Posted by
The Hermit Crab on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:58:53 PM
I didn't think I'd have to write this post. However, when I sent
this article on the life and misdeeds of abortionist George Tiller (recently murdered by a man named Scott Roeder) to some friends and family members, two of my best friends assumed that this meant that I approved of the murder of Tiller.
This was stunning. This also lead me to believe that certain misunderstandings about the pro-life movement are more widespread than I had believed. As a pretty typical example of the rank-and-file of the movement myself, I thought I would write a few words about our reaction to the death of the infamous abortionist. It is not what some misinformed observers think it is.
First, the full disclosure. I regularly contribute to the National Right to Life Committee, the New York State Right to Life Committee, the Life Legal Defense Fund, Carenet, and Compass Care. (The latter two are pro-life crisis pregnancy centers.) I have also in the past contributed to Birthright of Rochester (NY). I am a Knight of Columbus, and the Knights are explicitely pro-life. I know the people of the movement well, having participated in many pro-life activities. So I do know what I'm talking about.
I expressly condemn the murder of George Tiller, without hesitation or reservation. I condemn it as a violation of the laws of both God and man. The fact that the murder occurred in a church makes it all the more appalling. If Scott Roeder is indeed Tiller's murderer, then I want him to be tried fairly, convicted, and punished according to Kansas state law. I condemn the murder not despite the fact that I am pro-life, I condemn it because I am pro-life.
Furthermore, many members of the movement (such as this one) mourn the death of George Tiller because, to the best of our knowledge, he never repented his evil deeds. Good Christians want all souls to go to heaven, but we know that some don't. We didn't want Tiller to become another Dr. Bernard Slepian, an Amherst, NY abortionist murdered by
anti-abortion fanatic James Kopp in 1998. (It is worth remembering that Kopp was condemned by America's most prominent pro-life groups then just as Roeder is now.) We had hoped and prayed (yes, we prayed for him) that he would become another
Bernard Nathanson or
Norma McCorvey.
What I do object to is the whitewashing of George Tiller's activities after his death. George Tiller did abominable things for money, and 60,000 babies died at his hands. Moreover, as the article I forwarded to friends pointed out, even as an abortionist he was a poor practitioner, which fact caused many women to be rushed from his clinic to hospitals to receive emergency care after his attempts to provide services went wrong. In fact, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts was investigating Tiller for multiple allegations of lawbreaking performed by and at his clinic. He was in danger of losing his medical license.
Ambrose Bierce in "The Devil's Dictionary" defined "Saint" as "A dead sinner, revised and edited." The attempts by the media to posthumously declare Tiller a hero and a defender of women's health was disgraceful, and all defenders of truth, pro-life or not, ought to have objected to this propagation of falsehood. Reporters described him as a "mild-mannered man" and a "good family man". Joseph Mengele was described by his associates in the same terms. That does not change what he did. Or what Tiller did.
All of this does not mean that the pro-life rank-and-file cannot condemn the killing of such a man. As a pro-life Christian, I condemn it because it may have sent a soul to Hell without a chance of redemption. As a former pro-life atheist, I condemn it because of its lawlessness. Even if Roeder declares at trial that he was driven to his act by the fact that the authorities of the State of Kansas repeatedly protected Tiller from having to pay the legal price for his crimes (which is true), it is no defense, and ought to be rejected by the courts.
Many men, in many ages and situations, have faced the question of what to do about evildoers who are protected by those in power. The answer is to work legally to replace the leaders who defend and promote the evils of the times.
John Brown chose wrongly in 1859 at Harper's Ferry. Scott Roeder did no better in 2009. Good ends never justify evil deeds.