.
I didn’t really know Dr. George Tiller, but I liked him.
I spoke to him at some length once when he called to thank me for some work I was doing on the Pro Kan Do database. I was in his presence perhaps another dozen times, several of them just to hear him speak, but I could tell that he was a decent man, who thought about what he was doing and why he was doing it and did his best to do what was right.
I didn’t always agree with him on that. Third-trimester abortions bother me. I wouldn’t have one myself and would discourage anyone else from having one. But I figure that I’m not alone in those sentiments and that most of the women who have a third-trimester abortion do so for reasons more compelling than forgetting to make an appointment to end the pregnancy before the end of the second trimester.
Whatever their reasons, however, it’s their business, not mine.
That is part of where I differ with people motivated by the ideas held by the man who is now in the custody of the Wichita police. But it is only part.
The real question, of course, is how we define human life.
The other side believes that a sperm and an egg become a human being at the moment of fertilization. I don’t.
I do believe that a fetus that can survive outside the womb without heroic measures is certainly a human being. Some in the pro-choice movement would deny humanity even then, holding that the woman has the right to end her pregnancy right up to the moment she goes into labor.
Somewhere between those two moments, the fetus stops being a fetus and becomes a baby. I don’t know where that dividing line falls, and I’m willing to let each woman make that determination for herself. It’s her business, not mine – or yours.
The people who like to call themselves “pro-life” think it is their business. They think not only that the woman should not be allowed to make that decision, but that no one should. They think every pregnancy must take its course. Every life is sacred, they say.
This morning, someone who agreed with them walked up to Dr. Tiller and shot him dead as he stood in the foyer of his church.
There is no doubt that Dr. Tiller was a living human being.
I guess his life wasn’t sacred.
-------------------------
Let’s not rush to judgment.
Police have taken a suspect into custody. The media report that the evidence is compelling. But mistakes have been made in the past, and suspects are still “innocent until proven guilty” in this country.
Try to avoid talking as though this man has already been convicted.
.
3 comments:
"Somewhere between those two moments, the fetus stops being a fetus and becomes a baby. I don’t know where that dividing line falls, and I’m willing to let each woman make that determination for herself. It’s her business, not mine – or yours."Unless, of course, you think that human life actually matters and has a value. People are allowed to think anything they like about what constitutes human life; in a free society, people are even free to deny that black people, Hispanic people, etc., are not human. But when such bigots go out and act on that belief, the law punishes them. In a free society, you can think anything you like; you are not necessarily permitted to do anything you like.
Let's not forget that slaveowners thought it was nobody's business when "busybody" abolitionists made objections about how they treated their slaves. Let's not forget that slave codes in all the slaveholding states would not punish a master for the death of a slave, provided it occurred as a result of "correction" of a slave's behavior. It's amazing how much the "pro-choice" and pro-slavery arguments look the same.
As for Dr. Tiller, it's sad that someone took the law into his own hands and killed him. It's sad that his wife and children (if he had any) lost a husband and father. Vigilante justice has no place is an orderly society. That should not obscure, however, that this doctor had committed grave evils throughout his life that a civilized society would punish with either life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Cathy, I attended a banquet once where Dr. Tiller had brought along his binder with all the photos. The photos of the fetuses with severe abnormalities that brought the women to him. Fetuses without brain, kidneys, open spine, etc. He was careful to document the type of late term abortions he did perform and why they were indicated. I also am acquainted with another woman whose unhappy fiance brought her to Tiller for an abortion she did not want. Dr. Tiller looked at her tear-stained face and said, "Let me guess...you do not want this abortion, correct? But your boyfriend does, am I right?" The woman, a resident of Hutchinson confirmed Dr. Tiller's suspicions. He refused to do the abortion and was adamant that he felt women were not to be slaves to their bodies, or to the men in their lives. Women deserve medical care that supports the choices that are best for them. Since 97% of abortions are carried out in the first trimester, I think all the fuss over Tiller's practice misses the point. The small number of late term abortions are always going to happen, when the women carrying realize the consequences of delivering that baby. Fundamentalists who called Tiller a mass-murderer are men who would drive women back to the barefoot-and-pregnant status of an earlier time when women seeking a choice would even self-abort, if they had no other resources. My mother herself suffered severe hemorrhaging after a botched abortion and was told another pregnancy would do her in. (She bore 4 children and one did die in childbirth) I will never believe that exercising choice is the "grave evil" that your relative ahead of me posted. In fact a "civilized" society might not put people to death at all, but that is an argument for another time. Dr. Tiller was a father of 4 and grandfather of 10. He was a kind and conscientious man who cared about the fate and the health of his patients. If the religios right is so concerned with saving children, let them start by adopting a severely disabled child, and providing birth control and education for another dozen or so women. Then and only then will I take seriously their claim of being compassionate about life.
One of my sons was born with a "premature central nervous system" which means his brain had not fully developed. The neurologist at the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City told us his brain was like "scrambled eggs" and that he would never leave the hospital. He was put on a combination of drugs that put him into a state just like he was back in the womb. He left the hospital one month later and was in this drugged condition for the first two years of his life. It took us from age 2 to 3 ½ years old to wean him from these drugs. Needless to say, mentally he was then several years behind other 3 ½ year old boys. With a lot of work, he rapidly caught up and by the time he entered first grade, he had mentally caught up with his peers. Below are some of his achievements.
BS in Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, 1992
PhD in Chemistry, University of Southern California, 1997.
Post-doctorate, U.S.C. and California Institute of Technology, 1997-1998.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Texas A&M, 1998-1999
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Southern California, 1999 - 2005
U. S. Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, 1999.
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 1999 - awarded 4/12/2000.
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation "Beckman Young Investigator Award", 2000.
In his mid-thirties, he decided on a career change and is now finishing up his 3rd year of medical school. He plans on becoming a pediatrician.
So, never give up on a new life. The neurologist was wrong.
Just think what would have been destroyed if his mother had undergone a late-term abortion.
Post a Comment