Doctor Tiller
Many years ago I had to have a late term abortion. It's a complicated story and one that I may share at another time. But that procedure required seriouspenguin and I to rent a car (with the generous financial help of the Penguin Consort) and take a road trip to Witchita, Kansas where I'd be a patient of Dr George Tiller.
He was one of the kindest, quietest doctors I've ever met before or since, and I've met a lot of doctors. He handled my situation, which got even more complicated right there on the exam table, with professionalism and compassion... so much compassion. His hands touched me. His hands were on, and in, my body. A fact that I can never forget.
Ever since then, I've always considered him "my doctor" and have felt possessive and protective of him. My visit to Kansas took place a few years before I worked for Planned Parenthood (where I worked with a couple of other famous doctors, Dr Lee Carhart and Dr. Susan Wicklund. Looking at the video again, that really looks like my old offices at Planned Parenthood in Milwaukee.
I'm waiting for the press conference on a suspect, and as always in these cases, steeling myself against the moment of "Holy shit, I know that person, I escorted my patients through him/her back in the summer of 1992."
It's domestic terrorism, it is well past time that our government began dealing with its perpetrators and those who incite them as terrorists. I well remember what it was like to live with that kind of fear when I worked at PP, and I wasn't even subjected to a tenth of the harassment that Dr Tiller has been. And who's going to step up to replace him? It's really just been him and Dr Carhart for a long time.
Please, if this matters to you at all, consider making a donation to Medical Students for Choice.
He was one of the kindest, quietest doctors I've ever met before or since, and I've met a lot of doctors. He handled my situation, which got even more complicated right there on the exam table, with professionalism and compassion... so much compassion. His hands touched me. His hands were on, and in, my body. A fact that I can never forget.
Ever since then, I've always considered him "my doctor" and have felt possessive and protective of him. My visit to Kansas took place a few years before I worked for Planned Parenthood (where I worked with a couple of other famous doctors, Dr Lee Carhart and Dr. Susan Wicklund. Looking at the video again, that really looks like my old offices at Planned Parenthood in Milwaukee.
I'm waiting for the press conference on a suspect, and as always in these cases, steeling myself against the moment of "Holy shit, I know that person, I escorted my patients through him/her back in the summer of 1992."
It's domestic terrorism, it is well past time that our government began dealing with its perpetrators and those who incite them as terrorists. I well remember what it was like to live with that kind of fear when I worked at PP, and I wasn't even subjected to a tenth of the harassment that Dr Tiller has been. And who's going to step up to replace him? It's really just been him and Dr Carhart for a long time.
Please, if this matters to you at all, consider making a donation to Medical Students for Choice.