Dr. George Tiller, who was reported to have performed abortions up to the day before delivery in his Wichita clinic, was shot to death today in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church (ELCA) where he was a member. Notes The New York Times,
Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent but recovered.
Dr. Tiller had also been the subject of many efforts at prosecution, including a citizen-initiated grand jury investigation. In the latest such effort, in March, Dr. Tiller was acquitted of charges that he had performed late-term abortions that violated state law.
Both pro-abortion and pro-life groups have condemned the shooting.
According to Reuters, Tiller and his associates had contributed nearly $30,000 to the campaign of former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama’s new secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among those mourning Dr. Tiller’s death is Faith Aloud, a pro-abortion, pro-same-sex marriage religious group based in St. Louis. From Faith Aloud’s blog:
“Dr. Tiller taught me so much about the spiritual concerns of his patients,” said the Reverend Rebecca Turner, Executive Director of Faith Aloud. “He was a kind, compassionate man who respected women and listened to them. America cannot tolerate this kind of domestic terrorism. We must put an end to the hostile rhetoric that fuels this kind of violence. We must hold people accountable who bully women on the sidewalks of abortion clinics. There is nothing “pro-life” about murder and nothing “Christian” about the hatred that fuels it. My heart goes out to abortion providers all over our country who share in this tragedy.”
Here we can ask Reverend Turner if using such incendiary phrases as “America cannot tolerate this kind of domestic terrorism,” “we must put an end to the hostile rhetoric,” and “we must hold people accountable who bully women” are not themselves discourteous hate speech. Premeditated murder, which appears to have happened today, is a crime that should be punished according to the fullest extent of the law. Apparently, Reverend Turner wants to extend that punishment to include not only Dr. Tiller’s killer, but also pro-lifers lawfully exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. I think it sad that Reverend Turner chooses to take advantage of this horrible crime to promote her anti-freedom agenda.
We pray that our most compassionate God and Father extend His tender mercies to Dr. Tiller’s grieving family, friends, and members of Reformation parish, and that He would stir up in the hearts and minds of His people an even stronger resolve to condemn all unjustified killings: whether a man in his own church by a gunman, or hundreds of thousands of innocent, pre-born babies by abortion. May God also bring Dr. Tiller’s killer to justice.
That being said, I cannot pray for the soul of Dr. Tiller, who refused to hear and to believe God’s Word concerning life. That he died in church today is only divine irony.
