TRIBUTE TO DR GEORGE TILLER (1942-2009)
Written in response to the news of his murder on 31 May 2009
Dr George R. Tiller was born in Wichita, Kansas on 8 August 1941 where his father Dr Jack Tiller was a family physician. In 1989 he graduated from East Wichita High School and attended the University of Kansas where in 1963 he graduated with a degree in Zoology. From 1963-1967 he studied medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and then took up a medical internship in the Navy and became a US Navy Flight Surgeon. He was planning to become a dermatologist but his career plans changed dramatically in 1970.
On 21 August in that year his parents, his sister and brother-in-law were killed when their small plane crashed near Yellowstone National Park. Dr Tiller adopted his orphaned infant nephew and returned to Wichita to take over his father’s family practice. Over time he became aware that his father had performed abortions to help women in his practice. In reflecting on his career he said these women taught him that abortion is sometimes a matter of survival and it is also about women's hopes, dreams, potential, the rest of their lives.
In 1974 Dr Tiller started doing legal abortions at the Wesley Medical Centre, Wichita and in 1975 opened his own clinic, Women’s Health Care. Although he remained a diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice his abortion practice grew at the expense of his family practice. He also worked for several years in the Women’s Alcoholism Treatment Service in Wichita. He belonged to a number of professional medical organisations and supported pro-choice organisations. For his achievements in women’s health care he received a number of awards including the National Abortion Federation’s highest honour, the Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award.
He was best known as one of the few doctors in the USA who provided late-term abortions after the 21st week of gestation. His clinic was one of only three in the whole of the USA. He pioneered the use of sonogram imaging during surgery and other procedures that have been adopted as the standard of care for abortion providers. He was a frequent presenter at medical conferences.
His clinic, home and community have been the target of unrelenting protest activity over the years. In 1986 a bomb exploded on the roof of his clinic. Throughout the summer of 1991 protesters blockaded his clinic forcing it to shut down for several weeks. Some 2,700 protesters were arrested and he was undaunted. His clinic was heavily protected with bullet-proof glass and he wore a bullet-proof vest to work. When antiabortionists planned to commemorate the 10th anniversary of what they termed the 1991 ‘summer of mercy’, the Attorney-General John Ashcroft ordered US Marshals to protect Dr Tiller, enforcing a 1994 law against clinic violence.
In August 1993 he was shot in both arms by Mrs Rachelle “Shelley” Shannon, 37, an antiabortion activist from rural Oregon, who openly supported the killer of Dr David Gunn, the first US abortion doctor to be murdered in March 1963. Shannon is now serving an 11 year sentence for the wounding of Dr Tiller and another 20 years for attacks on nine other abortion clinics (several arson attacks and contamination with foul-smelling butyric acid.) After the shooting Dr Tiller returned to work the next day.
He has also been harassed through protracted court proceedings brought against him. In Kansas a little-used law enables citizens to force the impaneling of a grand jury if enough signatures are collected. In 2006 Operation Rescue and other antiabortionists collected signatures for a citizen-led petition (7,754 signatures) for a grand jury to investigate the death of a 19-year-old patient with Down syndrome who had died in January 2005 of sepsis following an abortion at 28 weeks gestation. Dr Tiller was cleared of any wrong doing by the grand jury and also by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.
Later that year Dr Tiller was again the subject of another grand jury investigation. It was seen by many as an abuse of the grand jury system. A citizen-led petition (over 7,900 signatures, more than three times the number required) accused Dr Tiller of violating a 1998 state law restricting late-term abortions. Opponents wanted the grand jury to look at all late-term abortions at Dr Tiller’s clinic since 2003. When the jury reported in July 2008 Dr Tiller was not indicted. There were serious concerns raised about the confidentiality of the patients’ medical records.
In December 2006 an antiabortion former state Attorney General, Republican Phill Kline tried to have Dr Tiller prosecuted for alleged violations of state law in 15 cases of late-term abortion. At the hearing the judge threw out the charges after less than a day. Kline appealed but the judge refused to reinstate charges.
In June 2007 the Democratic Attorney-General who replaced Kline also brought a case against Dr Tiller dating back to events of 2003. Kansas law permits late-term abortions when two independent doctors agree that the pregnant woman would be ‘irreparably harmed by giving birth.’ It was charged that Dr Tiller and Dr Kristin Neuhaus, who provided the second opinion, had an improper financial relationship. This they denied. The jurors took only 45 minutes to find Dr Tiller not guilty. However this was not the end of the case. Opponents had complained to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts with the same accusations. Only his death put an end to this harassment.
Dr Tiller, 67, was shot and killed on Sunday 31 May 2009 while he and his wife Jeanne were attending their longtime Reformation Lutheran Church. He was an usher and she was in the choir. The killer used a handgun and fled the scene in a powder-blue Taurus car. He was later apprehended about 275 kms away on the interstate highway near Kansas City. The suspect is a 51-year-old antiabortionist named Scott Roeder.
Dr Tiller is survived by his wife, four children and 10 grandchildren.
Reaction to his death has been one of outrage at such violence. Abortion providers have spoken of his leadership in the most difficult and controversial area of late-term abortions. While some will accept late-term abortions for fetal abnormality, Dr Tiller also did late-term abortions on other compassionate grounds. He was always aware of the danger involved and was routinely accompanied by a bodyguard.
Abortion-rights supporters said Tiller's death would leave few options for women in need of abortion later in pregnancy. His support of a woman’s right to choose was unwavering. Tributes have been spontaneous and heartfelt.
Peter Brownlie, President of Planned Parenthood of Kansa and Mid-Missouri said, "This is a tremendous loss on so many levels" (New York Times, 6/1).
The Post reported that Tiller is the fourth abortion provider to be killed since 1993 and the first since 1998.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said, "Dr. Tiller's murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive health centers that serve women across this country" (Barnes, Washington Post, 6/1).
NARAL New York President Kelli Conlin, said, "It is cold-blooded, vicious actions like today's assassination that make it hard for those of us in the pro-choice community to find common ground with those on the other side" (Abcarian, Los Angeles Times 6/1).
Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup said that Tiller was "willing to be a very public, forthright and brave defender of women's right to abortion," adding that he "put himself out front as a defender of women's reproductive health care" (Welch, USA Today 6/1).
Vicki Saporta, President of the National Abortion Federation said ‘It is abhorrent that once again, individuals who oppose the right to choose have used violence to try to advance their extreme anti-choice agenda.”
“Violence and murder will never end the need for abortion,” said Dr Suzanne Poppema, chairperson of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. “With great sadness and discouragement we call on the government to reactivate its protection system for our nation’s abortion providers.”
Kim Gandy, President of NOW (National Organisation for Women) said “Tiller was aware of the dangers he faced yet he continued to protect his patients and provide safe and legal abortions to women in often-desperate circumstances.”
Most (but not all) abortion-rights opponents condemned the murder, saying that they do not condone violence as a means to further their cause. Troy Newman, director of Operation Rescue, which had been working to pressure Kansas' medical licensing board to revoke Tiller's licence, called Tiller's death "a setback for the cause," adding that he "will likely be seen as a hero from the pro-choice perspective" (Bello, USA Today, 6/1).
President Barack Obama said he was shocked and outraged by the murder. “However profound our differences over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.”
Written by Dr Margaret Sparrow
2 June 2009