Roundup: Abortion Providers Congregate at Tiller's Funeral; Roeder Threatens More Violence
June 8, 2009 - 10:05am (Print)
Roeder Claims Further Anti-Clinic Violence Is Planned
Alleged murderer of Dr. George Tiller Scott Roeder claims that further violence against abortion providers and clinics has been planned, the Mail Online reports:
'I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal,' Roeder said.
When asked what he meant and if he was referring to another shooting, he refused to elaborate.
It wasn't clear whether Roeder knew of any impending violence or whether he was simply seeking publicity for his cause.
Nonetheless,
the Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether Roeder
had accomplices, and whether further violence is planned.
Meanwhile,
abortion providers and other reproductive justice advocates from across
the country gathered at Dr. Tiller's funeral in Wichita, reports ABC News. But the funeral was also the site of protests: "Tiller's funeral at College Hill United Methodist
Church also drew small groups of protesters. Police and federal
marshals provided heavy security," Fox News reports.
Fox describes the proceedings at the funeral:
Tiller's daughter, Rebecca, recalled how her father loved "Star Trek," and gave her a framed poster of Trekkie sayings for her apartment, which he promised her would bring her success if she read them each day before going out. Among his favorites were: "Live long and prosper," and, "When you go out to the universe remember, boldly go where no man has gone before."
He also was remembered for his generosity and sense of humor.
"Dear God, get heaven ready, because Mr. Enthusiasm is coming," said Larry Borcherding, of Overland Park, who first met Tiller a half-century ago when both were students at the University of Kansas. "Heaven will never be the same. It will be a better, better place with George in it."
About 700 people filled the church sanctuary and some 200 others watched a closed-circuit television broadcast in another room.
A large portrait of Tiller hung at the front of the sanctuary, and nearby was a wreath of flowers with the words "TRUST WOMEN." Some mourners wore buttons that said "Attitude is Everything."
State-Level Abortion Restrictions Inhibit Access
The Washington Post offers a piece about state-level fights over abortion rights and state-based TRAP ("targeted repeal of abortion providers") Laws:
In states from South Dakota to Texas where the fights are waged, supporters of a woman's right to abortion feel increasingly embattled. Some doctors and clinic personnel feel threatened, particularly since last week's slaying in Kansas of physician George Tiller, the nation's best-known abortion provider. Others say they simply feel beleaguered.
"The states are the battlegrounds and certainly the testing grounds of new kinds of restrictions," said Gretchen Borchelt, senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center, which defends abortion rights. "State legislatures can be more creative in what they're trying to push and see what works."
The effect of state-level restrictions is to severely compromise access:
What it means in Mississippi, one of the most restrictive states in the country and a model for antiabortion forces elsewhere, is that a woman seeking an abortion must go twice to the clinic, at least 24 hours apart. A girl younger than 18 requires the consent of both parents or a judge's signature. Public money is available for very few abortions.
Sotomayor Submits Questionnaire to Senate Judiciary Committee
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor last week submitted a questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Roll Call reports (via the Daily Women's Health Policy Report). Writes the Daily Women's Health Policy Report,
Sotomayor disclosed a large amount of information in the questionnaire, such as her net worth and a timeline for when she learned that she was under consideration by the White House as a potential replacement to retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter (Perine, CQ Today, 6/4). According to Roll Call, Sotomayor's responses might offer members of both parties "fodder to support or oppose her nomination."
Other News to Note
June 7: Kansas City Star: Calming the waters in abortion debateJune 8: China View: Family tragedy altered by medical check in early pregnancy in SW China
June 8: All Africa: Zambia: Health Ministry on Track to Reduce Deaths From Unsafe Abortions
June 8: Chicago Tribune: Doctor vigilant about security
June 7: HuffPo: Dr. George Tiller Didn't Have to Die
June 7: NYTimes: Closed Clinic Leaves Abortion Protesters at a Loss
June 7: LifeNews: Pro-Life News: Obama Approval, Planned Parenthood, Scott Roeder, Abortion, Texas
June 8: Online Journal: After Dr. Tiller’s murder, where to for abortion rights?
June 7: Anderson Cooper: Video: A nation divided over abortion
June 7: News 8 Austin: Parent takes adoption challenges to the next level
June 7: Cleveland Plain-Dealer: Abortion: Columnists erred on pro-life movement's views
June 7: American Chronicle/Wichita Eagle: EDITORIAL: New Attitude Needed on Abortion
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/131176602
June 8: Daily Mail (UK): 'Condom cards' for boys as young as 12 so they can get free access to contraceptives (without parents knowing)
June 8: New Zealand Herald: Editorial: Rethink of pregnancy edict needed
June 8: Chicago Tribune: The horrible lesson of Wichita
June 7: BBC News: Adoption law couple leave country
June 6: Kansas City Star: Lone gunman had lots of anti-abortion company
June 7: The Atlantic/Daily Dish: An Abortion Remembered
June 8: Courier Mail (Australia): Contraception ignorance alarms
June 6: NY Daily News: On abortion, another chance for Obama to claim some common ground
June 7: Gainesville Sun: Choose Life plate a success 10 years later
June 6: AP: Mourners Gather to Remember Slain Abortion Doctor as Small Group Protests Funeral
June 6: Philadelphia Inquirer: Lessons from the life and death of Dr. Tiller
June 7: Boston Globe: In blog, O'Malley condemns killing of abortion doctor
June 6: WaPo: Obama Says Congress Must Act to Fix 'Broken' Health-Care System
June 7: Island Packet: Not all Catholics think alike on abortion issue
June 7: Citizen-Times: Abstinence out of favor in Raleigh, Washington
June 4: LifeNews: Watchdog Says Media Bias Evident in Coverage of Killing of Abortion Practitioner
June 7: LA Times: Hundreds attend memorial service for slain abortion doctor George Tiller
June 6: Wichita Eagle: George Tiller honored during 45 vigils in 24 states, group says
June 5: Examiner (Seattle): 'Protest the Pill Day': Hurting women by spreading lies
June 5: Catholic Herald: Judgment seals fate of adoption agencies
June 4: Fox News: Suspect in Kansas Abortion Doctor's Killing: I'm Not Anti-Government
June 6: Toronto Star: Pro-lifers don't support killing
May 31: Kansas City Star: Suspect in Tiller's death supported killing abortion providers, friends say
June 5: HuffPo: Right-Wing Protesters: Birth Control Will Kill You
June 5: NYTimes: Abortion Wars, the First Time Around
June 6: Salt Lake Tribune: Students will learn about STD testing at school
June 5: NYTimes: Anti-Abortion Activists Worry That a New City Law Will Make Their Task Harder
June 8: Law.com: Ga. Lawyers Pursue Family Values Vision With Abortion Case
June 8: LA Times: More specific drug ads, labels would help consumers, a study reveals
June 5: LifeNews: Pro-Life Group Urges Opposition to State Dept Bill Over Obama Abortion Agenda
June 8: The Week: The keepers of the Constitution
June 5: Salt Lake Tribune: Churchgoing 'martyr' changes dynamics of abortion debate
June 5: Village Voice: Barrett: Morning Joe Finally Breaks His Silence About Defending Abortion-Doc Killer
June 5: US News & World Report: New Religious Left Skirmish: Catholics for Choice Attacks Obama Pick
June 5: Reuters: U.S. Justice Dept to probe Kansas abortion murder
June 5: LifeNews: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Names Pro-Life Advocate Jill Stanek "Worst Person"
June 5: Sun-Sentinel: Hollywood: Photos to spur adoptions
June 5: LifeNews: Abortion Advocates Misrepresent American Pro-Life Movement After Tiller Shooting
June 5: Union of Catholic Asian News: Women prisoners help promote natural family planning
It's time for the pro-choice movement to grow a spine, and stop trying to engage in debate or find "common ground." Forget the delusion and snare of "common ground" and stop all the other pandering to the misogynist, freedom-hating anti-choicers whose idea of "common ground" is "Do what we tell you and no one gets hurt." With that description of spineless pandering, I'm looking at you, President Obama.
Abortion is a legal medical procedure. Period, full stop. Our private medical choices are not political speech or actions, women are not forced or coerced into having abortions like in China, so the free speech and freedom of religion claims by the anti-choice movement for their incendiary actions and hate speech do not wash. Their campaign of terrorism interferes with free trade and interstate commerce -- the doctor's right to practice his or her trade -- and the right of women to have access to legal medical care.
President Obama has to start treating the anti-choicers like the terrorists and terrorist-enablers they are, just like the Feds did with the Klan in the South in the 1960s, and put the full power of federal law enforcement behind stopping this terrorism -- RICO, the PATRIOT Act, the FACE act, the Scott Act, everything they've got. The anti-choice movement, and their close friends in the anti-government right-wing hate groups, want to keep women second-class citizens just as the Klan and the White Citizens Council wanted to do to blacks and other minorities. He needs to grow some stones, stand up to the extremists and smack their movement down.
