Dr. Tiller
Realized I hadn't written anything on this yet, I guess b/c it happened when I was on vacation and not reading the news.
From all patient accounts, this guy and his staff were supportive, knowledgeable, compassionate and comforting. It pains me to imagine finding out at 8 mos. that one's baby is destined to live in extreme pain or never outside a hospital and dead within a short time. Mothers who had to choose between the pain of ceasing life before exit of the womb or watching life be pulled from their baby futilely.
I don't care what you believe. This man was providing a service to mothers who could not conscienably bring a child into this world and he did it through a support network that required counseling and deep accountability.
Now that he's gone, and the threat of violence against doctors like him looms heavy I wonder what will happen? Will folks like me, but with more tolerance for blood and medicine, step up to the plate? Will we allow zealots to decide what is right for 'all' mothers and families?
I don't know. But I do know that anyone who is not saddened by the murder of Dr.Tiller or sympathetic to his difficult profession is missing a piece of human respect.
I do not advocate murder and I am anti-death penalty (government sponsored murder). I am a big advocate of adoption and birth control. But if a terminally ill patient chooses suicide or if an expectant mother of a teminally ill fetus chooses abortion, it is not my place to judge and not my choice to make.
I highly doubt that any woman or man would take the choice lightly. We need to respect that.
From all patient accounts, this guy and his staff were supportive, knowledgeable, compassionate and comforting. It pains me to imagine finding out at 8 mos. that one's baby is destined to live in extreme pain or never outside a hospital and dead within a short time. Mothers who had to choose between the pain of ceasing life before exit of the womb or watching life be pulled from their baby futilely.
I don't care what you believe. This man was providing a service to mothers who could not conscienably bring a child into this world and he did it through a support network that required counseling and deep accountability.
Now that he's gone, and the threat of violence against doctors like him looms heavy I wonder what will happen? Will folks like me, but with more tolerance for blood and medicine, step up to the plate? Will we allow zealots to decide what is right for 'all' mothers and families?
I don't know. But I do know that anyone who is not saddened by the murder of Dr.Tiller or sympathetic to his difficult profession is missing a piece of human respect.
I do not advocate murder and I am anti-death penalty (government sponsored murder). I am a big advocate of adoption and birth control. But if a terminally ill patient chooses suicide or if an expectant mother of a teminally ill fetus chooses abortion, it is not my place to judge and not my choice to make.
I highly doubt that any woman or man would take the choice lightly. We need to respect that.