I truly find it impossible to believe that the practice of abortion is still existent in a modern society. It truly baffles the mind that we have a police force to patrol crimes against animal cruelty and yet we murder and mangle humans in the womb. Very strange and sad world full of paradoxes and contradictions.
2
It was always a charming experience when I'd take my then elementary school aged son to swim class at the San Jose Y which was next the Planned Parenthood. Every Saturday there would be a mob holding posterboards of mangled fetuses for my son to see. I told him not to look or make any eye contact (I never did) because they were basically a group of clods.
George Tiller was a brave man who deserved the Medal of Freedom far more than any athlete or celebrity. In fact it should be given to him posthumously.
50
I volunteered as a clinic escort for over a decade in two states, and the fact is if you choose to protest abortion at a clinic, you are engaging in a violent act. People are coming to that clinic to receive health care. No matter what their claimed attention, creating a circus at a health care provider has a detrimental impact on those seeking care. It's stressful. It often means parking far from the clinic, giving strangers lots of time and space to "pray" for you at top volume while waving graphic, false posters in your face. And since these "peaceful" protesters provide cover for their overtly violent allies, every patient must worry about each protestor's intent. The terror, stress, and barrier this presents to patients and their loved ones is appalling, and undoubtedly contributes to worse health care outcomes. If Planned Parenthood is the only provider of low-cost prenatal services in your area, would you run a gauntlet of screaming, angry people condemning you to eternal tormet to get care for your wanted pregnancy?
38
Grateful to these brave souls who provide medical care despite the threats of harm from unhinged, ignorant zealots. Like any medical procedure, abortion is healthcare. It is a necessary part of reproductive healthcare just like prenatal or postpartum services. Banning abortion kills women and harms their families. Unsafe illegal abortions will kill and maim. No person should risk death simply because they cannot tolerate pregnancy or parenthood.
33
What's even more disgusting and heinous it that the majority of the anti-abortion scare mongering is done by Republicans. Not because they believe abortions are immoral, for they would turn a blind eye toward their wives and daughters having abortions if they needed them, but in a deliberate effort to throw red meat to their evangelical base, knowing fully well that it might encourage violence, which they will then hypocritically condemn, all for one ulterior motive—to get re-elected. It just all a big con.
The evangelicals would never consent to being told by others how to live their lives, but have no compunction about telling, nay forcing others under penalty of death, how to live theirs. If they truly believed in God, that He is omnipotent and all knowing, they would leave this matter to Him. But apparently they don't believe in God, that He is up to that task, and feel they have to do the judging and punishing for Him, a sin of the highest order.
29
Every progressive in this country needs to be armed. That is the unfortunate situation that voting Republican has created.
10
But the real question is why hasn't Donald Trump been prosecuted for incitement to riot which he has done repeatedly in his rallies?
He has incited violence before his election, after his election but before he took office, and as president.
So why haven't the police taken action?
Suppose someone being prosecuted for a crime used the defense that Donald Trump brazenly violates the law, and by prosecuting me you are denying be equal protection of the laws?
There is prosecutorial discretion, and then there is wholesale exemption of a whole class of criminals.
20
Former US Senator Tom Coburn was mentioned in this article. He's a medical doctor by trade, OB/GYN. I think it instructive to visit this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Coburn#Sterilization_controversy for an introduction to how he practiced medicine.
My recollection of the story is that the mother of the patient asked him to tie her tubes 'while he was in there' as the (ectopic) pregnancy was unplanned and the 20 year old patient unmarried. Mom didn't want this to happen again. Dwell on that for a moment... Coburn sterilized a 20 year old adult woman on (allegedly) a verbal request by the mother. Not the patient herself.
Coburn was also something of a TV critic who in 1997 spoke against NBC's decision to run the film Schindlers List unedited. He thought the nudity inappropriate for prime time but later reversed his comments when he realized that complaining about nipples in a film about genocide was missing the real point. (pun intended)
Coburn also distinguished himself in 2010 when he advised his constituents against returning their census questionnaires as the census was 'intrusive'. Big guv'mint and all that. Never mind that it's federal law, Coburn thought otherwise.
Doctor Tom is quite a piece of work and illustrates that if anyone is more capable of telling you how to live your life to its fullest than you it will be a self righteous born again evangelical like Coburn. Talk about chutzpah...
17
Let me see if I have this right. These folks are pro-life but some of them think it's OK to kill doctors and health care workers. Other pro-lifers think it's OK to deny women and kids access to health care and terrorize Planned Parenthood so these people die a slow and miserable death. Backed by a president who advocates violence, doctors face a terrible challenge today.
Fortunately, I live in a state that allows concealed weapons. When/if one of these crazies threatens me or my staff, I will respond with the Ruger 9mm my Marine Corps husband taught me how to use.
There simply is not enough time to reeducate misguided zealots and we will never change Trump. To him, this is just another way to polarize America and keep himself out of jail.
22
Trump says the borders should be closed because “we don’t have any room left.” Is he reserving the space for unwanted children?
17
No abortion in the case of rape or incest, and no help for the 3,000,000 homeless children currently living on the streets in this country.
Consistently, for these "life is precious" people, life is only precious when it's unborn. While actual living children, or the rights of women are less than worthless.
These are the worst kind of hypocrites. And their so-called morality is an extremely bad and dangerous exercise in zealotry.
These people need to be marginalized at all costs, and incarcerated when they cross the line.
Killing a doctor, "because life is precious"? What more needs to be said about their moral and mental deficiency?
32
How many anti-abortion activists are supporters of the death penalty?
12
Pro life politicians are very concerned about life in the womb. After birth, pro life concern goes away. No interest in head start, school lunches, CHIP, sexual assault, prison rape, fair sentencing, access to health insurance that is affordable, drug rehab access, just to name a few. Then many prolifers are in favor of the death penalty. The message to the fetus: "Once you clear the cervix and breathe--you are own your own."
24
Much of so called Christianity stood by and profited from slavery, Jim Crow and every racist ideal in white mans history in the USA. That alleged law enforcement individuals continue in the wanton killing of American born black people seems to be lost on many of these religious bigots who feign concern for human products of conception. Their "thou shalt not kill" mantra does not apply to poor people falsely accused of murder, the sick without access to healthcare and others who live in sub human conditions. Extremists with support at all levels of American life have always been able to accomplish murder. The denial of access to legal termination of pregnancy will bless another form of killing by knitting needles and coat hangars. A Christian mission accomplished?
14
Meanwhile, the Pope has increased the danger for people like Tiller. Pope Francis referred to acquiring an abortion as being like hiring a hit-man.
14
Ya gotta wonder how many women got abortions after having been impregnated by Trump.
From what we've heard from two women who were paid off in exchange for their silence, he had sex with them without protection. That not an accident, it's a habit.
But, now that he's too old to impregnate any women, guess it's time to abolish the practice, since he doesn't need it anymore.
18
Special thanks to all those who work to provide abortion services in clinics around the country. They are true heroes.
21
The reality is that abortion has been mostly unavailable in red states since picketing and murder spree of the 90s. Democrats are dealing with a very powerful message; “God told me to save babies.” The real world is far more complicated we all know that. But pregnancy detection as well as abortion can now be done privately and discreetly in the homes of the wealthy. And the next day they can go out, guns in hand, and rally the faithful.
12
It is completely out of line not to enforce the laws regarding the Freedom to Clinic Entrance Act. Not doing your job is grounds for neglect of duty. It also demonstrates that people of religion who believe that they can act this way because they have a higher power does not solely belong to Muslims, Christians are right there with them, because they know their right. Religion zealots knows no bounds!! That is exactly why the framers separated religion from state.
Hats off to the brave people who provide these services!!!
16
President Trump makes outrageous and false claims that doctors “execute” new born babies. Pope Francis describes abortions as hiring a “hit man”. Dr. Tiller, when asked why he did what he did for his patients said “I trust women”. I miss Dr. Tiller. We need his inspired leadership at times like these.
19
It’s been big news that “American Taliban” Lindh is out of prison, but today’s the first I’ve ever heard of Rachelle Shannon. Shannon literally shot Americans and detonated explosives on American soil with intent to incite terror. She’s walking around free now.
Republicans scream about Lindh and keep quiet about Shannon because it’s not the killing they mind, it’s the control they crave.
17
One sad irony is that it is medical doctors who created the miraculous world that we have today where most pregnancies go well and most infants survive to their first birthdays.
In 1900, in the poorer neighborhoods of the United States, around 30% of all babies never lived to their first birthdays. They died because there were no antibiotics or vaccinations or good hygienic practices. The overall death rate was 1 out of every 10 babies.
Now, because of doctors, the death rate before age one is around 7 out of 1000 babies. There are so many medical miracles today--better care of premature babies, surgeries done in utero, and much more.
If you look back across history, the most prolific killer of the unborn and newly born was Mother Nature or God himself! Now that humans are able to fight back, we have moved many tough decisions out of the range of "fate" and brought them into our own hands.
Maybe that is too hard for some people to comprehend. Maybe they would rather get rid of the vaccinations and the medicines and the safe, legal abortions--and let the brute force of Mother Nature or God have its way.
Life is beautiful, but it is also abundant. We are approaching 8 billion humans on the planet. We have to decide if we will take responsibility for ourselves or if we will increase ourselves and be fruitful and multiply unto extinction.
It is not easy to take on some of the power of Mother Nature or God, but we have. Safe abortion is power.
11
The clinics, especially Whole Woman's in Texas, need security, the National Guard if necessary, because Roe v Wade is the law. Treat the violent protesters as terrorists, call them terrorists, and prosecute!
24
Approximately 40% of pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion. These unreasoning, forced-birth zealots needs to direct their ire toward the party responsible for this great bulk of abortions, their "God".
15
The Tiller murder was an abomination perpetrated by an unrepentant evil. Bill O'Reilly was complicit in this with his vile broadcasts egging this kind of action on. Amazing how "pro-life" means that "our" murder is okay and we only care about life before it is born.
21
An article in Guardian News today said the religious right can see a United States civil war starting over abortion.
Minister Pence spoke at the West Point graduation and told them to be prepared for war.
Why are the supposed "christians" so intent on destruction - of other people's rights and lives? They use religion - which is impossible to prove - as a weapon.
It boggles the mind. WE THE PEOPLE who do not agree must stop them NOW.
No civil wars. No religious wars. No WW3. No more war. Not now. Not ever.
No one wins in war. No one. Not even the insatiably greedy, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious, inherited/stolen/un-taxed International Mafia Robber Barons who want to try to start it.
15
if men could be pregnant abortions would come with beer and sports tv
13
As with his continuing vilification of journalist, trump’s hateful dangerous continual lying will only further inflame the religious right. Trump will have more blood on his hands. Pence is the master behind this ratcheted up rhetoric, trump is the puppet. I believe trump only sees an issue paving the way for his election while pence believes this as well as many other destructive misguided religious doctrines will pave his way into heaven. Only by voting blue as well as prosecuting those who threatened healthcare workers with a hate crime can we send the message that this is not tolerated in 2019 in the United Stares.
24
@Linda Greenwood: Nothing else spotlights Trump's objective to blow up the US more vividly than his encouragement of people whose demands amount to public idolatry under theocracy.
8
I wish this article had mentioned Dr. Willie Parker, an evangelical Christian physician who performs abortions in the Deep South. Yes, there is such a person! Dr. Parker is constantly vilified in the right-wing media. The propaganda about him is typically and truly horrendous. Dr. Parker knows that his life is at risk, yet his commitment to helping women inspires him to continue.
I recommend Dr. Parker's memoir, "Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice." In it, he shares his journey from growing up black and poor in the Deep South, to becoming a fundamentalist Christian doctor with a cushy career living in Hawaii, to the moral crisis that caused him to revamp his professional life and become a feminist abortion provider. This brave man takes his life in his hands every day to give women the urgent, compassionate medical care they require. Dr. Parker writes eloquently and from a compassionate political and moral perspective on the rights of women and the hypocrisy of the Christian right. Safe travels, Dr. Parker.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Lifes-Work/Dr-Willie-Parker/9781501151132
39
Under the banner of being pro-life (and hence anti-abortion) these extremists don't mind taking the life of another human being. Are they so drunk on the ant-abortion elixir that they don't see the irony in their action?
27
I grew up in France thanking each and everyday for having been born a woman in a Western Country. Now I can add to the list of places I am lucky to NOT have been born in, all these states here in America!
26
When a doctor needs to buy an armored S.U.V. to get to their clinic and serve his patients, can we now admit that there is cold civil war going on?
36
Cold?
2
Republicans foment anti-abortion fear and violence, while they also work to limit access to birth control, and promote abstinence-only sex education (which, of course, doesn't work).
When does life "begin?" That's arbitrary, which is where religion comes in to "resolve" the question with an vague yet absolute judgment: life begins at conception, according to the Christian fascists.
Taken out of context, can one tell the difference between a just-fertilized pig zygote, dog zygote, squirrel zygote, or a human zygote? No. So, religion steps in and makes the judgment for those of us who are ready to buy it (and no, I personally do not).
The First Amendment begins with the ten words:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, …"
For a very good reason! Jefferson et al. knew well that they were necessary to guarantee freedom of religion; we must keep government out of it.
Yet today, the Republican party wants to put an arbitrary interpretation -- they can only be arbitrary -- of the Christian Bible, and turn it into law, to forbid abortions ever, in any circumstance.
The Republican Party is pushing the extreme of anti-American values. We must stop it.
33
@Astrochimp
It also says no-one may "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"
These doctors are angels.
25
You can bet if abortion is outlawed in any state by right wingers they will have a shuttle service to Mexico or Canada to have their wives, girl friends get abortions or even a list of doctors that will do it sub rosa while poor women will be forced to have the child they don't want or revert to the back alley coat hanger method.
32
When I was a medical student, before Roe, I was doing a family practice elective in No Carolina, I vividly recall a night in the ER when a 15 year old girl came in with fever 105,shaking chills. She was septic from a coat hangar abortion. She underwent an emergency hysterectomy. Knowing what I know now she was likely a rape or incest victim. We cant go back. I am
not an ob-gyn, but I will do what I can to join the fight.
52
Let the women decide. I guess that all those anti-abortionists are men that never need to worry about a pregnancy.
26
As often as possible, the Times should remember these heroes, like Dr. Tiller, whose lives were taken far too early by murders intent on killing doctors and their associates who sacrificed so much to protect the lives and dignity of women.
24
I ask the lawmakers who have supported the recent legislature to ban all abortions, how they would feel if their mother, wife, daughter, niece, or sister, was raped and forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to full term. Or if their wife, daughter, sister, or niece, life was in jeopardy, due to complications of carrying a pregnancy to full term. Government has no business in medical decisions, that is for qualified physicians, between their patients and their families. YOU are the criminals.
27
Dr. David Gunn was assassinated by Michael Griffith in 1993 in Pensacola, Florida. Dr. Gunn had moved to rural Florida after his residency and established a clinic to serve poor women. Griffith's stated intention in killing Dr. Gunn was to stop him performing any more abortions. "Don't kill any more babies" Griffith is reported to have shouted as he shot Dr. Gunn 3 times in the back outside Dr. Gunn's clinic.
Griffith's initial lawyer was Joe Scarborough, currently the host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Scarborough, then an
attorney in Pensacola, represented Griffith in early court proceedings before removing himself from the case. The following year Scarborough was elected to Congress from Pensacola. Scarborough commented to a NYT reporter: "I'm not a right-wing fanatic. I'm the type of guy who kicks down doors and gets things done."
8
What is the real motivator for people gripped with the emotional fervor of the American right. In spite of the pretensions it can't be a profound respect for human life. How can you justify "saving lives" by taking lives?
Not only that, but these people are also generally hostile to public education, universal access to health care, proper housing, raising the minimum wage above the poverty level, and other social needs.
Add in the hatred for migrants fleeing social conditions created by American intervention in Latin America going back to the Texas rebellion and support for wars all the way from Vietnam to Iraq and the agenda is deeply anti-human.
Why the hatred? Why the misogyny? Why the xenophobia and racism?
Were these the same sentiments that enabled the staffing of the slave patrols and motivated the slave catchers of the antebellum era?
Is this what permitted Phillip Sheridan (General of the Army) to declare that, "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." Or that allowed Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that soon led to the Trail of Tears death march?
I find the role of the so-called Christian Evangelicals both puzzling and hypocritical in the extreme. Where's Christ in all of this?
This is an agenda that distracts vast swathes of the population while taxes for the ultra-wealthy are cut and regulations that restrict the greed of big business when it comes to protecting the environment are scrapped. Behind this insanity is a monstrous con job.
32
"In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president thanks largely to a new evangelical voting bloc that was rallied by his anti-abortion, pro-family values platform."
I am sick and tired of reading about the pro-family values platform, in whatever linguistic form it takes shape. As if people who support abortion rights are anti-family. I dearly wish that the NYT and other press would cease using this term, or at least make it conditional, with quotation marks, e.g.: the so-called "pro-family values platform".
23
The article conveniently omits to mention that Dr Tiller performed third trimester abortions. That absolutely does not excuse his murder, but it was the reason why that abortion clinic attracted so much protest starting in the 1980s.
1
@Joe Midwesterner No it doesn't. This is what the article says about Tiller: "He went on to become an expert in diagnosing rare fetal anomalies — cancers, fluid in the skull, undeveloped organs — and performing abortions on women facing these devastating circumstances later in their pregnancies." You may have missed this point because it looks a little different when the writer focuses on the context and reason for the abortions instead of just throwing around the words "third trimester."
24
Anti-choice activists talk about the selfishness of women who seek abortions. But it is their own stubborn lack of imagination and selfishness that cannot acknowledge the endless variety of circumstances which result in a pregnant woman choosing abortion. Rush Limbaugh and some of the commenters here would like to convince you that abortions are sought exclusively by reckless young promiscuous party-girls, who should have to "pay" for their selfish pleasures.
Nobody talks about the 38-year-old married woman with 3 kids at home whose husband lost his job a year ago; the shocked 50-year-old woman who thought she was menopausal; the disabled woman whose boyfriend announced she was "on her own;" the heartbroken couple whose much-wanted pregnancy turned into a medical nightmare.
The truth is, the fairest system is for women and doctors to be able to continue making these difficult decisions for themselves, within the restrictions of the current law. The reasons are nobody's business. Letting sanctimonious, uninformed, hypocritical busybodies substitute their own judgement for that of the involved parties results in LESS justice for all, not more.
49
"He also helped find homes for babies women wished to put up for adoption." That is pro-choice.
31
As a society, should we go to the Old Testament of a man spilling his seed? If he intended for the woman to get pregnant, then from conception, he would be responsible for child support food, shelter and maternity care for the incubator of said child. If the woman didn't want the child, should assume full custody of the child after it is born. If he was just having sex, then he should have a vasectomy to prevent him from spilling his seed frivolously (a sin) and prevent it from happening again, and the woman granted an abortion if she chooses. Fair is fair.
15
The man who murdered Dr. Tiller in cold blood represents a segment of degenerative illness in American society. I predict that same sickness will soon show itself in violent acts beyond the polarized debate of a woman's right to choose.
It could happen this summer once the Democratic presidential debates begin. One or more than one of Trump's base loyalists, his own brown shirt storm troopers, will be outraged by a comment criticizing Trump made by one of the Democratic presidential candidates. The Trump loyalist will pack his semi-automatic revolver with extra magazines of ammunition, get in his truck, and drive to that same candidate's next campaign stop. He will find a way past security and when he's close enough, he will shoot the candidate with the intentions of assassination.
Make no mistake; it's coming.
18
A decade ago, America was a nation in which the murder of a physician, Dr. George Tiller, who regularly provided abortions to women, was considered a murder.
Today, America is a nation in which the murder of a physician providing abortions – as well as violence against staff members and anyone associated with the services – is encouraged openly by right-wing religious fanatics, by Republican politicians and by the rhetoric of President Donald Trump.
This lethal violence is a war waged against women who want control over their own bodies, and it is waged against the medical personnel – women and men – who help them in their time of need.
The disdain for the Constitutional and natural rights of women runs parallel to the decline of the rule of law in all matters in the United States in the Trump era.
The encouragement of these crimes is one more reason why Donald Trump is unfit to be our president.
29
And so your action plan, New York Times Editorial Board, is....what?
I support abortion rights but let's face it: Roe v. Wade set the cultural wars in motion and they're worsening year by year.
I don't know if the Supreme Court will overturn it, but in any case abortion is simply not going to be an option in many parts of this country. What is going to be needed is some mechanism (buses, volunteers) to take women to places where the procedure can be done, blue state places. An underground railroad, if you will.
Moral suasion is useless since the pro-life folks will never change their minds. Get practical, get mobile.
6
Roe did no such thing. Read some American history, including the excellent piece on evangelism that came out in this paper today.
8
Radicalized Anti Abortionists are the new US born terrorists. Abortion is a personal decision by the woman and her doctor. It isn’t a political matter and it was legalized in 1974. The anti abortionists arguments are based on their belief system of the bible. Therefore, they are trying to force their religious beliefs on everyone which is a violation of Church and State separation. Essentially this is an attempt at creating a theocracy of the US.
19
It truly disgusts me how warped and backwards this issue has become. The science, medicine, and sociology behind abortions could not be more clear in showing that abortive procedures are humane, safe, and beneficial options for women. Access to abortions IS pro-life. Sheer ignorance and religious zealotry have fused into a truly insane and dangerous movement where the definition and meaning of life has been twisted by politicians, religious figures, and their operatives. It is disgusting that people are physically and verbally harassed as they walk into clinics to seek medical care. It is barbaric that medical clinics are bombed and the lives of their staff are threatened on a daily basis. And when a movement inspires its followers to kill doctors in cold blood, that's when you know insanity has superseded reason.
24
I find it astonishing how the "pro-life" crowd seems to hate living people, including children, so much.
21
Huh. One could almost imagine from reading this that the left is concerned about the sanctity of human life. In that we could agree!
3
Hyperbole is the weapon of a failed argument. Anti-abortionists are portrayed as potential murderers. Your facts and evidence are scant. 10 years ago a deranged person committed murder and there were two recent criminal actions cited. I’m sure there are more horrible examples of extremist behavior and all are wrong and criminal, but don’t suggest there is some enormous wave of criminal actions by the pro-life constituency.
2
The attacks are up by about a third, and I’ll take you seriously the day you a) loudly reject any and all such attacks, and b) point me to a Choice activist who’s shot or firebombed anybody.
10
@Ace
I would suggest to you that denying a woman the right to decide what is best for herself is simply criminal.
10
@Ace
It's more than just one deranged person. The editorial was very clear that there has been a spike in incidents against both persons and property. It also stated very clearly "...most people who protest abortion reject violence, among their ranks are zealots who believe that the perceived killing of embryos and fetuses justifies murder.
The only hyperbole is in your woefully inaccurate summary of the editorial's argument.
9
These are the same "Pro-Life" folks who would require a woman to die to save the life of her fetus. These people are not pro-life. They are misogynistic individuals who cloak their hate in religion.
25
The hypocrisy of anti-abortion activists in staggering. For few the debate is about preserving life. For the white nationalist protestors, its about controlling women's bodies, misogyny and violence against women. I can't wait until Elizabeth Warren is president.
11
There is nothing more blatantly hypocritical than pro-lifers for death. Clearly this is not about protecting life, it’s about something else far more sinister. People should never try to force their religious beliefs on others, this is not the Middle Ages.
15
@GO
This may not be the Middle Ages. But it is certainly not the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.
1
Well balanced people also contemplate the 65 million. Unbalanced people look away.
1
Nah. We just think it’s infantile to call a blob of cells and maybe an eye-spot a person, and then try to jam our religious views up everybody.
10
One question this article raised was somewhat surprising. If there is an upswing in domestic terrorism (what it is) against women's healthcare facilities, why isn't it being widely reported as it should be?
6
Too bad men aren't the ones who get pregnant. It would certainly be legal and promoted.
9
The harassment, abuse, fire bombings, and murders of innocent “others” who are deemed unacceptable by a segment of this nation’s white Christian majority, have eerie, yet imperfect, similarities to what happened during the height of the Civil Rights Era
White Privilege and White Entitlement are at its basis. There is a toxic sense of whiteness in this country; irrational and delusional to its core, which says that whites, especially white males, set the standard for all things “human.”
Refuse to feed the delusions, refuse to submit to the need for control, and suffer the wrath of the beast within.
This is an identity sickness nurtured through centuries of ill-gained power.
What are we going to do about it?
10
We decry the surveillance state in China but maybe a little more surveillance would be a good thing. Ideologically-motivated killers have online presence. They don’t want to hide. Their violence is a statement that they want the world to see. Why shouldn’t the FBI track extreme anti-abortionists, supporters of ISIS, neo-Nazis and others who may commit ideologically motivated crimes? An alert may go up when an extreme anti-abortionist approaches a clinic or a home of an abortion provider. The First Amendment is a wonderful thing but since the forced-birth proponents have already violated the Constitution by establishing their heretical Church of the Fetus, I don’t think they are in any great position to complain if their hate speech is criminalized. Other countries criminalize certain kinds of speech. In Germany, Holocaust denial is a felony. In Ukraine, defending Communism is a crime. Maybe blue states should consider declaring calls for violence against abortion doctors to be incitement, subject to criminal penalty.
5
“Church of the Fetus.” Perfect.
Human life is so precious to the US that it spends $725 billion per year on military preparations for the Apocalypse.
15
I can't help but think, sitting here in Massachusetts and very unfamiliar with states like Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, etc., that, if I didn't know we were talking about states in America, I would think this was about places such as Afghanistan. It is surreal to know that parts of America are that backward, same parts rabidly defending a president who, not coincidentally, also is a misogynist but who is also turning the United States into a banana republic (see: Barr, William; Mnuchin, Steven; Treason = being critical of Donald Trump; investigating an attack on our democracy by a foreign adversary, Russia, a "coup" while ordering a corrupt AG to investigate those who investigated that attack with a wish to imprison them and political rivals; turning the 4th of July into Donald Trump Day...); same parts full of fear of Sharia Law taking over America... I do not recognize this country any longer.
17
Watching Pence boast to West Point graduates that the US is the most powerful military nation ever makes me wonder what weapon the Jesus II he pines for is expected to carry. Would he settle for a semi-automatic AR-15?
Militaristic societies always preach that there are back doors leading directly to Heaven for dead soldiers.
11
I thank these doctors and those who work in these clinics including the volunteer escorts for giving women choice. It is not only a rural problem. I live in a town where one abortion provider's clinic was the target of arson--fortunately my then boyfriend and I walked by the darkened corner to see the light post on fire next to the clinic. We were able to put it out before it got to the clinic. People here used to have bumper stickers that said I pray for Lucia Cies--a physician who provided abortions. I knew Dr Cies since she first came to town as the doctor for the women's health clinic--She is a caring and concerned provider--always thinking about her patient. I would get these antiabortion people to roll their windows down when I saw the bumper sticker and told them I prayed for Lucia Cies every day because she gave women choice....Boy did they roll those windows up fast and took off as fast as they could. Violent antiabortion supporters are terrorists-plain and simple.
136
I neither favor nor oppose abortion.
Indeed, focusing on abortion is a much too narrowly inflammatory partisan political proposition.
I am for women having free individual choices to make and decide their sexual, reproductive and heath choices with little or minimal government influence. On par with and beyond what men have on those issues.
No sectarian faith should have any government power in that regard beyond it's adherents.
While recognizing the biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit one and only human race species separate and unequal reality that there are only two naturally procreative human genders. And only one of those genders has a vagina, ovaries, mammary glands, a uterus and placenta.
Until the discovery of DNA paternity, unlike maternity, was always in doubt. And even with paternity proven, being a biological dad aka baby daddy aka sperm donor is not the same thing as being a father.
Despite the myth of a supernatural motherless God, Adam and Eve every natural human being has a mother. Including Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha. Some women can be egg donors aka baby momma. But that it is biologically abnormal and rare.
4
And then there are all the unborn babies who put their lives on the line when they encounter abortionists. Of course the NYT does not mention this side of the story.
2
@JackC5
It's certainly fortunate, Jack, that during your pregnancies you never encountered any fetal abnormalities. Or were face with a life threatening situation that would compromise your ability to care for the other young children you had.
26
Many “unborn babies,” if they were sentient and knew what misery lay ahead - as the unwanted children of the most disadvantaged women and girls in our society - would gladly opt not to be born.
9
@JackC5
And then there are some 3366 lives awaiting execution throughout USA.
9
As David Frum said, conservatives will abandon democracy and the constitution before they abandon their point of view. This is what we are seeing today. It is a slow motion civil war.
22
50 years ago there was a courageous doctor working underground in Chicago who helped me and many other young women in those pre-Roe days. Every now and then I get into a conversation with one -- we look at each other and say "was it that doctor on the north side?" And yes, it always was.
We never knew his name -- he was accessed through a network of religious leaders, but you were basically on your own. His fee was $500, and I remember him tossing the envelope with the money into andrawer without looking at it or counting it. Who knows how many authorities were paid off with that money, it being Chicago.
It was the best we had at the time, but still it was not a fair or safe system. I remember him and his personal kindness with deep gratitude, as he pretty much saved my very confused life. But we must not go back to those days. Not on the north side of Chicago, not in Alabama, not anywhere in the US.
21
The comments below reveal one important observation. Pro-choice people in this country have been intimidated by this violence into not speaking up.
This is especially true in the South and Midwest, but to some degree is true everywhere.
In New York and Virginia, and almost every other state, there are state car license plates that say "Choose Life" and whose proceeds go to anti-abortion groups.
There is NO pro-choice equivalent giving money to Planned Parenthood of other clinics that provide abortions.
All states who offer "Choose Life" plates should
be petitioned to offer "Reproductive Freedom" plates whose money goes to help Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide abortions (and be sued if they refuse).
18
A neighbor, now many years deceased, was an obstetrician and part owner of a women’s clinic that provided abortions. (He had also delivered my kindergarten-aged daughter’s best friend.) In October of 2000 or 2001, I noticed a white van on the street next to my house, right across from the neighbor’s driveway. The bearded driver, who also wore a hat and sunglasses, was using a very long lens to take pictures of the house. I walked out of my house and around the block in order to approach him from behind, without being seen, and photographed his license plate and other images of his bumper-sticker-plastered vehicle. The next day, this person was back taking pictures. I called the local police; they said they were referring my call to the FBI. Within 36 hours, an FBI agent called and asked if he could come and have me show him where all this had occurred. I had the photos printed for him (this was before cellphone cameras) and we walked through the whole thing. A couple of days later he called back and told me that there was a court order barring this man from being within two miles the house and to call right away if I saw the vehicle or the driver again. The man taking pictures was head of a Catholic pro-life organization; he was taking pictures of doctors’ houses and posting them online in extremist chat rooms. Domestic terrorism is a fact, and is fostered by religious organizations, whether they admit it or not.
39
Somewhere there's an axiom that goes somewhat like this: "Violence breeds violence..."
This makes some of us wonder why The Editorial Board wonders why the greater violence.
What we have here is a group of doctors who, at one time, took an oath of "First, do no harm." The oath does not specify who among us is not to be harmed.
Since the human fetus is DNA-different from its mother, it must be considered human-kind in and beyond the zygote stages we all passed through on our way to the life we are living.
It's sad that doctors lives are on the line for the abortions they provide. But, at the same time, they present us with a moral dichotomy: To live or not to live. That is indeed the question....and nobler is part of the answer.
There is no noble act in abortion. Just the silent cries of 60,000,000 humankind. Nobility cries for kinder stuff for all of us.
2
@Lake Woebegoner
No, it doesn't have to be considered humankind. A fetus is a potential human; it is nor more an actual human than an acorn is an oak tree.
10
@Lake Woebegoner 40% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Many, many embryos do not have the potential to develop into a healthy fetus and then baby. I wonder if Mother Nature blamed for that, and that is why so many anti-choice people are also climate deniers, ignoring the current human-caused mass extinction.
11
The most prominent American doctor specializing in late term abortions is probably Dr. Warren M. Hern in Boulder CO. He is widely respected and politically outspoken. He refers to himself as a great champion of women and choice.
Dr. Hern once worked for a non-profit but decided to go private. He now personally owns two medical buildings in Boulder with a combined value of $3 million dollars. His home is justifiably unlisted. But the Guardian has reported that it contains a piano worth between $250K and $500K. His wife is half his age. And he charges up to $7500 for a typical abortion. Still, he solicits donations online. I
I have no idea how a woman of modest means affords his services. But I am pretty sure that he didn’t choose his specialty just to do the right thing.
1
You mean this guy?
https://www.dailycamera.com/2015/05/29/after-40-years-in-boulder-abortion-doctor-warren-hern-is-still-at-war/
Nice try, really. I adore the way you attacked him personally, using the real estate value of his offices as “proof,” that he’s an evil monster, before going on to mention his piano and his wife. Charming. How very...Christian of you.
Oh, by the way? His home isn’t listed because a colleague got shot through his own kitchen window.
Seriously, thanks. It’s important to be remined that you lot can’t argue your case honestly: it’s always this kind of guff, or faked science. I guess I’d try that too, if I were trying to have my religious values forced on everybody and disn’t wanna say so.
12
Civil Remedies Can Reduce the Urge to Harm
Feminism in the extreme, denies men a legal right to say no to abortion and protect their unborn child. Of course, in most situations of unwanted pregnancy, men are happy to look the other way and wash their hands of the decision - an enduring symbol of governmental and moral impotence that goes back almost 2,000 years. It is assumed that a man should have no say in the religious and moral outcome he implanted in the womb because only she has a right to procreate - or not. Her real estate seems to trump his seed and genetic share.
The abortionist generally acts only for the woman and ignores not just the unborn but also the father. If the unborn is human it should not be executed (as Mr. Trump might say) and if the unborn are nothing more than embryos and fetuses, they are at least joint property in the law. An abortionist is not a slave to a woman and should refuse the procedure unless the father consents. At some point the courts may impose this restriction and legislatures might even provide a civil remedy against an abortionist that acts without the father’s permission. The right to compensation would certainly minimize any urge to physically harm the abortion provider.
1
Yeah, Eugene, always be sure to get that rapist or molesting dad’s approval first.
14
@Eugene Patrick Devany
Your solution would be tantamount to allowing the father to forcibly hijack the body of the women. The fact that she is carrying the fetus and bears all of the health risks trumps the father.
12
Wow. Have you heard of the Handmaid’s Tale?
I’m grateful I live in Canada.
11
I vividly remember that Sunday morning 10 years ago when Dr. Tiller was brazenly murdered in a house of worship. It shook me to the core and I never thought that for a minute, a decade later, we would be on the cusp of losing our reproductive rights. I don't think this country can recover from what the so-called evangelicals and radical right have wrought.
13
First it was the doubting of science. Then it was coupled with the misogynistic language from the White House President. Next came the name calling of poorer countries. It has been a long, calculated bring down of America by those whose wealth is threatened by Her democracy. Safe and legal abortion laws are at the core of ideas like freedom and democracy. If I don't have say over my body, I'm not free. If America doesn't clamp down hard, at the federal level, on protecting this basic right for women, to chose what they want to do with their bodies--any part of their bodies--then it will regress. It will be throwing democracy and freedom into the dust bin, slowly. The country will not be able to attract the best and brightest. We must stop trying to legislate religious beliefs to make those who belong to religious organizations comfortable.
12
"States with the worst anti-abortion laws also have the worst infant mortality rates," read a LA Times headline, citing CDC statistics.
GQ, in an article titled, "The “Pro-Life” States Are Not Pro-Life States" cited many reasons why they are not pro-life, including death penalty, gun-related deaths, maternal mortality rate and refusal to expand Medicaid under ACA that could save lives.
"Alabama Executes a Murderer a Day After Banning Abortions," read a header for a NY Times story.
All this "pro-life" talk is not about preserving or saving lives, but advancing a religious agenda and making lives of women--and the doctors who care for them--difficult.
Trump, during the campaign, when asked about punishing women who would break any abortion ban, said "there has to be some form of punishment, yeah,” before changing his mind when that got him in difficulty.
Of course, Trump then went on to appoint two conservatives justices to the Supreme Court, whose potential support for some of the recently enacted laws by states to ban abortion, could, in fact, wind up punishing women.
15
Thank you for this. I did not know of Dr. Tiller and am glad that I do now. “Dr Tiller was a Republican and lived in Kansas” . These are exactly the kind of men and women we need to drive change and progress. Their progressive ideas and votes despite the backlash and choosing to live in red evangelical states will help drive change . The west coast are not the only ones resisting as Timothy Egan would have you believe . People with progressive and compassionate views in the most conservative of place are the true heroes whatever party they vote for .
9
I only recognize human life as a living and breathing person outside of a mother's body. If life is so important, why these anti-abortionists go helping countless needy people who need help. I am not talking about adults. I am talking about poor & helpless children in US and the world. Don't be a saint on one issue and turn blind eyes on other moral & practical issues.
15
Because of violence and threats of violence against abortion providers, It's necessary, for the safety & emotional comfort of both providers & patients as undetectable as possible. With that in mind, it would be much better for abortions to be done in hospitals, as they were in New York immediately after the procedure became legal here in 1970. First, no-one knows why you're going to the hospital as a patient or what department you work in if you're a provider. Also hospital tend to be larger, more imposing institutions than reproductive health clinics. It was good while it lasted, & should be brought back.
106
@Jenifer Wolf....good point, must be discussed by politicians on the media---just why are many abortions done in special clinics that are separate from general hospitals, and thus are easy targets for harassment and violent fanatics?
10
@Jenifer Wolf: It is time for people to oppose Dignity Health care, a Catholic organization that is taking over healthcare in rural counties through the US. Once they begin managing hospitals, women have to drive to a big city to get an abortion or a tubal ligation.
31
@Jenifer Wolf
This would add incredible expense to a simple procedure. It's not reasonable to charge pregnant people extra so that violent extremists can have unfettered rights. Also: they do protest hospitals, in the same way they protest Planned Parenthood sites that do not offer abortion services and every patient seeking any kind of care at a clinic that does.
15
what I don't understand is why if these people think abortion is murder, why aren't they doing anything to help prevent the pregnancies. handing out condoms instead of holding pictures, helping people get other types of contraception. add to that the lack of support for children after they are born, it is very confusing.
294
@dk This is the million dollar question. Adding to it: If these people think abortion is murder, why are they not protesting violence against doctors and women, or taking steps to help eliminate maternal death resulting from pregnancies going horribly wrong?
They surely aren't "pro-life."
Very confusing indeed.
48
@dk, it IS confusing if you believe that anti-choice zealots mean it when they warble about those lofty goals. They know perfectly well that sometimes women need abortions. Many of them are women who understand that free birth control really would go a long way toward reducing abortions, and empowering women's lives. That's what they can't stand. Note their commitment to prison! Zero compassion, just a flimsy bleat about slutty women. You hear this in ALL nations where Sharia is implemented. It somehow is all about how much makeup women wear, and how awful it is for men to have to look at women without raping them. Yes, here in America.
To understand this madness, you must realize that their goal is actually to punish women, not solve anything. They shame and mislead based on a belief not even mentioned once in the Bible.
They are the Christian Taliban; the morality police, and women's behavior is their only focus. Does that help?
72
@dk Read any Catholic newspaper. These people think all contraception is murder. They want to outlaw contraception. Young women better wake up and vote for pro-choice candidates or they will lose their rights to contraception also.
69
The bravery of these doctors, clinic workers, and escorts is rivaled only by their compassion. These dedicated people understand the anguish of patients who are too young or unsettled to raise a child; who have children and cannot afford another mouth to feed; who lack a safe, stable home; who lack the vast financial and emotional resources needed by a disabled child; who are physically or mentally incapable of raising a child; who realize that they're pregnant only after receiving radiation or chemotherapy; whose pregnancy is becoming a threat to their health or indeed their lives; who do not want to be permanently tied to a casual acquaintance; who do not want to be permanently tied to an unsupportive or abusive partner; who do not want to have their rapist's child; who are terrified of condemning a child to a life of medical suffering; who are terrified of surrendering a child to strangers.
Even setting aside the vast multitude of life circumstances for which we should all exercise compassion, let us consider one particular repercussion if abortion is re-criminalized: vast numbers of women will be exposed to suspicion and legal persecution in the wake of miscarriages, otherwise known as spontaneous abortions.
273
Home grown American terrorism, plain and simple. And yet, those persons within the government charged with monitoring such groups and persons turn what seems to be a very opaque and nearly blind eye to such groups and persons given that their wrapping themselves in a hateful and vengeful form of Christianity. Would we see such complacency if such groups were, say, Muslim? Of course not. Moreover, such groups and persons are part and parcel of the broader social fabric in which LGBT/persons of color/Jews tend to be ostracized and belittled. (Sure, there are LGBT/persons of color and Jews who can be just as intolerant about such matters.) And, of course, the great sin of trying to provide sex education and contraception that goes beyond having a female place an aspirin between their legs and keep them crossed is not viewed to be a viable path to even prevent pregnancy. There's little reason to doubt that in the face of the current cultural climate we're going to see a resurgence of Jane, the underground group of abortion providers. The fundamental issue/problem: a rigid, black and white morality and understanding of the world that brooks no willingness to see the inherent grays and ambiguities of social reality. Kudos to those brave men and women who continue to provide such services to women in need in the face of this homegrown terror that embraces such extremism.
61
Abortions should be more routinely accessed at big hospitals, where there is simply too much activity for violent attackers to track, and too many layers of security for the extremists to penetrate.
This horrific targeting of providers is more a rural problem, where health care is provided in a more intimate setting. Not sure what to do about that.
Tiller’s murder is haunting.
49
@Cousy
Hospitals are afraid of the threats as well, and of the bad PR.
Almost no abortions are provided at any hospitals.
Hence the clinics, run by brave people who accept the threats as part of the job of helping women.
8
@Cousy
There may be an element to what you say, but that was not my recent experience. I attended a series of meetings at building across the street from a Planned Parenthood clinic in Everett, WA this spring. Everett is a town of 110,000, but not rural. I think of it almost as a suburb of Seattle. There was an atmosphere of controlled tension every time I was there. Anti-abortion protesters were on one side of the intersection. On the other, were pro-choice and PP clinic supporters. They were there every single time I went, making their opposition into a bizarre spectacle.
4
Health care workers have hearts beats.
...and you don't need specialized equipment to detect those heart beats.
57
I am amazed at reading the comments to this article, in that no one has pointed out the obvious irony of the title of this piece: "The doctors who put their lives on the line"; when all the while it is they who are doing the killing. Yes of course, killing doctors who perform abortions is wrong, heinous, despicable and should be condemned by all. But not pointing out the obvious similarity between they and their victims is chilling. People are entitled to their beliefs about when life begins. And any human life that is terminated violently is a crime.
8
@Kate
Dr. Tiller was an adult human being.
A human embryo at six weeks is about the size of a grain of rice, and virtually indistinguishable from many other mammalian embryos.
They are not similar in any way, unless you believe that a human embryo has a “soul”, in which case what you really want is for other people to be forced to adhere to your religious beliefs.
We have a Constitution that prevents that sort of thing, and the Constitution, not the Bible or any other religious text, is the highest law in this country.
36
“Belief” is the key word here. I disagree with your analogy between Tiller and a fetus. There are plenty of distinctions one could draw to differentiate the two. Nonetheless, I respect your sincerely held beliefs. You should be free to believe that life begins at conception and to act accordingly. Likewise, I should be free to believe that the availability and legality of abortion is essential for reproductive autonomy. My worry is this: If Roe is overturned, the government will have legally enshrined what is, by your own admission, a “belief” about the point at which life begins. That’s a deeply troubling precedent.
14
@Kate, here's where you folks always fall apart:
"Yes of course, killing doctors who perform abortions is wrong, heinous, despicable and should be condemned by all. But....."
So you still give terrorists a pass. It should be full stop after 'condemned by all'. After all, that's what you insist about women's reproductive choices, right? Abortion is always a sin, full stop, no 'but.....' on the end.
Hypocrites! A glob of fetal cells the size of your pencil eraser is not the same as a living doctor who went thru medical school, whose heartbeat has been detected for years, and who gets gunned down by a Christian sharia zealot. "Well, yes, it was horrible that we murdered the mother of three children, but we might have saved some cells!" Meanwhile, a pregnant woman dies from pre-eclampsia down the hall, another dies from her ectopic pregnancy bursting, one floor above.
You people make no sense. Murder is OK if it's you doing it? Regrettable, cluck cluck, but it's war, so Jesus would definitely hand you a gun and advise you to kill, right?
21
When, hopefully, all patriarchs are gone, women will have equal rights under the law.
Pro-life is just a synonym for superiority of men over women. Patriarchs don't care one whit about the fetus--just dominance over women and their so-called equal rights. Some day religious zealots will see their demise as women gain more equanimity in all areas of life.
A woman's life is more important than a fetus' birth in all circumstances. Period.
75
@Ruthy Davis
What else is new? Trojan Women was first produced in 415BC. Euripedes' play chronicles the conditions that befell Trojan women at the hands of Greek men after the fall of Troy.
The operative assumption is that men, as holders of all practical reins of power in society (money, the military, and government), are also the supreme vessel of morality. How could it be otherwise?
According to Engels (and anthropological wisdom) this state of affairs evolved as a consequence of the Neolithic revolution. Read Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. Women lost their equal status and became male property. Their current situation is merely the latest iteration of that development.
My suggestion? Limit the decision over what happens to women's bodies to a vote taken by women alone. Would men allow women to participate if the issue of punitive male castration was ever placed on the ballot? Hardly. Fair is fair.
6
@Ruthy Davis: Women will have true equality when their sisters, mother and daughters quit supporting the Rigth Wing anti-women politicians. Many, many, women are rabid anti-abortion supporters.
7
@Ruthy Davis
"A woman's life is more important than a fetus' birth in all circumstances. Period."
The mother's life is seldom threatened by pregnency, and when that is the case, the safest way to alleve the problem is to deliver the baby alive. If by "life" you meant convenience, financial situation, ect. you are surely wrong, as life - in the true sense of the word - is infinately more important than these.
1
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi remains unwilling to begin impeachment hearings because it's too "divisive."
People have long complained about the Democrats that, since the time of Reagan, they have, in effect, been bringing a knife to a gun fight. The murders of these abortion providers demonstrates that the second half of that formulation is, literally, true.
There is a civil war going on in this country. One side is waging it; the other side is still obsessed with decorum.
37
@David: Reagan killed the labor movement that protected Trump's mob from the depredations of asset-stripping plutocrats. The character judgment of people who believe that nature has a human personality is out of this universe.
6
@David I agree that President Trump and the Republicans are reprehensible. However, if Pelosi begins impeachment proceedings, what will happen? The Senate, under spineless McConnell, will never vote to convict. And, even if it does and he is removed from office, do you think President Pence will be better, especially on the abortion issue? To me, Pence is far scarier than Pres. Trump. Pence comes off as affable, even though he is a religious zealot, and he is an effective politician. He'd get re-elected in a heartbeat and then abortion rights will really be in trouble. Democrats who are screaming for impeachment should be careful what they wish for.
9
@David: "decorum?" Law and the constitution! Why charge someone with a crime (impeach) when the jury (the Senate) is stacked in favor of the defendant? It might not hurt if more Americans actually read the Constitution.
7
It is important that we remember our history and make the world aware of current episodes of Ironic Violence (my very loaded term) surrounding a procedure that is settled law at the highest level in the nation. As a formerly practicing Ob/Gyn, I firmly stand behind a woman’s right to choose. In addition to the irony of either committing acts of violence or inciting/encouraging/supporting acts of violence (even passing it into law in an indirect way by holding physicians accountable legally for performing abortions), the violence of neglect, abuse and a life that is less than ideal for kids born to those who are unable to responsibly raise a child for any of a number of reasons is not lost on me. Human’s ability to justify one violent act in service to another is heartbreaking and mind numbing.
95
@Jandel Allen-Davis, MD - A woman's right to choose what, good Doctor? Only, death for human-kind, and a doctor's complicity in the death. 60,000,000 is not a whimsical number.
What an albatross has been hung on the backs of those who once chose to "Do No Harm." It's deadened wings have made them blind to our own kind.
2
@Lake Woebegoner
"Humankind" seems in absolutely no danger of dying out, even though natural miscarriages are far more common than abortions.
But women who try to carry pregnancies to term are facing rising maternal/fetal mortality rates. Maybe that's worth your attention.
21
@Jandel Allen-Davis, MD
"Settled law" is not a justification. Many abhorrent things were once legal as well.
1
When I was 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby, she was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder. She did not have a brain, her head was filled with water and she had multiple severe deformities throughout her tiny body. I was absolutely devastated and consumed with grief and went to see a colleague of the late Dr. Tiller. He was so understanding and compassionate to me. Despite the constant threats to his life, he has persevered and continues to help women like me who receive devastating news late in pregnancy. I thank him and the other doctors who risk their lives.
321
Kristy, I am so grateful that there was someone able to help you in that unbelievably sad time. Thank you for sharing your story. I knew Dr. Tiller - he was a good, good man.
41
It shouldn’t be necessary but in these turbulent times, it is. We need an amendment to the constitution that addresses freedom of conscience. The nearly 250 year-old document has many safeguards built-in that Roe calls on to establish the right of a woman to make reproductive health decisions. My favorite is the 9th Amendment that basically says rights not enumerated there are no less important than the few that are. But our dogmatic culture and approach to reading the document today prevents full articulation of the 9th. We also need to take a harder look at the 1st amendment and its establishment clause. It seems to me that evangelicals have been trying for decades to establish a religion and the anti-abortion movement is the tip of the spear.
51
@Denis: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" already prohibits any public support or cooperation with religious fanatics invading other people's lives. And "free exercise" of religion requires that participation be voluntary, not coerced.
23
@Steven, I believe that is the point, many on the regressive radical “evangelical” right, are trying, and often succeeding in forcing their beliefs on to the masses, with the help of their friends in congress and the courts.
11
Look again. The Supreme Court decision that mandated after school use of schools be opened to a diversity of groups has allowed ‘churches’ to hold services at taxpayer expense. That evidently is extended to civic buildings - nothing like walking into my local community center (which includes the police department) on a Sunday, looking for a Farmer’s Market location, only to find a church service in progress, Forced taking of my tax dollars to support a religion-not-my-own.
Historic allowance of minimal state aid to private, religious schools now seems to have blossomed under this Court’s conservative bent. Establishment, one brick at a time, is still - building. The bricks seem to have be taken from the wall of separation. Discrimination against religion? Certainly. It’s what the Establishment Clause allowed. Should allow.
5
this country is sick and will not recover. the illness is fatal. it was made fatal by an inability to approach contentious issues and conversations civilly. some will say that the country has experienced this before and survived. those instances included the intervention—whether by providence or chance—of the wiser, kinder, and more solemn amongst us. now, they are nowhere to be found
22
@zeno: All moral progress in the US came to a complete halt with the ludicrous legislation of 1953 that has brainwashed three generations of poorly educated people to believe that the US is a divine creation operated by a God who mysteriously absolves public figures from accountability for their own actions.
5
Let's face it - the incivility in many cases is down to Christians who can't accept that anyone wants to live their life differently to them. Bottom line.
9
Agreed.
1
If I were to make an educated guess, having been a high school teacher listening to students for many years, I'd say the majority of people here in south Georgia do not consider abortion an option, no matter how dire the pregnancy, Many do not know it is legal.
I actually can't say what most adults here think because we hardly ever talk about it in day-to-day life. That's how taboo this subject is, even among educated, occasionally powerful women.
I suspect this is the case in many parts of America. The political/socio-economic conditions that surely helped deliver an infant to Aretha Franklin at age 12 (as reported in the NYT) haven't changed, even with the advent of Roe. Roaring anti-abortion rhetoric, relentless violence, and shrewd legal strategy have silenced women and men. That, combined with the inaccessibility of birth control for teens and poor women, indeed turns countless women into baby-making machines. Yet again ...
As a teacher at a public high school I decided not to put a Planned Parenthood sticker on my car. I'm ashamed of my decision, but I was fairly sure I'd become a target. At the least, my car would have been keyed.
187
@Jan Gehorsam
In spite of fear, I’ve taken to wearing a pin in support of PP. If they silence us all, what hope do we have?
24
@Jan Gehorsam - So I guess we can now count 30 states as Terrorist States. Heavy duty gun states. Hand in hand walking with their consciences I am sure.
14
I’d gladly have my car be keyed.
6
In Alabama, which just enacted an almost complete ban on abortion, women make up just 15 percent of lawmakers.
In matters of abortion, only women citizens and women lawmakers should be allowed to vote on the abortion matter.
Similarly, at the Supreme Court, only women justices should be the judge on abortion cases.
No gestation without representation.
143
Toms Quill - Such a silly idea and certainly not Constitutional. As long as men are involved in conception, they have a dog in this hunt. Now, if abortion laws that criminalized abortion similarly criminalized the father if he was in any way involved in procuring the abortion or, having knowledge of the abortion failed to prevent it.
5
@Toms Quill
The male politicians in Alabama who enacted the ban on abortions would not have been elected if women (as well as men) hadn't voted for them, and they won't remain in office if women don't want them there. In addition, the anti-abortion legislation was introduced by a woman and signed into law by the Governor of Alabama...who is a woman. Further, the Right to Life movement in general is at least 50% female. The argument that only women have a right to weigh in on abortion will not necessarily lead to the pro-abortions rights conclusion you assume it will.
3
@Toms Quill: Why should anyone vote on it? The matter is settled law.
3
I wish I was smart enough to be a physician so I could provide these services. Hats off to these courageous doctors.
137
This important issue is the subject of Joyce Carol Oates "Book of American Martyrs" (2017). Oates writes from the point of view of both sides, the victim and the murderer; amazingly, she is able to enter into the latter's mindset, showing what brought him to that point.
It's the vicious, fanatical, and -- yes -- murderous mentality of religious fundamentalism that we should fear the most, rather than merely those individuals who have been brainwashed by it into violent actions.
The title of the book is important: the true martyr is the murdered physician, but the killer sees himself in that role.
It behooves us to fear all forms of extreme religiosity, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or even (amazingly) Buddhist, as witnessed in recent years in Myanmar and elsewhere. Once you believe that you know the "will of God", any and all actions become justified.
One of the original messages of Christianity was apparently the importance of humility, avoiding the "sin" of arrogance and self-righteousness. I wonder what happened to that!
97
@Ellen Valle. I was thinking of that book as I read this too. Wish more people had read it.
8
In this country, each person is entitled to practice his or her religion. No one else is compelled to practice that religion.
In this country, each person is entitled to practice no religion at all. No one is compelled to practice another’s religion.
I am not bound by Mike Pence’s religion but by the laws of my country, my state, and my city.
10
Christine McM wonders about "the types of people who feel entitled to take the law into their own hands."
IMO, there are times when that is the only moral thing to do. I'm thinking about the abolitionists and the underground railroad. However they didn't go around murdering slaveholders, or anyone else they disagreed with.
And when abortion was illegal in this country there were doctors who helped women in dire circumstances. The first abortion I ever heard of was in 1962, when I was 18. The patient was a 13-year-old who'd been raped by her grandfather. These anti-abortion fanatics would have that child carry the pregnancy to term, no matter what the cost to her health. And they would consider that pregnancy "A gift from God."
Many of us older feminists remember those days, and I can assure you that if the fanatics write the kinds of laws they want, women will lay the tracks of a new underground railroad.
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It is unfathomable that in 2019 we are almost back at the beginning of the fight for women’s autonomy over their own bodies. It’s ironic that Trump, who clearly sees women as “lesser-than,” and as objects to be used by men, would have the power to affect changes in our laws governing women’s right to choose.
He lies about so many things, so of course he’ll lie about this in order to court the Evangelical right. The fact that his lies have influence and power make me physically ill. I wonder how many abortions he has paid for, since, apparently, he doesn’t use barrier methods of contraception.
If you don’t want an abortion, then by all means, don’t have one. But every woman should have the right to make deeply personal decisions about their own bodies and futures. Do not dare to dictate to us about when and if we want to bring a child into this world.
Good and dedicated doctors want to assist women. Leave them alone. That these doctors and other medical professionals are in fear for their lives is heartbreaking. They know that women will end their pregnancies with or without their help. They prevent back alley and self-induced abortions by terminating pregnancies in safe, clean facilities. They save women’s lives.
These statements are so obvious. I can’t believe we are heading for the dark ages again. These are sad and terrible days in the history of women’s rights.
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@Kathryn - I agree with you completely. The reason we are back to the beginning is our own passivity. I have said before - activate your daughters!
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@Barbara and sons! They need to take responsibility for what they do with their own bodies as well!
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@Kathryn
It's not your body - it's an autonomous human being dependant on you for vital support. This scientific fallacy - that the child is part of the women - does not hold up to scrutiny. No organism has two differant genetic codes at the same time. No organism has two completely seperate organ systems. Just because the child is inside your body, doesn't give you the right to kill him, like how if someone is in my house, through no fault of his own, I have no right to kill him either.
1
All the murderers of abortion personnel I know about are men. It's gotten to the point that I, a heterosexual sismale, am (finally) convinced that the regulation of abortion should be determined entirely by the votes of siswomen. In legal terms, we men simply don't have 'standing' to have a view that should be legally recognized. Sure, we can write impassioned letters one way or another, as an amicus brief of sorts, but unless we are the father - in which case we get rights under separate provisions - we simply have nothing to add beyond advocacy to the final determination and should be prohibited from voting on legislation. I believe this despite that I'm normally pretty supportive of my gender and its travails. On this matter, however, we need to removed from the legislative process.
I realize it's a dangerous precedent to deny citizens votes on questions of law, but too many men have behaved too badly, so badly as to supersede whatever tenuous rights we may have once had to have our views count on this heartbreaking life-or-death matter which we are congenitally incapable of experiencing.
Leave it to mothers and those who may become mothers.
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@NLG
It's not only cis-women who have abortions. Trans-men have abortions. Non-binary people have abortions. Gender-queer people have abortions. I understand your larger point, but non-ciswomen are being left out of the conversation entirely and that's equally unfair.
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@NLG
It would make more sense if only the unborn got to vote.
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@NLG: It would be transformative if no woman gestated any fetus fertilized by rape or incest. These aberrations would quickly go extinct.
2
We have been hearing from Pope Francis, as he rails on inhumanity.
Do we know what he did during the Pinochet regime?
Please publish an objective account, if possible, so that his comments can be measured vis a vis his record then.
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@Kim
It doesn’t matter what Pope Francis says, though I’m sad he decided to interfere in a matter that has no bearing on him or Catholicism. No one is strapping down Catholics and subjecting them to abortions. Religion is beside the point and has absolutely no place in matters of abortion, unless a woman herself chooses to heed the dictates of her religion regarding her own pregnancy.
I’m so tired of living in what Carl Sagan called “the demon-haunted world”. Religion, especially this sexist, punitive, sadistic, and virulent form of evangelical Christianity is of the Dark Ages, of humanity’s past, not of its future. The rituals can be a lovely thing that connect us to our past and comfort our fears of mortality. But humanity will not evolve any further until it puts away these childish fantasies compounding the planet’s existential problems and faces the reality of existence in this universe.
Abortion is settled law in that no one has a right to force me to carry a pregnancy against my will. Though some believe it so, no law needs to be passed to protect rights already enshrined in the Constitution to live free of religion (First Amendment), seizure of my uterus (Fourth Amendment), being forced to cede my rights to others’ right to practice religion (Ninth Amendment) or my autonomy (Fourteenth Amendment). Continued disregard of all these amendments shows the true issue still facing America and the world is misogyny. Humanity’s going nowhere until it faces that fact.
5
A moment to recognize and pause, remembering the courage of caring men such as Dr. George Tiller and his father.
An earlier propaganda message received from an elderly childless acquaintance, describing a woman with a house filled with unplanned children, besieged by all the ills and ailments Nature can inflict on a female (hark, the end of the above is profane for had she received an abortion, the world would not have enjoyed the music of Beethoven. That's right, Roll over Beethoven, and make room for Bach).
While humans may be here to procreate, we are not 'rabbits'. Setting politics and sex aside, the motivating drive of these religious fanatics appears to be the wish to kill in the name of 'God'. A brutal one, bringing to mind, 'An eye for an eye and the world would be blind', as cited by Gandhi.
It is the season of 'Mental Health Awareness', but it is never the season to assault and kill 'The Rights of Women', and it is happening everywhere, while the Tillers in our midst are placing their safety and their life on the line.
Thinking of Ms. Hagstrom Miller, and letting her know that the greater majority of us are seeking hard to bring back equilibrium to our Country. Tell us how we can help.
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I wish the anti-choice set would stop calling themselves "pro-life" as they sure aren't pro-life after the birth.
Most pro-choice people are concerned after the birth. The then-baby needs full financial and health support and that's when it really costs. Paying taxes to provide environments to help after the birth? The anti-choice don't want to pay taxes unless it benefits them personally.
Anti-choice tends to be from European (especially Northern and Central) background and Christian. But not all of us in the US are Christian and we don't want to live with their religious beliefs.
If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one.
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@vacciniumovatum
"If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one."
The same logic can be applied to:
"If you don't believe in rape, don't do it"
"If you don't believe in theft, don't do it."
"If you don't believe in animal cruelty, don't perpetrate it."
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@vacciniumovatum: Pure and simple. Makes perfect sense to me.
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@vacciniumovatum I have been saying for many years that language matters. For me, the terms pro-choice and anti-choice are my preferred labels. Anti-choice people who believe murder of those who provide abortions, are not pro-life. Neither are those who are for the death penalty, or a prison term for a women who miscarries, etc. There are thousands of examples of this dichotomy of what they call themselves compared to what they believe. What it all boils down to is there are a group of people who are anti-abortion, they are not pro-life as they have framed themselves. We should not let them use that term, and MSM should stop using that false terminology.
6
Tiller, Gunn, Britton, and Slepian are all heroes and patriots who knowingly risked their lives to protect the freedom, rights and lives of Americans in America just as surely as any soldier does on foreign soil. Like most military heroes, they probably would not see themselves as such but merely as physicians ministering to human beings who were hurting and came to them for care, without passing judgment on them. I, for one, will remember them on this Memorial Day. Thank you for your service, doctors.
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@abigail49: I understand that doctors perform abortions for the sake of the patient's health.
Very informative editorial. All human life is precious whether you agree with their position or not.
2
My uncle, Dr. John Bayard Britton, was the most gentle of souls who served the poorest of women.
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Thank you, NY Times editorial staff, for demonstrating the courage of physicians providing a legal and necessary service for women. Women have had a need for and sought safe abortions for thousands of years. Making abortion illegal won't reduce the need. It will force some women, mostly poor, to seek illegal abortions from untrained and unqualified people. Many women will be injured and many will die. The hypocrisy of those against abortion is demonstrated by the fiercely anti-abortion US Rep. Scott DesJarlais, whose Wikipedia entry reads "Despite his public opposition to legal abortion, DesJarlais encouraged his ex-wife to terminate two pregnancies and encouraged a former patient with whom he was having an affair to get an abortion."
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@derecho- I am a college teacher and I would not accept a research assignment with Wikileaks credited in the Bibliography. Do you not know how Wikileaks works?
@derecho DesJarlais is a physician as well. One would think he understands embryonic development but his need to remain in government depends on fooling the rubes who vote for him.
The answer to this dilemma is NOT to perform abortions at specific well-known clinics but in women's hospitals and general (non-reproductive-specific) clinics. Women publicly entering public abortion clinics is not only a breach of their privacy but also a very foolish and unsafe strategy. In fact all Planned Parenthood clinics should be unmarked or given a general clinic storefront.
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@EarthCitizen
In this internet age, no location is "secret."
Dr Tiller, after all, was murdered at his church. He and his staff were tracked. He was not an "abortionist" - -
In the case of Planned Parenthood, their main services are in providing GYN care, and family planning, not abortion. Many non-dedicated clinics across the country no longer provide such services, and at sliding fees. And in some areas, hospitals do not provide abortion services. I am guessing your "Earth" is urban: in many rural areas there are no real choices.
The real question is: why should the solution to terror be to hide? what is more contrary to our heritage of freedom than having to hide from state-tolerated terrorists?
8
Woman, doctors, escorts and clinic staff members shouldn't be forced to hide and live in terror for just doing their job or needing medical assistance. Instead of hiding the reality of abortion, what should happen is legislators and voters should stop feeding the violent, unhinged, aggressive pro life movement and stand behind those performing this necessary service and the women who need it. Hate doesn't grow in a vacume.
6
@EarthCitizen - PP charges on a sliding scale, according to income. An abortion in a hospital or doctor's office is many times more expensive. That's why all this targeting of PP clinics harms poor women, while middle class and wealthier women can afford to get safe abortions in a hospital or doctor's office.
5
It is not just the murderous so-called zealots who display this blatant and oblivious hypocrisy, but the majority of anti-abortionists, largely religious, especially "Christian".
The so-called "Christians", despite their proud and loud proclamations of worship and service to the Lord Jesus (whom Himself teaches love, acceptance, and forgiveness to the point of His own crucifixion) seem quite comfortable eschewing any hint of love, certainly no acceptance, and absolutely no forgiveness.
Did these people misunderstand the Gospels, or are they merely nominal followers of Christ?
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@A. F. G. Maclagan
Jesus also taught that the least of us are the greatest.
Abortion providers are clearly working in a dangerous job but doing dangerous work is often an integral part of the practice of medicine.
Consider the doctors who first worked with AIDS patients when the nature of the disease and its transmission were uncertain. Or those who work today in Africa to quell Ebola outbreaks. Or the providers who treat patients with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis which also can kill them.
Each doctor seeks to help real patients deal with real problems even when doing so might threaten them. A woman pregnant by rape or incest or pregnant by choice but with a damaged child-in-utero who cannot survive is beset with an unfathomably difficult issue. We need doctors willing to help every patient, particularly women facing troubled pregnancies.
40
I honor Dr. Tiller and all the other physicians who work hard to provide safe abortions. Anyone who kills these physicians or does them harm is unclear on the concept of pro-life....
53
In the perverted logic, the illogic, of anti-abortionists, a clump of living cells with a heartbeat is a person deserving all the rights and legal protections conferred by personhood.
In contrast, an adult human with a fully functioning brain that makes them self aware, autonomous, and a being with desires, plans, preferences and the like is something that can be killed to protect any living thing with a heartbeat.
The most radical animal rights activists are models of reason and restraint by comparison. How long before the anti-abortionists follow their own logic, which dictates that every animal on the planet with a heartbeat is as much a full person as any human being ever was, except of course that they think it acceptable to inflict their brand of "justice" on grown men and women and men who believe that their bodies are not the property of others. The anti-abortionists agenda is based on the premise that they have greater rights to decide and control the uses to which the bodies of women are put than the women have: the proper name for his slavery. That women are slaves to the desires of others is what the anti-abortionist argument assumes. Is it any wonder that they dehumanize other human persons so far as to think violence against them acceptable?
They might be anti-abortion. They are certainly anti-person.
Pro-life? No, just pro-despotism.
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They are similar to ISIS, in that they have inner rage and have found a cause on which to inflict that rage.
5
@Felix Qui: The abortion issue is just another vote-winning ploy. Otherwise, do we think McConnell gives tuppence for the issue?
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@Felix Qui
In contrast, an adult human with a fully functioning brain that makes them self aware, autonomous, and a being with desires, plans, preferences and the like is something that can be killed to protect any living thing with a heartbeat.
If that's how you define a person, than mentally disbled people are not people at all.
It is galling that extremists who oppose abortion in all circumstances have the audacity to call themselves "pro-life." If they truly cared about children, they'd support increased funding for Medicaid, Food Stamps, school lunches, & universal pre-K. But most of them oppose adequate funding of these programs. Any pretense of genuine concern for even a single life is fraudulent when put forth by someone who advocates cold blooded murder of physicians. Shooting doctors does not show respect for life.
No, the only correct term to describe those who harass doctors, assault doctors, and incite others to murder doctors is TERRORIST. They are deliberately seeking to intimidate professionals who provide to their patients the full range of reproductive health care. They are the worst hypocrites imaginable.
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@Doctor B
Trying to paint all pro-lifers as terrorists shows the fraility of your arguement.
I’ve lived and worked in Wichita for over 20 years, I’m from Ohio.
Many people here would have little sympathy for Dr. Tiller or his Family. “ He deserved it “. I’ve actually heard that spoken. The location for “ the Summer Of Mercy” was no accident. It’s the whole authoritarian mindset, coupled with a toxic, lifelong dose of “ religion “ and the necessity of fitting-in. Well, I don’t fit in, here. I leave home only when necessary, and save my relaxation, socializing and pleasure for out of town trips. There are more than a few unhinged Zealots around, it’s just a question of WHEN they will strike. It’s a gas can awaiting another match.
Beware.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian. What exactly is the matter with Ohio? seriously, the election of Donald Trump has revealed to me that that state is more regressive, more authoritarian, and more lunatic than Alabama, Mississippi ,Kentucky and Tennessee combined
4
"Hesitant to wade into a heated political issue, local police officers allow violations of the law to slide, further emboldening the activists."
This is NOT a heated political issue. This is the LAW. Those police officers are hired and paid to uphold the law. Allowing violations to "slide" is despicable.
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Under the Constitution and case law, abortion is guaranteed to every woman regardless of color, sexual orientation, place or circumstances. Even some Republican women have had abortions. Nevertheless, Republicans routinely oppose abortion... sometimes violently. It's way past time for America to recognize abortion as a civil right.
38
The sad truth is that these assassinations - this is what they are - or attempted ones will only get worse. The anti-abortionists have not kept hidden their goal of sending this issue to the Supreme Court. And, let us face the truth, it is a tweak away from reaching the Bench of 5 out of 9 judges, all conservative, all Catholic...and all men. This group which professes that the unborn is more worthy of living than its pregnant mother have the momentum now. And they are not going to back off. For you see, desperate people resort to desperate actions. They are ravenous and victims of their own inner sense of inadequacy. In order to feel better about themselves, they exploit organized religion for their own self-interests. They need to judge; they need to control others; they need to exert power over breathing, living human beings. It is ironic that among the most evil of our presidents is delivering. Little do they know that he is exploiting them for control and power over all. Little do they know that they are murderers, too. They are destroying a universal moral code of allowing humans their personhood, their God-given rights to their own identity and individuality. God bless our doctors. We need them.
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Tom Coburn, Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, and many other politicians, news pundits, and talk show hosts are a big reason why these murders, and bombings occurred. They incite their followers for greed and recognition.
To me their every bit as guilty as those individuals that carry out the crime.
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Why do people who believe no one has a right to take another person's life take down the lives of other persons. It is a sickness to murder some one. Murder most foul........Agatha Christie. Murder is not justified. Doctors who try to perform abortions safely are lawfully working on the directions of their patients and should not be harmed or intimidated. Only non violent protests should be tolerated.
23
Ironic, isn't it that people who profess to hold life sacred will inflict physical harm and even death upon those with whom they disagree.
55
It never fails to amaze me that it is mostly men who parade in front of Women's Health Clinics. Why would that be? It's all rather creepy. Maybe we should parade in front of urologists offices....
A women's body is her own and no one needs to know but she and her doctor.
I laud doctors who do abortions. I assisted with many of them in my past.
52
“The baby is born, the mother meets with the doctor, they take care of the baby, they wrap the baby beautifully, and then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.” - Donald Trump, Wisconsin, April 2019.
When Trump sets out such totally false, nightmare scenarios to the riled-up supporters at his rallies, he might as well be shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater. His statements are calculated to win votes and keep the Evangelical lobby “sweet,” but they can also fall on the ears of fearful and mentally fragile individuals who may have reached a tipping point in their lives and take the president’s words as a call to action.
Two and a half years into this presidency, some may say that there is no “bottom” to Trump’s behavior and statements, but as a woman, a mother, a pro-choice advocate and relative of several medical practitioners, those “words” in Wisconsin were so vile and defamatory, that this time I find it difficult to imagine anything lower. (famous last words)
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Destructive behavior is on both sides of the debate. Earlier this month Pennsylvania state representative, Brian Sims, videotaped women praying outside of a Planned Parenthood facility, ridiculing them and offering money for their identities so they could be dooxed. He later apologized.
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@Ann P
That both sides nonsense is exactly that. Videotaping and doxxing is one thing, shooting people and blowing up facilities is another thing entirely. One is obviously worse than another and your "whattaboutism" is grossly inaccurate.
9
Just as there is ..."banality of evil", there is another similar echo and it is the "ambiguity of violence".
What provokes it, who incites it, then becomes irrelevant.
I am so glad O'Reilly has been thrown by the wayside.
And I am sick of conservatives white men congressmen, who are ignorant of medicine, the reasons for abortion and are bent upon forcing their so-called Christian values on a secular state.
I was thinking today that if someone had told me in year 2000, that twenty years hence, the world would be turning to right wing parties who subtly endorse racism and white supremacy... that USA would be going back to these draconian abortion laws... I wouldn't have believed them.
Why are we regressing when science has come such a long way. Bring on the doctors and educate the masses about pregnancy trimesters, what happens at what weeks, why is abortion needed medically, how is it done, who makes what decisions, and then look at the SC decision we already have... so people understand what is being said, rather than an ignoramus shouting from the pulpit about infanticide!
A professor of mine use to give us a horrid analogy but it fits... he use to ask, you think prostitution will go away-- no, you think abortion will go away--no. They've been going on for millennia. Accept it-- denial has gotten us nowhere.
Why is the truth of a matter, the just thing always so weak and miserable everywhere in the world.
Why is truth so weak, why is propaganda and ignorance so strong?
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No person who can take the life of abortion providers, or the staff and patients of family planning clinics, can honestly be ‘pro life.’ Any deep respect for life has to include that of the people who perform services or make personal decisions that one may be uncomfortable with.
It is also inexcusable for those with political power to use their influence in ways that incite violence. Carly Fiorina’s lies about Planned Parenthood were echoed by a killer who murdered innocents at a PP facility and cited ‘baby body parts’ as his motivation. It is a matter of time before the irresponsible, inflammatory, macabre propaganda from Trump and others will be heard at the next crime scene.
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@NM The anti-abortion and anti birth control people are not pro-life at all. They by and large also support a very harsh death penalty law, the right of police to shoot and kill suspects without any limits, and a very strong military, not to mention approving of people who kill abortion providers.
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This is to add my great disappointment in Pope Francis for analogizing a woman seeking an abortion with someone hiring a hit man. I had really hoped that he would be more careful than that with his choice of language. Words matter.
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@NM I have friends in Argentina who told me don't trust him, he is not what you think. He was very quiet about "hitmen" during the Argentine Dirty Wars.
He is being pushed around by conservative pro Benedict cardinals. His analogy to hitmen in the case of women who have pregnancies where the baby is not even expected to survive is cruel and dehumanizing. That was the context, not just all abortions. I'm done with him.
12
I often wonder about the types of people who feel entitled to take the law into their own hands when they don't like the law of the land.
It seems to me that the level of hatred towards these health clinic workers represents so much more than just the fact abortion services are provided there.
It's become far more passionate and unhinged since the president began misrepresenting the words of Virigina's Governor Northam, a physician was asked what he'd do if a mother went into labor with an unviable pregnancy or term pregnancy would end the mother's life.
Infanticide is illegal in every state of this country. Try telling that to Donald Trump who fabricates the tragic circumstances of miscarriage or termination of pregnancy to spare a woman's life. What he says at his rallies is totally false, and sickening.
It's unfortunate we live in an era when few take the time to research the truth of what anti-abortion zealots claim. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing when it results in the murder of health professionals.
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@ChristineMcM: "I often wonder about the types of people who feel entitled to take the law into their own hands when they don't like the law of the land." Like George Washington and his officers and troops?