Dr. Tiller, RIP
Originally published at Sara Trice. You can comment here or there.
I am pro-choice. I believe that a woman has the right to control her pregnancy. It is her body, and she is carrying and nourishing the fetus inside her. If it becomes impossible to carry it to full term; if she is abandoned by her family, her friends, and has no possibility of being able to care for a child; if it will tear her apart to birth this child; if the child has a defect such that it will never experience a good quality of life - these are reasons not to carry the child to term. It is a personal decision, and it is one I support in full.
George Tiller, M.D. provided late term abortions. He was one of a handful of doctors that would. Why would someone get a late term abortion? What if, at 21 weeks, you found out your fetus had a severe birth defect that would cause it to be constantly in pain and live only a few years? Dr. Tiller understood that sometimes you have to make hard decisions, and that those decisions should not be made harder by not being able to find quality care. He did not encourage people to get abortions. He only performed them when the woman had made the very difficult decision to have one. He provided quality care with respect.
Abortion is legal in the United States. Whether you agree with it or not, it is a legally available procedure. Murdering doctors for providing a legally available procedure is not heroic. It’s murder. I agree with President Obama that we should be working towards the goal of lessening the need for abortions - sex education, providing birth control, and being open and frank when discussing pregnancy. Regardless, I still believe that women should have the option to end their pregnancy if they feel it is necessary. Dr. Tiller thought so, too. I hope that his service to the respect and independence of women helps his soul rest easy.