But Dr. George Tiller, a physician who performed late term abortions, was murdered while attending church in Kansas. I have my questions about late term abortions, but he performed legal services. He had survived a similar attempt in 1993.
Now expect the media to give their microphones to a gaggle of Operation Rescue hacks who will say “it’s a tragedy but…” and then gently slam everything this doctor stood for. That’s if they can bring themselves to call it a tragedy. Instead, they might simply say, “I don’t condone the act, but…”
Here’s a little background info on the suspect, courtesy of the conservative blog Little Green Footballs, who to their credit are not softpedaling this incident.
Addendum: Randall Terry says Dr. Tiller got what was coming, then invites everybody for hot wings and beer.
And here’s a slideshow of photos of a vigil in SF tonight taken by frequent poster Moonshadow. For just the photos, go here.
32 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 31, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Heraldo
Another terrorist attack on abortion rights.
June 1, 2009 at 5:39 am
Carson Park Ranger
“I have my questions about late term abortions…”
Studying medicine now, Eric?
June 1, 2009 at 5:46 am
capdiamont
This is from their website. But their website is running slow.
June 1, 2009 at 8:24 am
Mr. Greenjeans
What a dumbass comment.
June 1, 2009 at 11:05 am
Heraldo
A quote from Dr. George Tiller:
When it became legal and my patients began to ask for it, I’d say, “Sure. It’s a legal process.” I was a service provider. I was a physician. The patients needed abortions, and I did them. It is my fundamental philosophy that patients are emotionally, mentally, morally, spiritually and physically competent to struggle with complex health issues and come to decisions that are appropriate for them.
June 1, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Skippy
A physician murdered in his own church by a cowardly right-wing nut job.
Sad in so many ways.
This kind of thing only strengthens the resolve of the pro-choice movement.
We will not be intimidated!
June 1, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Skippy
Apparently it’s not considered a crime to the wingers, as long as a leading wing-nut thinks that “Christian scripture” would support it:
….
Scott Roeder, 51, of Merriam, Kan., whom authorities have described as a suspect in Sunday’s fatal shooting here of George Tiller, was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News, said Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines who runs the newsletter. Mr. Leach said that he had met Mr. Roeder once, and that Mr. Roeder had described similar views to his own on abortion.
Commenting on Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach said, “To call this a crime is too simplistic.” He added, “There is Christian scripture that would support this.”
….
June 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Eric Kirk
No, or I’d have some answers instead of questions.
For the record, I don’t believe any woman should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term. That’s slavery.
June 1, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Carson Park Ranger
I’m just wondering if Eric would “have questions” about appendectomies if an internist had been murdered by these pious nuts.
June 1, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Eric Kirk
Actually, there are medical experts who argue that many appendectomies are medically unnecessary and the physicians are too quick to call for the surgery.
June 1, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Not A Native
In the Bible belt and attacked two times before. This guy had a lot more courage than most of us, deserves a patriot medal. But as it was, he was barely avoiding indictment.
There’s no easy moralistic answer that will marginalize his slayers. Killing as a means to “save lives” is a well established and respectable position. The devil is in the details.
June 1, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Kato
It seems to me that if you’re going to call yourself “pro-life”, you’d better be advocating just as hard to save people from all institutionalized murder, like the death penalty, environmental toxins and WAR. If you’re only focused on protecting in-utero people then you’re just “pro-birth”.
Thank you for adopting two precious children, Erik.
June 2, 2009 at 7:18 am
Carson Park Ranger
Jesus Eric, is this an attempt at humor, or are you just pathetic?
June 2, 2009 at 8:33 am
Eric Kirk
Lite humor CPR. What’s biting your ass lately?
June 2, 2009 at 8:57 am
Carson Park Ranger
“Lite” humor is not what I would expect from a discussion in the aftermath of the assassination of a courageous, selfless man.
June 2, 2009 at 10:24 am
Eric Kirk
Well, we were off the topic of the selfless man and onto late term abortions which I’d only made a cursory reference to, because it was in fact why he was killed. You brought up the appendectomies, and I made a joke about it.
That he was killed because he performs later term abortions brings the issue to the forefront, and that’s why I mentioned it. It was not intended as a slight on his character. From his perspective he was providing a legal service to women who needed it.
June 2, 2009 at 11:06 am
Carson Park Ranger
My first comment was meant to condemn your asinine mention of late-term abortions, as if we, or the late doctor need Eric Kirk’s precious opinion on this private medical matter.
June 2, 2009 at 11:17 am
Not A Native
Eric, you wrote you have “questions about late term abortions”.
Inquiring minds simply asked: What are those questions?
June 2, 2009 at 11:27 am
Eric Kirk
Did I say you needed my precious opinion? I didn’t even really offer it.
All those assholes out there in la la land saying he got what was coming, and you’re mad at me for saying I have questions about a controversial topic? Are you taking your anger at them out on me, or is my transgression really comparable?
June 2, 2009 at 11:27 am
Eric Kirk
I can’t answer that. Apparently I’d be forcing my precious opinions on you.
June 2, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Skippy
Actually it’s pretty simple in this case: under our laws, the Doctor did not murder anyone, the right-wing nut DID.
If “saving lives” includes killing doctors to prevent abortions, then how about killing your girlfriend because she’s going to take Plan B emergency contraception? Is that also a “well-established and respectable” position?
June 2, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Not A Native
The particular circumstances matter and have moral weight.
When a killings occurs, various people may ask questions about the circumstances and cause further inquiry by more people. If it ultimately isn’t considered respectable, the killer may be sanctioned. If it is considered respectable, the killer may be commended. Capital punishment is well established and respectable and in fact it is killing justified as “saving lives”.
If a boyfriend killed his girlfriend without “exonerating” circumstances, he will be sanctioned.
If Osama bin Laden were summarily killed, his killer will be commended by the US and maybe paid a bounty for having saved lives.
I’m just explaining my opinion of how I see that things really are. Personally, I agree that some killers are heros and some are criminals.
June 2, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Kato
EriC. Sorry.
June 2, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Eric Kirk
About what?
June 2, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Rose
Hate to tell ya, Eric, but Little Green Footballs is not a conservative blog. Was. Isn’t anymore.
Anyway – I appreciated your thoughtful post.
June 2, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Eric Kirk
Really? What happened?
June 3, 2009 at 7:48 am
Eric Kirk
Some collected “prolife” comments from Facebook.
Names have been removed in order to protect the anonymity of the posters, but this is an actual status update posted on Facebook, and the conversation that followed in its wake. When you have a culture mired in self-pity, self-delusion and both a persecution complex AND a superiority complex, one shouldn’t be surprised at the degree of bloodlust that ensues against all “enemies,” foreign and domestic:
Okay, today, George Tiller was retroactively aborted today. While I am personally opposed to retroactive abortions, do I have the right to judge the morality of the individual who engaged in a retroactive abortion today? Can I possibly place myself in his shoes? Have I the right to impose MY morality and/or religion on him? I mean, doesn’t he have the RIGHT to a retroactive abortion?
*************
God Bless you ***..Your Wit never ceases to Amaze and Amuse the Masses…
*************
Perfect.
*************
Retroactive abortion. Hilarious!! It was so… spontaneous. lol The bullet hit him… and it was spontaneous. I think it was probably quite merciful. It’s not like he was thrown into acid and burned alive. It’s not like people took a sharp instrument and cut him to pieces while he was live… all of this without anesthesia. Yes, I’d say his retroactive abortion was much more merciful and human than those he performed.
*************
“Ding Dong, Tiller’s Dead!! Ding, Dong, The Wicked Tiller’s Dead!!” I know I was happy to hear it. lol
*************
(humane – his retroactive abortion was more humane than those he performed) Sometimes my keys stick. 🙂 typos occur.
*************
I’d hate to find out the trigger man is a Christian. It is taking the place of God to kill this man. Hell had a special place for him already. I cannot condone this, nor can I condone Tillers occupation.
*************
Does he not have a “right to privacy” for retroactive “abortion” that comes from “due process” as was found in Roe v Wade?
*************
Dr. Tiller was a man, too. I know, I’ve met him. This shocks and saddens me. Think about what you’re saying.
*************
I pray that the Abortion lobby does not get rich from the ensuing publicity that may come from this.
*************
Osama, Charles Manson, Hitler, Ted Bundy were men too and mass murderers just as was Tiller. Grieve for them 2?
*************
just goes to show how stupid we really are as a people to let language be used against us to make such morbid and horrible things as abortion seem so harmless.
*************
***** because you have met him means nothing. He was a man too, so what? He was a murderer. He got killed.
********* God forbid that you ever have to defend the lives of your family or yourself. You would not be taking God’s place. You would be defending the life that God gave you and that some jerk was trying to take.
*************
*******, I simply cannot condone cold blooded, premeditated murder, no matter the occupation. You would have to have a God complex yourself to use that defense.
*************
My mom came over to visit. I said, “Guess what?!!” (She hadn’t heard but she saw I was so excited and happy.) I was like, “Tiller’s dead!!” (There was no “grieving” for him at my house.) 🙂 I was SO happy for the children.
*************
Condone? No. But I’m sure as hell not shedding a tear for his premature trip to hell. In fact, I can’t help this smug grin from breaking out across my face.
*************
Everything that goes around, comes around. I do like the phrase “retroactive”. Has a calming feel to it.
*************
*****, I thought about it. I’m SO HAPPY Tiller isn’t here to massmurder any more children. A massmurderer has been stopped from murdering his innocent children victims. We should all be happy for the children.
*************
Hey *****, I think God is ECSTATIC that Tiller is dead, and really desires us to shout with JOY!! 🙂
Proverbs 11:10 10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
*************
I could dance and shout I’m so happy!! …For you to compare Tiller to innocent victims – like the children he massmurdered – truly shows your own moral bankruptcy. There’s a difference between a massmurderer and innocent victims. So, go smear someone else. I’m as happy as I’d be if it was 1930 and I learned Hitler had been assassinated. Or would you cry for Hitler?
*************
I literally PRAYED, *****, and ASKED God to either bring abortionists to repentance – or take them out of this world to PROTECT little innocent children from mass murder. My prayers are being answered – whether you like it or not. I love children… and I call on God to strike massmurderers dead if the Government will not protect children from massmurder. I have no problem with it, Linda, and am rejoicing that Tiller’s dead.
*************
People tried to tell me I shouldn’t pray for massmurderers to be stricken dead. But I did. ANd called on the Lord and said that Divine Retribution might just be coming their way. I did pray for the Good Lord to send a death angel on their way. I really personally would have preferred that Tiller had been struck by lightning. However, if the Good Lord saw fit to retroactively abort him at church – who am I to question the Almighty??
*************
They same people that advocate human abortion are the same people that would never put an animal down. PETA doesn’t even want us to drink milk from the poor cows, yet they support human abortion. Twisted minds, twisted morals.
*************
****, *****, please join me. we can lay down in front of bulldozers to save a tree with a bird’s nest in it and then call for an innocent baby’s tiny body to be ripped apart and we shall call it choice. A woman’s right to mandate the death of another’s. Tiller’s death was poetic justice. *********, Tiller made a living off of murder. Did not Jesus say that those who live by the sword will also die by the sword?
*************
And he did. The guy brought nothing of value to society, yet made a ton of money in the process. Not a big loss, sorry. I have a daughter that’s a nurse practitioner. She saves lives, better choice I think.
*************
*********… this is one of the scriptures I prayed over the massmurders – so that the wrath of God would be turned back from His people – and turned onto those who spill the blood of the innocent on our land:
Numbers 25:6-8 (New International Version)
6 Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;
*************
If you would like to notice, until the man rose up to strike people dead – the wrath of God was on the land and the people. But when the man rose up to put to death those who brought the wrath of God onto God’s people – the plague was stopped. God gave Phinehas special honor and rewards for his zeal. I rose up in prayer and declared to God, “I remove all grace from these people and all protection and I release death to them in the name of Jesus in the absence of repentance. God, strike these people dead and turn your wrath and judgment OFF of your people in this land. Let the blood of the innocent be cleansed – and let the tide of abortion turn in this land as you execute divine retribution and wrath upon these massmurderers”.
*************
A friend made this comment about the Tiller murder: “Judgment will begin in the house of the Lord”. Which is what happened today.
*************
He was one of the lucky ones: he had longer life than most of those poor babies lives that he terminated: they didn’t have any life at all did they? He now meets his Judgement day and I hope the poor souls that he murdered will now be amongst the Judges for his final destination. By the way: I am a Christian and proud of it!
*************
Let’s put this in perspective, okay? George Tiller killed approx. 60,000 people. That’s 60,000 people. And they ARE people. I really don’t care how good he was to his family. I’m sure many of the participants in the Holocaust were just wonderful to their families.
June 3, 2009 at 7:52 am
Eric Kirk
And a kos poster collected some choice Freeper comments.
http://www.freerepublic.com/…
Bah…I dont play political correctness…i would no sooner cry for tillman than I would for the jeffery Dalmer…
Good riddence.
Hope he burns in hell….
3 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 2:47:45 AM by Crim
Remember this is just the third post on a 60 post comment care to see more below?
* AHiddenSaint’s diary :: ::
*
A nation of laws? Ted Kennedy sits in the United States Senate after dumping a girl in a river and leaving her to die. Bill Clinton perjured himself, and our senate–full of lawyers–couldn’t remove him from office. The bill of rights declares that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and yet what crime did 4,000 babies a day commit? Where was their due process?
A nation of laws. What a crock.
7 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 2:53:28 AM by farmer18th
See the Death is also a excuse to bring other dems into this. Remember they are all guilty in their eyes. Doctors are not the only ones who aren’t safe here.
“Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing.”
That’s all I had to read.
and it’s pure BS….
I would contribute to his legal defense fund and suggest he plead tempory insanity driven by the slaughter of the innocent….
as my gandfather used to say…tillamn shot dead?….sucks like dead japs…
9 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 2:56:57 AM by Crim
It only took 9 comments in this thread for the Freepers to declare this man a hero.
I agree totally. I could not care less about the fate of Tiller. In fact, shouldn’t the resources spent going after his killer be better spent seeking many other murderers that I’m sure are on the loose?
17 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 3:08:15 AM by The Duke
Waste of Money defense
I dont make my living killing babies…and I can defend myself quite well thank you.
A man can be judged my his enemies….my only enemies are jihadists,gangbangers and leftists…
Anyone else wants to pony up…have at it…
I wouldnt have done it myself…..but I could care less otherwise….
I dont condone murder….but in this case I condone the choice of victim…
I hope the guy gets off on an insanity defense….
18 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 3:09:37 AM by Crim
Insanity plea defending a murder
Of course he’s burning in hell. The most compassionate thing we could do for believers is to remind them that’s exactly where people like Tiller go.
32 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 3:41:32 AM by farmer18th
If Tiller was going to be murdered, perhaps a trocar stuck into his skull and his brains sucked out, or left naked in the cold to freeze, starve or die of dehydration…
44 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 4:35:00 AM by carcraft
This one is having fun picturing how death could go the way he or she wanted it.
“Good riddance.”
Looks like he needs another. Shoot him again.
47 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 4:50:35 AM by y6162 (uish..)
Apparently he isn’t dead enough to them. From here it all goes down hill.
Well said Crim.
Tiller is burning in hell.
And a lot of babies will not be killed by this killer.
56 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 5:28:41 AM by Joe Boucher
Well said farmer18th
Don’t forget money money money MONEY.
If ya gots it laws can be gotten around.
58 posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 5:30:38 AM by Joe Boucher
Now another thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/…
Here’s a thought. Don’t engage in the practice of murdering babies for profit.
That way you won’t get your ass shot to death by someone who believes that killing babies is murder.
Problem solved.
L
3 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:49:05 PM by Lurker
http://www.freerepublic.com/…
start of a civil war
4 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:54:49 PM by 4rcane
“The shot heard around the Nation.”
I don’t know… we shall see.
12 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:56:25 PM by OneWingedShark
Tiller is a murderer.
The government is responsible under God to punish those guilty of capital crimes. (Rom. 13).
Why is our government not carrying out its God given charge to punish the evil and reward the good?
Why are they tempting people like this man to take the law into their own hands?
Why are we as conservatives attempting to make room in our ranks for people who believe in the killing of babies.
That is not who we are!
33 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:04:21 PM by TFMcGuire
I can’t get worked up over the murder of this guy. I feel far more grief reading about the death of a family to a drunk driver, or someone gunned down by a crook.
This is like reading that a Nazi prison camp guard died. I only have so much sorrow in me, and don’t have much to spare for this fellow.
39 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:07:08 PM by Mr Rogers
I’m surprised the murderer didn’t just pull Tiller out of the church by his feet, punch a hole in the back his skull and vacuum his brains out with a shop vac. In Kansas it’s legal if your the right age…..
64 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:22:54 PM by hatfieldmcco
I sware, this is all staged by the administration. This is all too convenient for them.
And the sick disgusting media. May they all rot in hell.
66 posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:23:26 PM by prismsinc
Well I need a Shower.
June 3, 2009 at 10:00 am
Skippy
Freepers?
Creepers!
June 3, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Not A Native
As long as the people who have been elected to exercise sovereign authority are commited to rule of law, the killers of Dr. Tiller will be sought out and hopefully found and punished as murderers. I really would like that to be the situation in Kansas. If not, the US is diminished by it and protests will be in order, even here in HumCo.
Its OK by me that his murderers have defenders, but I’ll not engage with them over the validity of killing as protest against what they feel is an unjust law. Far as I’m concerned, they, like the for-profit pot growers, are in a leaky ethical boat directed toward a misunderstood self interest.
June 3, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Skippy
“Its OK by me that his murderers have defenders, but I’ll not engage with them over the validity of killing as protest against what they feel is an unjust law. ”
Agreed 100%.
June 3, 2009 at 7:39 pm
milt
They probably ran out of Muslim children wearing bomb belt photos.