WASHINGTON – Pro-life advocates universally condemned the May
31 murder of a Kansas abortion doctor, with officials from
several U.S. right-to-life groups saying such extreme acts
only hurt the pro-life cause.
“We condemn this lawless act of violence,” said Charmaine
Yoest, president of the Americans United for Life. “The
foundational right to life that our work is dedicated to
extends to everyone. Whoever is responsible for this
reprehensible violence must be brought to justice under the
law.”
Dr. George Tiller, 67, of Wichita, Kan., was fatally shot
while serving as an usher at the city’s Formation Lutheran
Church during morning services, according to The Associated
Press.
A suspect in the shooting, identified as Scott Roeder, 51,
was being held without bail on one count of first-degree
murder and two counts of aggravated assault, the AP reported
June 1.
In 1996, a 38-year-old man with the same name was charged in
Topeka, Kan., with criminal use of explosives for having bomb
components in his car trunk and sentenced to 24 months of
probation, the AP reported. However, the conviction was
overturned on appeal the next year after a higher court said
evidence against him was seized by law enforcement officers
during an illegal search of his car, the AP reported.
Tiller – whose clinic is one of just a few in the nation
where abortions are performed after the 21st week of
pregnancy – had been a target of abortion opponents since the
1970s. He was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993 and
his clinic was bombed in 1985.
Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of
the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, expressed
profound regret upon learning of Tiller’s shooting death.
“Our bishops’ conference and all its members have repeatedly
and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society,
including abortion as well as the misguided resort to
violence by anyone opposed to abortion,” Cardinal Rigali said
in a June 1 statement.
“Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and
everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the
life of each and every human being from its beginning to its
natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family,” he said.
“The pro-life movement works to protect the right to life and
increase respect for human life,” said David N. O’Steen,
executive director of the National Right to Life Committee,
the largest pro-life group in the U.S. “The unlawful use of
violence is directly contrary to that goal.”
Members of the president’s faith-based advisory council, who
are among those working for common ground on abortion, also
condemned Tiller’s murder. Such acts of violence are an
affront to faith and “offend us all,” said Katie Paris, a
spokeswoman for Faith in Public Life, an organization with a
representative on the council.
President Barack Obama, who supports legal abortion, also
expressed his dismay at the shooting death of the abortion
doctor and said such violence wouldn’t be tolerated.
“I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller
as he attended church services,” Obama said in a statement
released May 31. “However profound our differences as
Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot
be resolved by heinous acts of violence.”
Catholic bishops in Kansas and neighboring Colorado quickly
condemned the murder, stating that although they vigorously
oppose abortion, violence against those who perform the
procedures is counterproductive and contrary to Catholic
teaching.
“Many Catholics have over the years engaged in peaceful
protest outside of Dr. Tiller’s clinic, praying for an end to
abortion, and especially late-term abortions. I have on
occasion joined them for this purpose,” said Bishop Michael
O. Jackels of Wichita.
“This position and hope cannot, however, serve as a
justification for committing other sins and crimes, like the
willful destruction of property and, even worse, murder,” he
said.
Bishop Jackels and the bishops who lead the three other
Catholic dioceses in Kansas extended their condolences to
Tiller’s family. They said they were praying for the slain
doctor’s soul and said the fact that the shooting occurred in
a church only adds to the horror of the crime.
Other condemnations of the murder came from Catholics United,
Students for Life of America, Priests for Life, Religious
Leaders Seeking Common Ground on Abortion, the Pope John Paul
II Bioethics Commission, Maryland Right to Life and Cleveland
Right to Life.
“We fear, however, that this murder is a byproduct of
increasingly hateful and intolerant language on the part of
some militant opponents of legal abortion – language that has
often sought to demonize people like Dr. Tiller to the point
of dehumanization,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of
Catholics United.
“In the wake of Dr. Tiller’s death, we call on all sides of
the abortion debate to commit to charitable dialogue and
pursuit of common ground solutions,” Korzen said. “It is only
through this sort of respectful communication that we can
find real solutions to abortion and avert tragedies like the
one that occurred in Kansas.”
