Groups That Pursued Tiller Share Blame for His Murder
With the murder Sunday of George Tiller, a Wichita, Kansas, doctor who performed abortions, some anti-abortion groups that targeted Tiller's clinic, home and church for protest have moved swiftly to distance themselves from the killing. Jenn Giroux, the executive director of Women Influencing the Nation, posted this message on the group's web site:
Women Influencing the Nation condemns all form of murder. The murder of George Tiller is in direct contradiction with the beliefs and morals embraced by those of us who believe that every life is precious in the eyes of God and no individual has the right to take the life of another. We encourage everyone to pray for the repose of Dr. Tiller's soul.
Scott Roeder, the suspect in Tiller's murder, visited the group's web site ChargeTiller.Com, which led a petition drive calling for criminal charges against Tiller for two years. Roeder posted the following message on the site Sept. 3, 2007, according to the Wichita Eagle:
It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the 'lawlessness' which is spoken of in the Bible," it said. "Tiller is the concentration camp 'Mengele' of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgment upon our nation.
Giroux's site described the doctor as "Tiller the Killer" and "the most notorious late term abortionist in the nation." The site's home page made the false claim that he was performing illegal abortions and had bribed Kansas government officials to get away with it:
Tiller has literally committed thousands of illegal late term abortions. Who is continuing to investigate that? Final note: Don't be surprised to see Tiller get off. Keep in mind that Tiller poured millions of dollars into getting this Attorney General's office elected to protect him. Do we really think that they will now agressively prosecute?
These quotes come from cached copies of the Charge Tiller web site, which was taken offline after Tiller was shot to death at his church. Giroux's a registered nurse and mother of nine who traveled from her Ohio home to Kansas to speak at legislative hearings urging his prosecution.
Tiller's abortion services were legal in Kansas, as demonstrated by his March acquittal on 19 misdemeanor charges related to abortions. The doctor was one of the only providers of late-term abortions in the U.S. because of anti-abortion activists who harass doctors at work, home and elsewhere. His clinic had been attacked by a bomb and he was shot twice in 1993, so activists like Giroux had to know that he could be the target of violence again.
Anti-abortion groups that go after individual doctors with rhetoric as strong as Giroux's share responsibility for his death. When you tell people that a doctor is committing murder and has bribed government officials to escape prosecution, you're encouraging people like Tiller's murderer to view violence as a justifiable act. Anti-abortion activists know this. Since 1993, there have been 14 attempted murders of abortion providers, 13 bombings of medical care locations, and now two doctors killed.
No matter how you feel about abortion, you should recognize that protests against doctors at their hospitals and homes are a form of political violence intended to stop Americans from engaging in a legal activity. If Giroux is genuinely remorseful about Tiller's murder, her group should repudiate the practice of going after individual abortion doctors the way they pursued Tiller.
Comments
The FBI and Napoltano were reamed out by the ever righteous right for warning of rightwing domestic terrorism. Seems they were right. The DOJ should o after the evanjihadists and their supporters just as vigilantly as they do islamic extremists. There really is no difference.
From the Leach "Salt Shaker" website (mentioned as being "scripturally" supportive of Tiller's assassination), regarding killing abortion doctors:
"...so far, the only way to save hundreds, arguably thousands of unborn lives, now, has been to destroy abortion buildings or kill abortionists."
Also: "But he does not take life seriously who condemns physically stopping the most brutal, violent murder in America today! He cares not about violence who sees it not in tearing unborn babies limb from limb but only in physically stopping it!"
Link:
www.saltshaker.us
These kinds of sites are the heart of the extremist anti-abortion movement of which Troy Newman and Randall Terry (Operation Rescue), and, obviously, Scott Roeder, are a part of.
These kinds of sites and their dogma should be more widely reported, to allow the world's populace a closer look at the mindsets of these domestic anti-abortion terrorists.
Perhaps in bringing these individuals to light, we'll prevent a re-run of yesterday's Tiller tragedy.
This is hardly the only example of people being targeted like this. Recently, Acorn was hosting bus tours to show off the homes of "thieving bankers". So if one of them shows up dead, should I expect an equally stringent post about the culpability of Acorn? I'll say that the people who expose the home addresses (etc) of abortion doctors are not good people, and they share responsibility for what happened. It's not unique to them though...
I'll say that the people who expose the home addresses (etc) of abortion doctors are not good people, and they share responsibility for what happened. It's not unique to them though...
I agree. All people who reveal private details of their political antagonists are encouraging intimidation or worse. I wouldn't defend any of it. I hated it when Prop 8 opponents published maps and addresses of all individual donors to the campaign, because it was incitement to harassment.
But with abortion, there's a history here that's completely obvious to everyone. When you organize a protest against a specific abortion doctor, you know going in that doctors have been murdered, clinics have been bombed, and staff have been attacked or killed. You can't say later, if the doctor is killed by one of the nuts you helped point his way, that you had no idea something like this would happen.
The point of protesting at the homes, workplaces, and even churches of these doctors is to intimidate them until they quit. The protesters either willfully ignore the chance of violence happening or want it to happen.
Jenn Giroux should be tried for murder,if the DA doesn't go after her he is not doing his job and should be fired.
Tiller's family should sue her for their loss.
In reference to some comments I've deleted, take the standard abortion-is-murder rants somewhere else. George Tiller's activities were legal in Kansas. There is absolutely nothing that can be said about abortion that justifies the 30-year campaign of harassment and violence against a doctor that ended in his murder.
Personally I'd love to see true scientific study/hearings on abortion. Its become so taboo to talk about with out yelling about it. I don't believe a sack of cells or something the size of grape should be considered human. That being said I think in the later stages of development especially when the fetus is viable outside of the womb we have to come to different conclusion. What makes people so mad about late term abortion that difference between what could be a premature baby that could live in an incubator and dismembered fetus is really up to the doctor at that point. Po-choicers scoff at the magical idea of life at conception but I think its equally ridiculous to believe life begins when your head comes out of a womb and second before that you are nothing.
I think we have to stop imposing our beliefs on others. It's a woman's body. Leave here the f- alone. No guy should have an opinion until they've pushed a watermelon out of their penis.
Let's see: Abortion is legal so anyone who points to one of the most notorious abortionists in the world is responsible for any violence directed against him. That's an interesting theory. If that logic holds up then the anti war movement must be responsible for the military recruiter who was gunned down in Arkansas yesterday. Funny that I haven't seen any articles suggesting that - I'll keep looking.
Abortion is legal so anyone who points to one of the most notorious abortionists in the world is responsible for any violence directed against him.
Tiller was notorious because of a 30-year campaign to harass and intimidate him by anti-abortion activists.
Some of those people now celebrate his murder. Activist Regina Dinwiddie told the Washington Post, "I don't think he was murdered. I believe he was absolutely stopped in his tracks and it was long overdue."
Dinwiddie is one of the activists who signed the Defensive Action Statement, which states that killing doctors who perform abortions is "justifiable." Another person who signed it was Paul Hill, who murdered another doctor and a clinic volunteer in Pensacola, Florida, in 1994.
I think we have to stop imposing our beliefs on others. It's a woman's body. Leave here the f- alone. No guy should have an opinion until they've pushed a watermelon out of their penis.
# 8 | Randy Charles Morin | 2009-06-02 10:07 AM | link
Randy. I reworded this for you from a more historical perspective. Hope you don't mind!
I think we have to stop imposing our beliefs on others. It's a [slave owners possession]. Leave [the slave owner] the f- alone. No [abolitionist] should have an opinion until they've [cleared a field full of] watermelon.
Sounds hauntingly familiar now doesn't it? Sort of like those pre-Civil War sentiments coming from the Southern states?
Abortion today will become tomorrow's slavery issue.
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