Both sides of abortion issue agree: Tiller's killing not justified

BY DION LEFLER AND DEB GRUVER

The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA — Activists on both sides of the abortion issue say that despite his claims that his actions were necessary, Scott Roeder was unjustified in killing Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

Abortion-choice supporters called the act cold-blooded murder, while abortion opponents said it flies in the face of what their movement stands for.

On Monday, Roeder admitted to reporters from the Associated Press and the Kansas City Star that he had shot Tiller to death May 31 while Tiller was serving as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.

Roeder said his defense will be that his actions were necessary because "pre-born children were in imminent danger" from abortions performed at Tiller's clinic in Wichita.

People who support abortion rights were heartened that Roeder confessed but disappointed he showed no remorse.

"I'm glad he confessed and admitted his crime," said Warren Hern, a Boulder, Colo., physician who provides abortion services, "and I hope that he has a sentence that reflects the horror of his crime."

Hern had known Tiller as a friend and colleague for years and recently saw his family at a memorial service during a National Abortion Federation meeting in Denver.

"It's a terrible loss," Hern said Monday. "I think this is the worst thing that's happened in the whole abortion controversy since the beginning."

Troy Newman, president of the Wichita-based anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, has condemned the killing and said he rejects Roeder's claim that it could be justified to prevent abortions.

Newman said he's aware of so-called "defensive action statements" that have been circulated for years, calling the killing of abortion providers justifiable homicide, but he strongly disagrees.

"It's not a pro-life position, whatever they're calling it," Newman said. "Anything that takes the life of a human being is not a pro-life action."

Newman said only a tiny fraction of abortion opponents believe it is justifiable to kill doctors.

"It's so small that statistically speaking, it's nonexistent," Newman said.

Peggy Bowman, who was Tiller's spokeswoman in the 1990s, said she thinks Roeder's defense is "totally pathetic."

"I don't think he could come up with a defense that would work, so he might as well pick something. ... I mean, how many people saw him do what he did? It seems to me he might as well confess."

There is no justification for killing doctors who provide abortion care, said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.

"Roeder's act was cold-blooded murder, and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she said. "We can't allow extremists to take the law into their own hands in order to achieve their political objectives."

Abortion opponents, however, say that instead of advancing their political objectives, actions like Roeder's set them back.

"I give Scott Roeder the benefit of the doubt and agree that he may have acted out of noble intentions," said Mark Gietzen, president of the Kansas Coalition for Life. "Nevertheless, the reality is that Scott has hurt the pro-life movement at least a thousand times more than he has helped it."

Gietzen organized a continuous demonstration against abortion outside Tiller's clinic from May 9, 2004, until Tiller's death. He once sued Tiller, alleging that the doctor intentionally struck him with his car.

But Gietzen said life is God's to give or take and that killing to prevent abortion is as wrong as performing abortions.

"All of the people who have taken the law into their own hands and have murdered or attempted to murder an abortionist — Scott Roeder, Shelly Shannon and Paul Hill — have one thing in common," he said. "They have acted out of some degree of ignorance, arrogance or stupidity."

Operation Rescue doggedly pursued efforts to shut down Tiller's clinic for years through legislation and the courts.

Roeder had contacted Operation Rescue before the shooting to obtain dates and times of court proceedings involving Tiller.

But Newman and others said they tried to avoid Roeder because he made them uncomfortable.

Newman said condemning the anti-abortion movement for Roeder's actions would be the equivalent of condemning all Muslims for the actions of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected triggerman in the mass shootings last week at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas.

"We wouldn't think of labeling every Muslim, millions and millions of them," he said. "Why is it when one person acts alone that we want to label the entire pro-life movement?"

Lowell Michelson, the pastor at Reformation Lutheran Church, said some members of his congregation remain greatly disturbed by the shooting at their church, "but it's not dominating our service life in the way that it was."

He said he wasn't surprised by Roeder's admission he killed Tiller.

"I think we were expecting that he would confess but not express any remorse," Michelson said.

"It's just so sad," he added. "I come from a different point of view, so I don't know that I'll understand his actions in the name of love and preserving life."

Reach Dion Lefler at 316-268-6527 or Deb Gruver at 316-268-6400 or dgruver@wichitaeagle.com.