Out, damn'd spot!

Until this past Sunday, Doctor George Tiller was a husband, father, and member of the Reformation Lutheran Church of Wichita, Kansas.  He was also one of only three physicians in the United States who would perform third trimester abortions.

While standing in the foyer of the church where he was an usher handing out the church bulletin, an anti-choice terrorist walked up to Tiller and shot him to death.  The accused terrorist, 51-year old Scott P. Roeder of Merriam, Kansas, has links to extremist Christian and libertarian movements, and has ties to the anti-abortion rights organization Operation Rescue.  (Update:  Rachel Maddow announced on her MSNBC program [6/3/09] that the name and number of an Operation Rescue activist, Cheryl Sullenger, were found in Mr. Roeder’s car.  Ms. Sullenger admits to having had telephone contact with Roeder.  Sullenger herself served two years in prison for planning to bomb an abortion clinic.  So Roeder’s link to Operation Rescue is stronger than previously supposed.) 

 

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Those who know Mr. Roeder, including his ex-wife, have characterized him as having a difficult time dealing with reality, or as mentally ill.  Pro-life organizations across the country have expressed outrage at Tiller’s killing, accompanied with much hand-wringing and moral indignation that anyone would dare associate their peaceful anti-abortion stance with the (alleged) actions of Scott Roeder.

This is one way in which the soft pro-lifer distances himself from the murderous acts of the terrorists who share their views:  why, that man is a crazed fanatic!  I certainly don’t condone his actions (even if I understand his motivation).  But in reality, the only difference between Roeder and millions of other pro-lifers is that he had the courage to act on his convictions.

I am deliberately using the same word that Bill Maher used to describe the actions of the 9/11 terrorists in response to the idea that the attackers were “cowardly”.  On the contrary, Bill said, the terrorists were courageous – misguided, yes, but they were giving up their lives for a higher ideal, which is hardly cowardly.  Of course, Bill’s show was cancelled by ABC as a result – one dare not speak contrarily during moments of nationalistic fervor – but he was right.

Skip ahead to today.  Anti-choice websites have published Dr. Tiller’s photo and address and labeled him “Tiller the baby killer.”  Faux News’ Bill O’Reilly, who had referenced Dr. Tiller 29 times on his television program since February 2005¹, took up the “Tiller the baby killer” phrase, painting Tiller as a money-grubbing murderer of children to his audience of 3.3 million viewers.  After Tiller was killed, O’Reilly felt the need to justify his hateful characterization of Tiller:

The man aborted 60,000 fetuses, potential human beings, right?  Human beings to some, not human beings to others but to everyone 60,000 potential human beings were aborted by the man who made millions doing it,  To me, that’s unconscionable.  As an American, I have a right to say that.

So, if Bill O’Reilly, and millions of supposed pro-lifers, believe – honestly, truly, whole-heartedly believe – that this one man was responsible for the murder of 60,000 children, wouldn’t he, and they, have the moral duty to take Tiller down?  How can they stand by while millions of babies suffer through this “modern Holocaust”?  Are they all cowards?  Why wouldn’t Roeder be a hero to them?  Is the term “pro-life” mere lip service to assuage their lily-livered consciences?

Now consider Operation Rescue’s Randall Terry’s response:

George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.

Mr. Terry doesn’t grieve for Dr. Tiller or his family; he merely feels sorry for the fact that (he believes) Tiller was spiritually unprepared to make proper restitution to god for all of the innocent little babies he had aborted.  Isn’t this a (slightly) more honest assessment of the pro-life position?  Terry is glad that Tiller’s dead.  And if pro-lifers were to be equally as honest, they are glad, too.

So step up, pro-life people!  Scott Roeder has (allegedly) performed the act you wanted done, but didn’t have the courage to do.  I expect you will be having a parade in his honor some time soon.

Unless, of course, you aren’t quite so sure about your easily-stated beliefs when it comes right down to the nitty-gritty of making your convictions into a reality.  And if that’s the case, why not use this time to reconsider those beliefs?  You can do it.  And I can even give you a helpful hint:  use rationality, not spirituality; be empathic, not judgmental; read from sources of fact, not fanaticism.

Because if you really – I mean, really – believe that aborting a fetus is equivalent to stabbing a 2-year old to death, then you must think Roeder is a hero.

Do you?

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¹Source: Salon Magazine.