Word: tillers
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...George Tiller long ago erased the line between his private life and his public cause, turning his Wichita, Kans., clinic into ground zero in the fight over late-term abortions. Tiller, 67, lived with death threats and was shot in both arms in 1993 by an antiabortion activist. His clinic had been bombed and was the frequent site of protests and prayer vigils, and he was the target of unsuccessful citizen-led legal challenges to shut down his clinic. Just a few weeks ago, the clinic was vandalized; security cameras and lights were damaged. Tiller asked the FBI to investigate...
...inevitable, perhaps, that within hours of Tiller's death in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita - where he was slain by a single bullet as he handed out service bulletins to arriving parishioners - this latest act of apparent antiabortion violence was being scanned for its political implications...
...life, over more than three decades, Tiller unapologetically represented the most controversial aspect of the pro-choice cause: late-term abortions. In death, antiabortion activists fear he could boost the cause. They recall the public revulsion at the murder of Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Fla., in 1994, and the sniper killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian near Buffalo, N.Y., in 1998. Those and other acts of violence created a groundswell - if not in favor of abortion rights, then certainly against the antiabortion movement...
...Tiller, one of the few doctors in America willing to perform late-term (or third-trimester) abortions, was a regular usher at his church, which was often the target of antiabortion protests. At about 10 a.m. Sunday, as the doctor was greeting church members at the sanctuary door, a middle-aged white male fired a single, fatal shot with a handgun. Three hours later police took a suspect into custody; they had a tag number on a fleeing powder-blue Ford Taurus registered in Merriam, Kans., a suburb of Kansas City, Mo., and were waiting on Interstate 35 near Kansas...
...Tiller found his life cause, according to a source close to his clinic, when the Wichita native's father was killed in a plane crash. He discovered that his father, also a doctor, had provided abortions. At the urging of his father's patients, the source said, Tiller let his general practice evolve into one focused on abortions. Many, if not most, providers stop performing abortions around 20 weeks; Tiller would extend past 24 weeks "in extreme cases of risks to the woman's life," the source said. "These patients were not simply women who waited too long to decide...