George Tiller’s Late-Term Abortions Could Have Been Stopped Peacefully
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2010
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) — George Tiller, the late-term abortion practitioner, was shot and killed by militia activist Scott Roeder one year ago today. But one of the leading pro-life groups that monitored Tiller and tried to expose his shoddy abortion practices says Tiller was about ready to retire and his abortions could have ended without taking his life.
At a fundraising dinner held on May 26, 2010, Tiller friend and fellow late-term abortion practitioner, LeRoy Carhart of Nebraska, reportedly told people Tiller was set to retire.
"Dr. Carhart confided that Tiller was slated to begin his retirement not long before his death," a pro-abortion blogger wrote recently.
Operation Rescue officials told LifeNews.com today that they said publicly, as early as February 2 of last year, that they believed Tiller may have been planning to retire rather than face the disgrace of being disciplined for illegal late-term abortions by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.
The state agency had filed an 11-count petition against him that was pending at the time of his death and was reportedly close to revoking Tiller’s medical license for cases in which Tiller is alleged to have fudged the age of the unborn child in some abortions to qualify them as legal late-term abortions under state law.
"Carhart confirms that we were correct in concluding that Tiller was ready to retire," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"We had worked since 2002, through peaceful, legal avenues to expose the heinous nature of Tiller’s late-term abortion business, bring him to justice, and close his abortion clinic," Newman said. The fact that Tiller was preparing to quit proves that our efforts were successful."
Newman says that not only was it unnecessary for Roeder to kill Tiller to end his abortion business, it was a wrongful act in and of itself..
"Unfortunately, Tiller’s murder a year ago was a senseless and despicable act that wrongly took a life and denied the people justice under the law. If Roeder had not acted, Tiller would be retired today and his abortion clinic closed without violence. We were right. Roeder was as wrong as it gets," Newman told LifeNews.com.
Although abortion advocates try to tie Tiller’s death to legitimate pro-life groups and people, like Newman and Operation Rescue, pro-life advocates strongly condemn abortion related violence.
Bryan Kemper, the head of Stand True, a pro-life youth ministry, never minces words when it comes to condemning abortion. But he equally condemns the killing of abortion practitioners.
"Answering the violence of abortion with more violence will not serve the babies or help the pro-life movement in any way," he wrote today. "We are praying for the family of George Tiller and those in his church while he was shot."
For Kemper, the inconsistency of the mainstream media and pro-abortion movement is evident in how it condemns Tiller’s death but not the deaths of unborn children. He believes he is consistent by condemning both.
"I am truly saddened by the abortion of George Tiller. However I am also saddened on that same day, almost 4,000 babies were also murdered," Kemper continued. "I am saddened that the news media will not be reporting on the horrific fate of those 4,000 innocent babies who are just as human as and deserving of the same protection as George Tiller."
"I have listened to commentators talking on the news about how we need to ‘tone down’ our rhetoric to avoid violence. What they refuse to see is that our rhetoric is crying out against violence, the violence of child killing," he adds.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
