George Tiller
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Dr. George Tiller
Born George Richard Tiller
August 8, 1941
Wichita, Kansas, U.S
Died May 31, 2009 (aged 67)
Wichita, Kansas
Gunshot wound
Profession Family medicine[1]
Institutions Owner-operator of Women’s Health Care – Wichita, Kansas (1975–2009)
Specialism Late-term abortion[2]
Known for Pro-choice advocacy
Education University of Kansas (zoology, 1963)
University of Kansas School of Medicine (1967)
Internship, United States Navy
Relations Jeanne Elizabeth (Guenther) Tiller, widow
Dean Jackson "Jack" Tiller, M.D., father (1916–1970)
George Richard Tiller, MD (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009[3][4]) was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He was the medical director of a clinic in Wichita, Women's Health Care Services, one of only three nationwide which self-identified as providing abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy (known as late-term abortion).[5]
Operation Rescue kept a daily vigil outside Tiller's clinic for many years: first the national group, then later a branch that moved from California to Kansas specifically to focus on Tiller. On August 19, 1993, outside of the Wichita clinic, Tiller was shot in both arms by Shelley Shannon, who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime.[6][7][8] On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot and killed, allegedly by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, as he served as an usher during the Sunday morning service at his church in Wichita.[4][9][10]
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 1993 shooting
3 Controversies
3.1 Christin Gilbert
3.2 The O'Reilly Factor
3.3 Late term abortion
4 Trial and acquittal
5 Murder
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Background
Tiller studied at the University of Kansas School of Medicine from 1963 to 1967. Shortly thereafter, he held a medical internship with United States Navy, and served as flight surgeon in Oakland, California, in 1969 and 1970.[11] In July 1970 he planned to start a dermatology residency. However on August 21, 1970, his parents, sister and brother-in-law were killed in an aircraft accident. In her will, his sister had requested that Tiller take care of her one-year-old son. Tiller had intended to go back to Wichita, close up his father's family practice and then go back to become a dermatologist. However, he quickly felt pressure to take over his father's family practice. Tiller's father had performed abortions at his practice. After hearing about a woman who had died from an illegal abortion, Tiller stayed in Wichita to continue his father's practice.[12]
1993 shooting
Throughout his career, Tiller was a frequent target of anti-abortion violence. In June 1986, his clinic was bombed.[9] On August 19, 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by Shelley Shannon.[7][8][13] At the time she attacked Tiller, Shannon had been an anti-abortion activist for five years and had written letters of support to Michael Griffin, killer of David Gunn. She called Griffin "a hero."[14] She traveled to the Wichita clinic, a site of frequent demonstrations by activists on both sides of the abortion debate, and shot Tiller with a semiautomatic pistol.[15]
Dr. Tiller gives a mock consultation in 1997 in the setting of his clinic, Women’s Health Care – Wichita, Kansas (which he owned and operated from 1975 until his assassination in 2009).
At her trial in state court, she testified that there was nothing immoral about trying to kill Tiller. The jury convicted Shannon of attempted murder, and she was sentenced to 11 years in prison.[15][16] The following year, Shannon was sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison on charges of arson, interference with commerce by force and interstate travel in aid of racketeering in connection to her participation in several fires and acid attacks on abortion clinics.[17][18][19]
Controversies
Christin Gilbert
Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman with Down Syndrome from Keller, Texas, died in January 2005 after a multi-day abortion procedure performed at Tiller's facility, though reports conflict as to whether the abortion was performed by Tiller himself or by LeRoy Carhart. Gilbert had been 28 weeks pregnant. The autopsy stated that Gilbert died of sepsis following the abortion.[20] Tiller was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. After a petition from Operation Rescue, a grand jury was convened to probe Gilbert's death,[21][22] which resulted in no indictments against Tiller.
The O'Reilly Factor
See also: Criticism of Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)#George Tiller
George Tiller was first discussed on The O'Reilly Factor on February 25, 2005. Subsequently Tiller was discussed in at least 28 episodes before his death. On the show he was sometimes described as "Tiller the Baby Killer". O'Reilly said that he did not come up with the nickname, but was just reporting what activists said. Host Bill O'Reilly also said he wouldn't want to be Tiller, Kathleen Sebelius, and other Kansas politicians "if there is a judgment day."[23]
On November 3, 2006, O'Reilly featured an exclusive segment on his The O'Reilly Factor, saying that he had an "inside source" with official clinic documentation indicating that George Tiller performed late-term abortions to alleviate "temporary depression" in the pregnant woman.[24] Tiller responded to O'Reilly's statements by demanding an investigation into the "inside source" through which the information was leaked, suggesting that Phill Kline, then the Kansas Attorney General, was responsible. Kline denied the charge. O'Reilly also interviewed a woman who allegedly got pregnant when she was 13 and received an abortion from Tiller.[25]
Late term abortion
Tiller performed late-term abortions, which was one of the reasons he was condemned by pro-life activists. Reportedly Tiller treated patients who discovered late in pregnancy that their fetuses had severe or fatal birth defects. He also aborted healthy late-term fetuses, in cases where two doctors certified that carrying the fetus to term would cause the woman "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."[26]
Trial and acquittal
Kansas law prohibits aborting viable fetuses, which is generally midway through the second trimester, unless two doctors certify that continuing the pregnancy would cause the woman "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."[26] Tiller went on trial in March 2009, charged with 19 misdemeanors for allegedly consulting a second physician in late-term abortion cases who was not truly "independent" as required by Kansas state law.[27][28]
The case became a cause célèbre for both supporters and opponents of abortion. Columnist Jack Cashill compared the trial to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals,[29] while NYU Professor Jacob Appel described Tiller as "a genuine hero who ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pantheon of defenders of human liberty."[30]
On March 27, 2009, Tiller was found not guilty of all 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003. Kansas' Board of Healing Arts continued to investigate charges of ethical violations that mirrored the prosecutors' criminal allegations.[31]
Murder
Main article: Assassination of George Tiller
Wikinews has related news: Controversial U.S. abortion doctor shot dead in Kansas church
George Tiller was shot and killed on May 31, 2009, during worship services at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, where he was serving as an usher and handing out church bulletins.[9] Tiller was shot once in the head at point blank range by a gunman who escaped after threatening two others, then fleeing in a car.[32] Three hours after the shooting, the anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder was arrested about 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City. On June 2, 2009, Roeder was charged with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the shooting.[10][33]
Tiller's killing was largely condemned by groups and individuals on both sides of the abortion issue.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] President Barack Obama said he was "shocked and outraged"[34] by the murder, and David N. O'Steen, director of the National Right to Life Committee, said the group "unequivocally condemns any such acts of violence regardless of motivation."[35] A few others held the opposite view: anti-abortion activist Randall Terry described Tiller as a mass murderer and said of other abortionists, "We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."[42] and Southern Baptist minister and radio host Wiley Drake said, "I am glad that he is dead."[43][44] Reason columnist Jacob Sullum wrote, "if you honestly believe abortion is the murder of helpless children, it's hard to see why using deadly force against those who carry it out is immoral, especially since the government refuses to act."[45]
A June 1, 2009, candlelight vigil in Boston, Massachusetts, for George Tiller.
After the shooting, Tiller's colleague, Dr. Leroy Carhart of Nebraska, stated that Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services, would reopen after being closed for one week to mourn his death.[46] The following week, Tiller's family announced that the clinic will be closed permanently.[47]
miércoles, 18 de noviembre de 2009
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