A Sad, Sad Day
I am still reeling from the shock that a man shot George Tiller in front of his church on Sunday morning. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that after years of harassment, death threats and shootings, George Tiller is dead. Words cannot describe the loss of this man.
My favorite quote from him:
Make no mistake about it this battle is about self-determination by women of the direction and course of their lives and their family’s lives. Abortion is about women’s hopes and dreams. Abortion is a matter of survival for women. -George Tiller, 2001
The man who took his life is known to believe that violence is justified in protecting the lives of the ‘unborn.’ The man who robbed the Tiller family of a husband, father, and grandfather, is a product of the vitriolic rhetoric of the so-called pro-life movement. The movement that values the lives of unborn fetuses above the lives of those already living. Already, these anti-life, anti-woman, anti-freedom forces are mustering to distance themselves from the ‘lone lunatic’ they created. Already the are disparaging those of us who fight for women’s dignity and justice for ‘using this tragedy’ for political ends.
No my friends, it is not we who use any and all means to gain political advantage. It is not the reproductive justice movement that feels that any means justifies the ends. That is the strategy and tactics of those among you who feel you have the right to dictate morality, to judge other peoples’ lives and find them wanting. We are not using this tragedy, we are pointing out the senseless violence that your rhetoric has spawned.
Dr. George Tiller was a generous, compassionate, brave and determined man who believed that women have the right to determine the course of their own lives. He worked long and hard to provide services to women who faced difficult choices and made heart-wrenching decisions. He saved more lives than any three of the leaders today ’standing firm’ in their anti-abortion rhetoric, combined. But those were women’s lives, so they are not as important…
The media are falling over themselves wondering what this tragedy will do to the ‘common ground’ conversation that President Obama has called for to ‘end the culture wars’ on abortion. How does the heinous murder of a good man change the national debate on abortion? How do you find common ground with people who want you dead? While I am sure there are good, well-meaning people who are opposed to abortion, I fail to see what part they play in this conversation. I am tired of states and courts deciding what kinds of abortions are ok and what are not, of deciding what hoops a woman must jump through to obtain an abortion, like she needs a license to make decisions about her own body, her own life, her own family. I bloody sick that there needs to be any debate at all. I want to go back to the ‘radical’ days of the women’s liberation movement:
Free Abortion on Demand.
Who are you to tell ME what I can and cannot do with my body? Who are you to shoot a doctor who provides caring and compassionate services that I NEED?? Just because you disagree? If you don’t agree with abortion, don’t have one. For godsake, what if I started a movement against appendectomies? After all, god gave us an appendix, who are we to take it out? Get your morals and heavy handed rhetoric out of my medical care!
We will find common ground when women get the rights and respect they deserve as human beings. This isn’t about politics or political gain, this is about women’s lives. And now it’s about the life of a man who believed in helping women live the lives they wanted.