Dear Auntie Nanuuq,
I am writing today to share my deep, personal sadness and that
of the entire Planned Parenthood family about the murder of Dr.
George Tiller this morning in Kansas.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and those close to
him who are suffering a personal tragedy.
Dr. Tiller was the epitome of high quality medical care
underscored by deep compassion for his patients. While he was
not a Planned Parenthood provider, Dr. Tiller provided critical
reproductive health care services, including abortion services,
to women facing some of the most difficult medical
circumstances. He was continually harassed by abortion opponents
for much of his career - his clinic was burned down, he was shot
by a health center protestor, and he was recently targeted for
investigation only to be acquitted by a jury just a few months
ago.
None of this stopped George Tiller from his commitment to
providing women and their families with compassionate care that
others were unwilling to offer.
His death is an enormous loss for the patients who relied on
him, his dedicated staff, and the medical community. And it is
also a loss for each of us for whom Dr. Tiller represented
courage against unbelievable adversity.
Sincerely,
Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
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(C)2009 Planned Parenthood(R) Federation of America, Inc.
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/________________________________________________________________________
Dr. George Tiller: a physician who helped people under "desperate circumstances"
Carla Axtman
The murder over the weekend of Dr. George Tiller, one of a handful of physicians who performed late-term abortion, is an absolute tragedy. As Kristen wrote yesterday, many are in mourning and angry over this disgusting and hate-filled act.
This was an act of political aggression against a doctor who helped people who were in absolutely desperate circumstances:
Anti-choice activists often cast late-term abortions as the murder of a viable baby at the whim of a woman who doesn't wish to be inconvenienced, carried out by a doctor who looks at her and sees only cartoon dollar signs. They're egged on by relatively mainstream figures like Bill O'Reilly, who declared that Dr. Tiller "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." Such misinformation and outright lies about procedures that are in fact rare and only performed when medically necessary are what led anti-choice activists to call Tiller "America's Doctor of Death," and accuse him of running a "murder mill." The reality of what Dr. Tiller did, however -- helping women in absolutely desperate circumstances, when almost no one else would -- is what led one woman who had to terminate a wanted pregnancy because of a terrible late-term diagnosis to call the doctor and staff at his Women's Health Center "our heaven when we were living in hell."
This was a man who was treating patients in dire need of help. His cold-blooded murder for what looks like political and religious reasons is revolting. The justifications for his murder by the repugnant Randall Terry and the swill that is Free Republic are a stark reminder that the Americanized version of the Taliban are alive and well.
Dr Tiller is a hero and a martyr and should be remembered as such. His murder should galvanize Americans further against the hate-filled, fear-mongering fringe that treat women and choice with visceral disdain.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/06/dr-george-tiller-a-physician-who-helped-people-under-desperate-circumstances.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef01156fc4eca4970c
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