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The clinic itself is unusual in that it offers ] to its patients. Some of these services include photographs, footprinting and handprinting, ], ], arrangement for ] in or out of state, and arrangement for ] and/or ].<ref name="tillersite2">{{cite web |url=http://www.drtiller.com/remembrance.html |title=Remembrances and Special Requests |publisher=Women's Health Care Services |accessdate=2006-06-10}}</ref> Tiller was the target of ]<ref name="washingtonpost" />. On August 19, 1993, he was shot in both arms outside of the Wichita clinic by ], who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime.<ref name="washingtonpost" /><ref name="naral">{{cite web |title=Clinic violence and intimidation |url=http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/Abortion-Access-to-Abortion-Violence.pdf|publisher=NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation |format=PDF |date=2006 |accessdate=2006-04-13}}</ref><ref name="pp">{{cite web |last=Crow |first=Karen |date=2005-08-19 |title=A Violent Week in August |url=http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/files/portal/webzine/eyeonextremism/eoe-050819-tiller-patterson.xml |work=Choice! Magazine |accessdate=2006-04-13}}</ref> On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot to death as he served as an usher during church services.<ref name="KansasComMay31">{{cite web |first=Stan |last=Finger |title=George Tiller Shot to Death at Wichita Church |url=http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/833730.html |work=The Wichita Eagle |publisher=The McClatchy Company |date=2009-05-31 |accessdate=2009-05-31}}</ref> The clinic itself is unusual in that it offers ] to its patients. Some of these services include photographs, footprinting and handprinting, ], ], arrangement for ] in or out of state, and arrangement for ] and/or ].<ref name="tillersite2">{{cite web |url=http://www.drtiller.com/remembrance.html |title=Remembrances and Special Requests |publisher=Women's Health Care Services |accessdate=2006-06-10}}</ref> Tiller was the target of ]<ref name="washingtonpost" />. On August 19, 1993, he was shot in both arms outside of the Wichita clinic by ], who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime.<ref name="washingtonpost" /><ref name="naral">{{cite web |title=Clinic violence and intimidation |url=http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/Abortion-Access-to-Abortion-Violence.pdf|publisher=NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation |format=PDF |date=2006 |accessdate=2006-04-13}}</ref><ref name="pp">{{cite web |last=Crow |first=Karen |date=2005-08-19 |title=A Violent Week in August |url=http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/files/portal/webzine/eyeonextremism/eoe-050819-tiller-patterson.xml |work=Choice! Magazine |accessdate=2006-04-13}}</ref> On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot to death as he served as an usher during church services.<ref name="KansasComMay31">{{cite web |first=Stan |last=Finger |title=George Tiller Shot to Death at Wichita Church |url=http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/833730.html |work=The Wichita Eagle |publisher=The McClatchy Company |date=2009-05-31 |accessdate=2009-05-31}}</ref>


Sleestak killed him!
==Background==

Tiller studied at the ] from 1963 to 1967. Shortly thereafter, he held a medical internship with ], and served as ] in ] in 1969 and 1970.<ref name="tillersite">{{cite web |url=http://drtiller.com/medir.html |title=Our Medical Director |publisher=Women's Health Care Services |accessdate=2006-06-10}}</ref> In July 1970 he planned to start a dermatology residency. However on August 21, 1970, his parents, sister and brother-in-law were killed in an aircraft accident. In her will, his sister had requested that Dr. Tiller take care of her 1 year old son. Dr. Tiller had intended to go back to Wichita, close up his father's family practice and then go back to become a dermatologist. However, he quickly felt pressure to take over his father's family practice. Tiller's father had performed abortions at his practice. After hearing about a woman that had died from an illegal abortion, Dr. Tiller stayed in Wichita to continue his father's practice.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prch.org/george-r-tiller-md |title=George R. Tiller, MD |publisher=Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health |date=2008 |accessdate=2009-05-31}}</ref>


==1993 shooting== ==1993 shooting==

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George Richard Tiller
BornAugust 8, 1941
Wichita, Kansas, U.S
DiedMay 31, 2009 (aged 67)
Wichita, Kansas
RelativesJeanne Tiller (spouse)

George Richard Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was a physician specializing in women's healthcare in Wichita, Kansas in the United States. He was the medical director of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Women's Health Care Services, one of only three nationwide which would provide the procedures after the 21st week of pregnancy.

The clinic itself is unusual in that it offers funerary services to its patients. Some of these services include photographs, footprinting and handprinting, baptism, cremation, arrangement for burial in or out of state, and arrangement for amniocentesis and/or autopsy. Tiller was the target of anti-abortion violence. On August 19, 1993, he was shot in both arms outside of the Wichita clinic by Shelley Shannon, who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime. On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot to death as he served as an usher during church services.

Sleestak killed him!

1993 shooting

Throughout his career, Tiller was a frequent target of anti-abortion violence. On August 19, 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by pro-life activist Shelley Shannon. At the time she attacked Tiller, Shannon had been a pro-life activist for five years and had written letters of support to Michael Griffin, murderer of David Gunn. She called Griffin "the awesomest, greatest hero of our time." She traveled to the Wichita clinic, a site of frequent demonstrations by abortion-rights and pro-life activists, and shot Tiller with a semiautomatic pistol.

At her trial in state court, she testified that there was nothing immoral about trying to kill Tiller. The jury deliberated for only an hour before convicting Shannon of attempted murder; she was sentenced to 11 years. The following year, Shannon was sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison on charges of arson, interference with commerce by force and interstate travel in aid of racketeering in connection to her participation in several fires and acid attacks on abortion clinics.

Controversy

Christin Gilbert

Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman with Down Syndrome from Keller, Texas, died in January 2005 after a multi-day abortion procedure performed at Tiller's facility, though reports conflict as to whether the abortion was performed by Tiller himself or by LeRoy Carhart. Gilbert had been 28 weeks pregnant. The autopsy stated that Gilbert died of sepsis following the abortion. Tiller was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. After a petition from Operation Rescue, a grand jury was convened to probe the death, which resulted in no indictments against Tiller.

The O'Reilly Factor

On Friday, November 3, 2006, Bill O'Reilly featured an exclusive segment on his show, The O'Reilly Factor, saying that he has an "inside source" with official clinic documentation indicating that George Tiller performed late-term abortions to alleviate "temporary depression" in the pregnant woman. According to reporting data provided to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for the year 1998, all of the post-viable "partial-birth" (dilation and extraction) abortion procedures performed in Kansas during that year were performed because "the attending physician believe that continuing the pregnancy constitute a substantial and irreversible impairment of the patient's mental function." Tiller responded to O'Reilly's statements by demanding an investigation into the "inside source" through which the information was leaked, suggesting that Phill Kline, then the Kansas Attorney General, was responsible. Kline denied the charge.

Trial, acquittal and continuing investigation

Tiller went on trial in March 2009, charged with nineteen misdemeanors for allegedly consulting a second physician in late-term abortion cases who was not truly "independent" as required by Kansas state law.

The case became a cause célèbre for both supporters and opponents of abortion rights. Columnist Jack Cashill compared the trial to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, while NYU Professor Jacob Appel described Tiller as "a genuine hero who ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pantheon of defenders of human liberty."

On March 27, 2009, Tiller was found not guilty of all 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003. Although aquitted of criminal charges, the state’s Board of Healing Arts continues to investigate ethical violations that mirror prosecutors' allegations.

Death

George Tiller was murdered on May 31, 2009, shot to death during worship services at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita where he was serving as an usher.

The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was arrested some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said. Police said they had been looking for a suspect who fled in a car registered in the Kansas City suburb of Merriam.

KSHB-TV reported that Scott Roeder was arrested on May 31, 2009 as a person of interest in the murder of Dr. Tiller.

References

  1. ^ Phillips, Don (1993-08-22). "Violence Hardly Ruffled Protest Ritual". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  2. "George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church". Kansas City Star. 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  3. (March 27, 2008). "" New York Time Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  4. "Remembrances and Special Requests". Women's Health Care Services. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  5. ^ "Clinic violence and intimidation" (PDF). NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-13. Cite error: The named reference "naral" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ Crow, Karen (2005-08-19). "A Violent Week in August". Choice! Magazine. Retrieved 2006-04-13. Cite error: The named reference "pp" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ Finger, Stan (2009-05-31). "George Tiller Shot to Death at Wichita Church". The Wichita Eagle. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  8. Phillips, Don (1993-08-22). "Violence Hardly Ruffled Protest Ritual". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  9. ^ Ryan, Harriet (2003-03-11). "Kopp fifth clinic shooter to face trial". Court TV. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  10. "The Week March 20-26". Time Magazine. 1994-04-04. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  11. "Antiabortion Extremist Indicted in Attacks on Clinics in West". The Washington Post. 1994-10-25. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  12. "Guilty Plea Expected In Fires at Clinics". New York Times. 1995-06-04. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  13. "Woman Gets 20-Year Sentence In Attacks on Abortion Clinics". New York Times. 1995-09-09. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  14. "Gallery Two". Justice for Christin.
  15. "Grand jury to probe abortion clinic". KTEN News. 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  16. Phillips, Rachel (2006-05-22). "Abortion Doctor Subject of Grand Jury Investigation". KAKE News. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  17. O'Reilly, Bill (2006-11-06). "Killing Babies in America". The O'Reilly Factor Talking Points. FoxNews.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  18. Tiller Jury Selection, Kansas City Star, March 18.
  19. Jury set in trial of Wichita late-term abortionist, Kansas Liberty, March 18, 2009
  20. Why George Tiller is on trial in Wichita, World Net Daily, March 19, 2009
  21. Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2009
  22. "Kan. doctor acquitted in abortion case - Crime & courts- msnbc.com". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  23. "Tiller Shooting Suspect En Route to Wichita". 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  24. "George Tiller Fatally Shot at Wichita Church". KSHB-TV. 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2009-05-31.

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