my recent memory, invalidating any God worshipped but the Christocratic version. Second, you never see a woman doing this dark deed -- Redemption-Is-Mine behavior is the clear territory of those without a uterus ... and, bottom-line, IMHO, this ain't their party. 

Sadly ... I think this is going to get a lot worse. What is left of the Pub base is the distillation of the racism and sexism that justifies their behavior according to The Book. They hearken to the FAUX megaphone [O'Reilly's] that shouts "murderer and baby killer and Nazi" and worse -- it's IN them to be tribalistic cretins because their minds are too closed, their hearts too guarded to get past the Sins of their Fathers ... and on to the joyous experience of creating their own.

What happened in Wichita is just an echo from thousands of stonings and ritualistic killings that began long before gunpowder was invented -- the blood sacrifice of a dying paradigm. Sully posted this quote from a Wichita minister and I think it hits the nail:

I have come to the conclusion that the Christianists' aim is the simple denial of God’s grace to anyone who may have a broader vision of the love of Christ.

In all those years that we suffered at the hands of those willing to sell our national Soul for the pittance of power and corporatism -- did you ever see a Lefty pick up a gun and point it? Our respect for life extends even to those who would rob us of ours.

Not so the other side, so I think we'd better get a Very Clear Definition of what 'terrorism' is now ... because, remember, the Right thinks Colbert is laughing WITH them; they're not the sharpest tools in the shed. If we want them to pay attention ... well ... we're going to have to wrestle their damn guns out of their hands. Obama is aware -- Holder has ordered the U.S. Marshall's to guard the remaining clinics that offer this service to families in the USA.

 

Despite the tweaked wording of a recent poll that has Righty's crowing that the nation is pro-life for the first time in generations, we remain firmly pro-choice in this nation, by over 2/3rds. Those who refuse to take note of that have gone feral ... and we'd best remember this is group-mind at play, not legitimate dialogue and discussion. Bang!

Those who live by the sword, die by it ... and I will leave them to it. If they have to learn the hard way, I just wish they'd get on with it -- and stop taking US with them! Below -- the facts, those effected, those horrified, those feeling justified ... last link, one voice, apologizing.

Jude

Suspect Held in Kansas Abortion Doctor's Slaying
Peter Slevin and Robert Barnes, WaPo
Monday, June 1, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/01/AR2009060100612_pf.html

WICHITA -- Scott Roeder, identified Sunday as a possible suspect in the slaying of prominent Kansas late-term abortion provider George R. Tiller, is known in antiabortion circles as a man who believes that killing an abortion doctor is justifiable.

Two abortion opponents who had previously encountered Roeder, 51, said the Merriam, Kan., resident expressed support for their view that lethal force is not a criminal offense if it protects the lives of unborn children.

Kansas authorities and FBI agents worked late into the night Sunday to piece together the details of Tiller's shooting, which happened as he distributed bulletins at Reformation Lutheran Church at the start of the 10 a.m. service. After police spotted Roeder in a car that matched witness descriptions of a vehicle seen leaving the scene of the shooting, he was taken into custody and investigators began probing his background.

Roeder is behind bars at the Sedgwick County Jail, on suspicion of murder. No charges will be filed today, District Attorney Nora Foulston told reporters.

Prosecutors have 48 hours to charge a suspect or request more time. Foulston said the case will be tried in state court.

A large American flag flew at half-staff at Tiller's clinic beside a busy highway in Wichita. A city police officer parked his cruiser in the entrance drive.

More than 40 bouquets of flowers stood against a wooden fence in remembrance. Three women placed flowers during their lunch hour.

"He did what was right. He did nothing illegal," insurance company employee Julie Lawson, 45, said tearfully. "I want his family to know how much he was appreciated."

Lawson said she never met Tiller but appreciated that "if I ever needed him or my daughter ever needed him or a loved one ever needed him, he was there. And now he's not."

Many leading abortion opponents said they did not condone the killing, Lawson noted, but with their rhetoric, "they incite that. I think they're responsible."

A woman named Cindy placed a bouquet and walked quietly back to her car.

"He was for women's rights. He was harassed for years. I feel bad for him," she said. "He had enough money. He could have retired to Florida, but he kept working."

Among the flowers was a white sign with black letters. It read:

"The Kansas Coalition for Life respects every human life, including the life of Abortionist Tiller. We prayed for his conversion to the prolife viewpoint, not for his murder."

It was signed Mark S. Gietzen.

Sharon Andrews and her 7-year-old granddaughter stopped to place a condolence card against the fence.

It said, "Dear Dr. George Tiller family. My name is Kylie Andrews. I'm almost 8 years old. Dr. Tiller delivered my Dad in 1971. Sorry for your loss. Kylie. 6/1/09."

"I just know what he did for me," Sharon Andrews, 67, said. "I liked George fine."

Andrews changed doctors because of protesters outside the clinic.

"It was such a hassle to even get in here. You had to go through protesters even if you were going just for a cold or to bring my son in."

Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said the assailant apparently acted alone. The FBI and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are trying to determine whether others were part of the attack and whether the suspect had any connection to antiabortion groups.

Roeder was stopped by police about three hours after the shooting, some 170 miles away on Interstate 35. Authorities were bringing him Sunday night to Wichita, and said he could be charged in the case as early as Monday.

Acting on orders from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who said the Obama administration will take "appropriate steps to help prevent any related acts of violence from occurring," the U.S. Marshals Service announced that it will begin protecting certain abortion clinics and doctors.

One group likely to receive protection is Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, or PPMNS, which provides abortions and reproductive health services in the three states. In South Dakota, where no doctor is willing to perform elective abortions, Planned Parenthood flies in a doctor once a week from Minneapolis.

"In the wake of the tragic murder of Dr. George Tiller, PPMNS has accepted an offer to supplement our present security with support from the U.S. Marshals Service," said Sarah Stoesz, president of PPMNS. "It is critically important that we ensure the safety of our doctors, staff and patients."

As news of Roeder's arrest traveled, Kansas City activist Regina Dinwiddie remembered the day a dozen years ago when Roeder hugged her in glee after trying to frighten an abortion provider by staring him down inside a Planned Parenthood clinic.

"He grabbed me and said, 'I've read the Defensive Action Statement and I love what you're doing,' " Dinwiddie said in a telephone interview. She was a signer of the 1990s statement, which declares that the use of force is justified.

"I said, 'You need to get out of here. You can get in a lot of trouble,' " Dinwiddie recalled.

Dinwiddie said she does not consider death of Tiller, the nation's most prominent provider of controversial late-term abortions, to be a homicide.

"I don't think he was murdered. I believe he was absolutely stopped in his tracks and it was long overdue," Dinwiddie said. She declined to say when she last spoke with Roeder.

Dave Leach, a Des Moines antiabortion activist who also signed the statement, said Sunday night by telephone that he published some of Roeder's writings in "Prayer & Action News," which describes itself as "a trumpet call for the Armies of God to assemble."

Leach described Roeder as "anti-government" and said he once stopped to see Roeder in Kansas. At the time, Leach said, he was on his way home to Iowa after paying a prison visit to Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon, an abortion foe convicted of shooting Tiller in both arms outside his Wichita clinic 16 years ago.

Leach said he lost touch with Roeder and does not recall the specifics of his writings.

Tiller, 67, had performed abortions since the 1970s. He ran the Women's Health Care Services clinic, one of three in the nation to perform abortions after the point when a fetus is considered able to survive outside the womb.

The clinic had been the scene of frequent abortion protests -- some peaceful, some not -- and had served as the national focal point of antiabortion activists during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests in 1991.

After he was shot by Shannon, Tiller received protection from federal marshals for a time. In recent years, he declined interviews and public appearances out of fear for his safety.

He had also been a frequent subject of attempted prosecution in a state that has become one of the battlegrounds of attempts to restrict abortion. In March, the physician was acquitted of criminal charges that he performed late-term abortions without properly obtaining a second medical opinion.

The killing brings renewed attention to the abortion issue, which is never far from the public spotlight. It moved to the forefront with the controversy that surrounded President Obama's delivery of a commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. And an opening on the Supreme Court inevitably leads to questions about constitutional protections for the procedure, especially in light of uncertainty about nominee Sonia Sotomayor's stand on the issue.

Obama issued a statement late in the day saying he was "shocked and outraged" by the killing.

"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," Obama said.

Tiller is the fourth abortion provider to be killed since 1993, and the first since Barnett A. Slepian was fatally shot outside Buffalo in 1998.

Tiller's family members said through their attorney: "Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients. This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."

The statement also said "George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence."

Holder said last night that he had ordered the U.S. Marshals Service "to offer protection to other appropriate people and facilities around the nation." He added: "As a precautionary measure, we will also take appropriate steps to help prevent any related acts of violence from occurring."

Abortion rights supporters, and some who oppose abortion in all circumstances, denounced the attack.

"Dr. Tiller's murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who pledged support for "providing these essential services."

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, whose group is based in Wichita and whose Web site carries a "Tiller Watch" feature, said he was "shocked" by the killing.

"Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice," Newman said in a statement. "We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning."

But Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, called Tiller "a mass murderer" and added: "We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God."

A posting from May 2007 on Operation Rescue's Web site, from a person identifying himself as "Scott Roeder," sought volunteers to "attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside)" to "ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members. . . . Doesn't seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller."

Tiller was shot just after 10 a.m. services began, while he was handing out bulletins in the church lobby.

Adam Watkins, 20, told the Associated Press that he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.

"We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped," Watkins said.

Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller's wife, Jeanne, out. "When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened," Watkins said.

The church held a special memorial service for Tiller on Sunday evening. Reporters were not allowed to attend.

Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1985, then rebuilt and fortified with bulletproof glass. A private security firm protected it, and Tiller at times wore a bulletproof vest, drove an armored car and was accompanied by a bodyguard.

Tiller, a former Navy flight surgeon, assumed his father's family practice in Wichita. He had said he learned that his father had performed abortions when one of his patients asked if he would continue the practice. Tiller said he was surprised his father had risked his medical license by performing the procedure.

He began performing abortions after the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade permitted the practice.

"Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud," Tiller once said.

Tiller was closely aligned with former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, now Obama's secretary of health and human services. Her strong stand on abortion rights and association with Tiller held up her confirmation.

Upon questioning, she told the Senate Finance Committee that Tiller had contributed $12,450 to her campaigns from 1994 to 2001 and $23,000 to a political action committee Sebelius controlled.

"This is sad and shocking news," Sebelius said after Tiller's shooting. "My prayers go out to the Tiller family and to the members of his church who witnessed this terrible crime." ++


George Tiller Murder Prompts Second Look At Scandalized DHS Report
HuffPo
06- 1-09
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/01/george-tiller-murder-prom_n_209701.html

In the wake of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, The Plum Line's Greg Sargent is making a lot of sense:

You may recall the enormous controversy that erupted in April over a Department of Homeland Security report that assessed the threat of "right wing extremists." The story provoked days of nonstop cable chatter, and DHS chief Janet Napolitano ultimately apologized.

Fast forward to the huge and horrible news yesterday that late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was shot dead by a man who reportedly posted on the blog of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. Maybe we should take another look at all that criticism?

One passage from the DHS report that provoked nonstop outrage said that right wing extremists "may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

I recall that at the time, I found it a bit bizarre that many conservatives seemed to want to go out of their way to identify and equate themselves with domestic neo-Nazi organizations and violent religious fundamentalists. As has been often pointed out, the word "conservative" did not appear in the report, so the race to stand up for and embrace a violent political fringe seemed unnecessary and contrary to logic.

That said, one can't ignore the recent uptick in the mainstreaming of this sort of fringe whackery. Back in April, Dave Weigel noted that Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak was likening the "tea party" movement to the "Project Mayhem" domestic terrorists depicted in the movie Fight Club. (Which I thought we agreed we weren't supposed to talk about?) And, via Matt Yglesias, here's Representative Michael McCaul urging a crowd to bloodshed for the sake of the "tree of liberty":

The Bush administration, which put in motion the research that led to the aforementioned DHS report, and Janet Napolitano, who shepherded it to its public release, seem to have been on to something. Looking back, I think it's just swell how everyone dug down really deep into the politics of it, instead of the substance. ++


It's So Personal: A Tiller Patient
Andrew Sullivan, Daily dish
01 Jun 2009
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/its-so-personal-a-tiller-patient.html

A Metafilter commenter writes:

My wife and I spent a week in Dr. Tiller's care after we learned our 21 week fetus had a  severe defect incompatible with life. The laws in our state prevented us from ending the pregnancy there, and Dr. Tiller was one of maybe three choices in the whole nation at that gestational age. My wife just called with the news of his murder, weeping. I can't really come up with some profound political statement just now, so let me just list some memories of Dr. Tiller.

I remember him firmly stating that he regarded the abortion debate in the US to be about the control of women's sexuality and reproduction.

I remember he spent over six hours in one-on-one care with my wife when there was concern she had an infection. We're talking about a physician here. Six hours.

He told the story of his previous shooting, where a woman shot him twice in both arms as he drove out of his clinic. At first he wanted to run her down with his Jeep, but then he thought "she shot you already George, she'll do it again!"

I remember being puzzled about a T-shirt he was wearing, which said "Happy Birthday Jennifer from team Tiller!" or something similar. Turns out it comemmorated the birthday of a fifteen year old girl who was raped, became pregnant, and came to Tiller for an abortion. As luck would have it, she was in the clinic the same week as her birthday. So the clinic threw her a party.

The walls of the clinic reception and waiting room are literally covered with letters from patients thanking him. Some were heartbreaking - obviously young and/or poorly educated people thanking Dr. Tiller for being there when they had no other options, explaining their family, church etc. had abandoned them.

I remember my wife, foggy with sedation after the final procedure, being helped from the exam table. He had her sit up and put her arms around his neck, and then he lifted her into a wheelchair. "You give good hugs" she whispered. He paused just for a moment. "You're just fine," he told her. ++


How Dr. Tiller's Abortions Saved Lives - From Heartache
Jill Brooke, HuffPo
June 1, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-brooke/how-dr-tillers-abortions_b_209686.html

I have two friends who had to make the heartbreaking decision to fly to Kansas for a late term abortion. These were not women who were sloppy with birth control or didn't desperately want to have children. As with many of the women who visited Dr. George Tiller, they had found out after their amnio tests that the babies they were carrying would be horribly deformed.

Amnios, which test for abnormal chromosomal problems, usually takes place between 14-16 weeks of a pregnancy and then it's usually another week before the diagnosis.

One of my friends waited an extra week to have hers because she was on a business trip. By the time she discovered that the baby inside her -- whom she had already made a room for in her heart and in her apartment -- was going to be sentenced to a lifetime of care and emotional and physical agony, my friend made the heart-wrenching decision to terminate the pregnancy.

I remember so vividly her crying into the phone as we spoke.

"I'm going to have to fly to Kansas," she said.

"Kansas! We live in New York. Why Kansas?," I had asked. "There has to be a doctor here."

"It's the only place that will do late term abortions," she said, as an ear-splitting sob interrupted her sentence. "I have another few days to think this through before it's even too late to go there."

After I ran over to her apartment, we discussed the pros and cons of this decision, one that I can promise you, was not made cavalierly or without anguish.

Part of the discussion, and what is often misplaced in the abortion debate, is the underlying truth that couples face.

Raising a child with severe medical or physical deformities tests you and sentences you to a life filled with many obstacles both emotionally and financially. It not only impacts the child, but the whole family.

"I can't do it, " my friend finally declared. "What does that say about me?"

It says, I assured her, that she's honest. And the reason that technology has given us these choices is to make the right decision for her family. I would have made the same decision, as I also told my other friend who was faced with this dilemma.

Because amnio doesn't reveal many issues -- including autism -- other couples who now bravely battle these daily pressures of a child with disabilities teach us about compassion and courage.

In conversations that I've had with quite a few friends who have children with issues, they wished they would have had that choice. However, they are now accepting their destiny with grace and often tears.

And yes, I do admire Sarah Palin for making the choice she did for her family when she learned she would have a son with Down's Syndrome. I have another friend who made a similar decision, based on many factors, and the experience made her firmly pro-choice. And that is what we need to protect -that choice - and why Dr. George Tiller's murder -- in church -- is so tragic.

Because where will my friends or others who want that choice go now?

After learning of Tiller's murder, I called my friend who went to Dr. Tiller. In the background, her two daughters were playing as we discussed this injustice. "He's a hero," she said, her voice a whisper.. "He literally saved our family from a lifetime of heartache.." My other friend now has a healthy son whom she cherishes. As she told me, she says a prayer for Dr. Tiller almost every day, and now will say it for his family. ++


The Murder of Dr. Tiller, a Foreshadowing

Cristina Page, Author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America - HuffPo
May 31, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-page/the-murder-of-dr-tiller-a_b_209562.html

For those who would like to think today's murder in church of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, is an isolated incident, here's the horrifying news: You are wrong. The pattern is clear and frightening.

In March 1993, three months into the administration of our first pro-choice president, Bill Clinton, abortion provider Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Pensacola, Florida. That was the beginning of what would become a five-fold increase in violence against abortion providers throughout the Clinton years.

Today's assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes 5 months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn't portend anything, again, you are wrong.

During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders.

During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were 6 abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers. There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years.

During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years.

One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant.

In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401.

And so the execution of Tiller, 67, is not only tragic but ominous. He was born into an era when being an abortion provider meant saving women's lives. And the cold-blooded murder in church and in front of his wife of this stalwart defender of women rights and beloved physician, comes as a message for others, as well as tragic deja vu.

Battered women are at greatest danger of being killed by their abusers when they are most strong -- that is, when they muster the courage to leave. The same phenomenon may be true in the abusive political abortion debate. The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power. When the anti-abortion movement loses power, their most extreme elements appear to move to the fore and take control. The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, anti-abortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts.

History has another disturbing lesson for us. The escalation of anti-abortion rhetoric plays a direct role in instigating violence. When anti-abortion groups ratchet up the rhetoric, they know exactly what they're doing and the results it will have. Even if they maintain deniability, as Operation Rescue recently did saying, in effect, we wanted Tiller gone, but didn't want him murdered, they have inflamed the rhetoric. And suddenly people Like Dr. Tiller's murderer become inspired.

Eleanor Bader, co-author of Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism, in an article in March for RHRealityCheck.org about clinics bracing for an uptick in violence after the election of Obama wrote, "immediately after Obama's election, Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director of the National Right to Life Committee, called him a "hardcore pro-abortion president." The American Life League dubbed him "one of the most radical pro-abortion politicians ever," and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life warned that Obama will "force Americans to pay for the killing of innocents." Americans United for Life, the Family Research Council and Operation Save America quickly joined the chorus."

Bader interviewed clinic staff -- many seeing a direct relationship between the pro-choice victory in November and increased aggression against them and their patients. Claire Keyes, of Allegheny Reproductive Health in Pittsburgh, explained:

Right after the election we saw a small upsurge in anti-abortion activity. But since the inauguration, things have gotten measurably worse. There's been an increase in picketing by students from Franciscan University in Ohio. On Saturdays there are 60-plus protesters and there's been an increase in screaming and aggression. We don't have a parking lot so people park on the street. The antis have surrounded cars, trapping the women inside, and in several cases the antis jumped into vehicles and touched or grabbed at them. The police were called but so far they don't seem to be responding appropriately.

Bader also quotes Elizabeth Barnes, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Women's Center, who explained, "When the pendulum swung in the direction of protecting women's rights, we expected something. The way the antis are reacting has changed, they're taking more liberties, pressing the boundaries of legal, civil protest."

Many in the pro-choice movement believed that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law, passed in 1994 in response to Gunn's murder, was responsible for reigning in violence against abortion providers. Clearly that is not the case. Based on statistics on violence against abortion providers compiled by the National Abortion Federation, even after the passage of FACE in 1994, there was still considerable violence and threats against clinic personnel, including six murders. As appears clear, the pro-choice movement has looked through rose-colored glasses, assuming or hoping that legalities can restrain terrorists.

In fact, it didn't abate after FACE, as we've seen. It was not until a comforting anti-abortion president did they calm down and stop the murder, bombing and harassment spree.

As a result of Bush's policies, recent reportings from clinics suggest that we may be seeing a surge in abortions. That has failed to inspire introspection from anti-abortion groups. That Clinton presided over the most dramatic decline in abortion rates in the recorded history of our country left them unmoved. That Obama has assigned his senior-most staff to the task of finding ways to reduce the need for abortion has not protected clinics nor providers nor Obama. Holder and his Justice Department should take note of the chatter and move aggressively against this form of domestic terrorism. The hate-filled rhetoric against Obama from the anti-abortion movement is at unprecedented levels, even for this reflexively inflammatory group. They refer to him as the "Most Pro-Abortion President Ever" ignoring the fact that he is the first to extend an olive branch in hopes that together we can make abortion more rare.

Anti-abortion groups will put out carefully worded press statements condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, as became routine for them during the Clinton years. But unless the rhetoric they choose from now on becomes careful too -- they may be the enablers of murder and terror. ++


No Mercy
Mary Mapes, HuffPo
May 31, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-mapes/no-mercy_b_209529.html

 
I felt just sick today when I saw the bulletin about the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Sicker still when I saw the "sympathy" letter issued by officials at Operation Rescue, the virulent anti-abortion organization that dogged this poor man for the past two decades. The statement said, "We pray for Mr. Tiller's family."

They had better say a few prayers for their own souls. They had better pray for forgiveness for relentlessly working to make this man a target.
Operation Rescue's Web site said the organization was "shocked" by the murder.

Well, I'm not.

This has been a long time coming, and no one has played a greater part in the run-up to the doctor's death than Operation Rescue. Their leaders -- and all of the group's enablers -- should be cowering in shame today.

I was in Wichita, Kansas in 1991 covering Operation Rescue's cruelly misnamed "Summer of Mercy," a six-week ordeal when thousands of anti-abortion protesters descended on Dr. George Tiller.

These "rescuers" -- sweaty mobs of zombie-like true believers -- swarmed across the street in front of the clinic like angry ants. They crawled over the hot asphalt toward his office on their hands and knees. They collapsed onto the stairs, chained themselves to the fence, shrieked prayers and threats and bellowed the Biblical equivalent of evil spells at anyone who approached the place. They fell lifelessly to the ground, some of them swooning and crashing spectacularly to earth.

When I went to Wichita to cover this, I thought I would be assigned there for a day or two. But this became more than a single protest. It turned out to be the birthplace of heartland civil disobedience against abortion and it went on and on and on.

Like the protesters, news people at the siege had a regular daily schedule.

Every day we rose early and raced to the clinic, set up our cameras in the hot Midwestern sun and waited for the anti-abortion performance art to begin.

Like clockwork, Operation Rescue's fleet of air-conditioned buses would pull up an hour before the office opened. Out would pour hundreds and hundreds of protesters eager to lay their lives and their bodies on the line for the "babies."

Wichita police were overpowered and overworked. The protesters were over-excited and overweight.

Day after day, weary local cops had to pick up and drag away protesters by the ton, literally. By the end, all the officers were wearing wide leather lifting belts in an attempt to protect their backs as they struggled to hoist and carry off so much dead weight. Police complained to us bitterly about colleagues who had seriously damaged their backs.

I remember one cop telling me he was praying the protests would stop before he ruined his back and his career.

Every night in the hotel that Operation Rescue designated as its home base, the organization sponsored a "worship service" that featured singing, prayer, sermonizing and a whole lotta snake oil.

Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry, an egotistical, self-aggrandizing super-nerd, commanded the room like a rock star. Women fainted and lay trembling on the ground when he entered to thundering applause and the screams of people who love Jesus so much they act like they're crazy.

The chemistry in the room was unlike anything I've been around, before or since.

In just a few weeks in Wichita, Operation Rescue forged an unholy alliance of sexually repressed super Christians, men who hate women and women who hate themselves and turned them into a supercharged army of bullies for Jesus.

And they were bullies.

In 1991 and until his murder, Dr. Tiller was one of the few doctors in this country who performed late-term abortions. Despite what Operation Rescue claimed, none of his clients were ending pregnancies on a whim. None of them wanted to be there.

Each case was a tragedy -- a much anticipated child discovered to have only a partially formed head, a baby that was dying in the womb and had to be delivered, a child with medical problems so profound as to be unimaginable, a diagnosis that meant a child's life outside its mother's body would be both brief and brutal.

Tiller's clients often included couples who had been hoping to become parents but had their hearts broken late in pregnancy when they received horrifying medical news about their much-wanted babies.

These people got no mercy from Operation Rescue.

They were hounded and harassed, shoved and shouted at on the most heart-breaking day of their lives. In order for patients to make it to their appointments, clinic supporters had to coordinate each woman's arrival with walkie-talkies. They shielded the patient by forming a flying wedge of bodies that rushed through the crowd to escort her into the building.

I watched one woman sobbing as she and her husband were helped into the clinic. Her tears went unnoticed by the hundreds of protestors surrounding her who shrieked and wailed and tried to trip the people escorting her to the door.

It was horrible.

And now, finally, after all the heavy breathing about heaven and God, evil and innocence, Operation Rescue by all appearances has goaded someone into killing George Tiller.

He was shot to death as he worked as an usher at his longtime church. His wife was close by in her regular place in the choir. The circumstances of his murder highlight precisely how hypocritical and grotesque this brand of "morality" is.

The zealots are already feigning shock that something like this could happen. Their partners in crime will soon be doing the same.

I can already envision the backpedaling and rationalizing that we'll hear from longtime Tiller critic Bill O'Reilly. Dr. James Dobson, who hosted the triumphant closing "Summer of Mercy" event that summer in Wichita, will undoubtedly declare himself deeply saddened.

I keep going back to Operation Rescue's catchy slogan for the "Summer of Mercy." They yelled it at everyone within earshot.

"If you believe abortion is murder, act like it's murder."

Maybe they have a point.

After this country's seemingly endless assaults and murders of clinic doctors and staff, the explosions and fire bombings, the vandalism and harassment, it's clear that this violent behavior is not a natural outgrowth of religious belief or moral concerns.

This is not part of a disagreement over when life begins.

This is terrorism.

And if we believe this is terrorism, we need to act like it's terrorism.

No mercy. ++


Late-term abortion doctor decries Tiller killing: ‘This is a fascist movement’
Ernest Luning, Colorado Independent
5/31/09
http://coloradoindependent.com/30017/late-term-abortion-doctor-decries-tiller-killing-this-is-a-fascist-movement

Hours after the Sunday morning shooting death of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller in Wichita, Kan., a Boulder physician — who says he could be the only doctor in the world still performing the procedure — said Tiller’s assassination was the “absolutely inevitable consequence” of decades of anti-abortion fanaticism.

“I’m profoundly sad and I’m furious and I think the American people need to understand that we have a fascist movement in this country,” Dr. Warren Hern told The Colorado Independent on Sunday. “We don’t have to invade Iraq to find terrorists. They’re right here killing abortion doctors.”

“Every doctor that does abortions has been under an assassination threat for decades,” Hern said. “The anti-abortion movement message is, ‘Do what we tell you to do or we will kill you,’ and they do. This is a fascist movement.”

Hern laid blame for Tiller’s death at the feet of the anti-abortion movement’s encouragement of violence against abortion providers and the Republican Party’s “exploitation” of the extremist rhetoric.

“Dr. Tiller is dead by an anti-abortion assassin, and this is the absolutely inevitable consequence of 35 years of anti-abortion fanatic rhetoric and intimidation and assassination violence and exploitation by the Republican Party of this movement,” Hern told the Independent.

Hern, who described Tiller as “a good friend of mine,” said he doesn’t “know of any other doctors in the world doing late abortions like I am.” The Boulder Abortion Clinic, run by Hern since he founded the practice in 1975, has as its motto “Specializing in Late Abortions for Fetal Disorders”.

Hern declined to say whether he planned any changes to his security precautions after the killing of Tiller, who was shot to death while ushering at his Lutheran church.

Noting that Tiller is the “fifth American doctor to be assassinated,” Hern told the Los Angeles Times he’s well aware of the dangers. “I get messages from these people saying, ‘Don’t bother wearing a bulletproof vest, we’re going for a head shot.’ ”

A statement on the Boulder Abortion Clinic’s Web site addresses Hern’s concerns about safety for the clinic’s patients:

By its name and continued existence, Boulder Abortion Clinic makes a statement that women are free to make their own choices about their own lives, bodies, and family needs. I have been personally involved from the beginning of my medical career in advocacy of reproductive freedom, and I continue in this commitment. We have survived anti-abortion harassment and violence and shown our determination to provide these services in spite of everything. As a result, our patients are protected by the highest standards of safety and security when they come to my office.

CLARIFICATION: Dr. Warren Hern’s claim that he is the last late-term abortion provider is not factually correct, according to reproductive health experts. While there are few physicians who publicly advertise these rare services as Dr. Hern does, third trimester abortions are available, by physician referral, to women experiencing serious, life-threatening medical conditions and in the event of a stillborn or gravely ill baby. - Ed. ++


Randall Terry, Operation Rescue Founder, Says He's More Concerned About Obama's Reaction Than Tiller's Murder
HuffPo
05-31-09
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/31/randall-terry-operation-r_n_209531.html

Randall Terry, the founder of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue who led protests against George Tiller's clinic in Wichita, Kansas in 1991, issued a statement about today's killing of the abortion doctor.

In his comments, Terry does not grieve for Tiller or denounce the murder but seems more concerned about President Obama's reaction and what it bodes for the pro-life movement.

"George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

Terry did not return calls for comment.

Other anti-abortion groups condemned Tiller's murder in strong terms, reports the Catholic News Agency.

Troy Newman, President of the Kansas-based Operation Rescue said in a statement that his organization "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. We pray for Mr. Tiller's family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ"...

Shaun Kenney, executive director of American Life League, explained that leaders within the pro-life movement "often discuss justice in connection with our mission to end the tragedy of abortion. Today, Dr. George Tiller's life ended in an act defying those principles." ++


How I (and Other "Pro-Life" Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller's Murder
Frank Schaeffer, HuffPo
June 1, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/how-i-and-other-pro-life_b_209747.html

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington ... I'm asking you to believe in yours."
~ Barack Obama

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