I just got this statement from the Abortion Care Network about last night's truly awful Law & Order show. They say it better than I could (actually I had to turn it off!).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/24/09
Murdered Again
When the Independent Abortion providers who make up the Abortion Care Network learned that an episode of NBC’s Law and Order was going to be based on the May 31, 2009 assassination of Dr. George Tiller (a founding member of our organization), many of us were upset. We felt that no matter how his murder was ‘ripped from the headlines’ it was much too soon and too raw to turn it into a piece of popular culture. Now that we have seen it we are furious and deeply offended.
For many of us George Tiller was mentor, teacher, friend---he was known in our circles as ‘St. George’ because he embodied principles of goodness, kindness, respect, and faith--the best in us. He was a man of extraordinary principles and generosity. In a field in which courage and dedication in the face of hatred, violence, and terror are almost expected, Dr. Tiller stood out. He had been firebombed more than once, mercilessly harassed by legal officials who over and over came up with nothing, and survived a previous assassination attempt in which he was shot. He continued to do his work because women needed him.
So we are justifiably protective of Dr. Tiller’s reputation and honor. NBC concocted a dreadful hybrid that bears no resemblance to this truly amazing doctor. And they concocted a story that bears no resemblance to the complexity of the issues involved in abortion, let alone late abortion. NBC cannot hide behind the words, “The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event when they begin their story by having a doctor murdered in his church. Their disclaimer should have read, “This story purports to be balanced but we are about to insinuate that a doctor who was assassinated was, himself, guilty of homicide, and thus to blame for his own murder.” This is particularly egregious because Dr. Tiller was the repeated victim of politically motivated investigation and was repeatedly found innocent of any wrongdoing related to his medical practice. This “fiction” casts doubt on his integrity, and gives the impression that abortion is homicide which U.S. law is clear that it is not.
No one knows the complexity of abortion more than abortion providers. Independent Abortion providers provide 80% of abortions in this country---and an even higher percent of late abortions. We sit with women and hold their hands and listen to their stories and support them as they make the best decisions they can for themselves and their families.
This Law and Order episode was called “Dignity”. It treated us to the heart wrenching testimony of a woman whose values told her that the best way to honor herself and the doomed life she was carrying late in pregnancy was to bring the pregnancy to term and be there as her baby died. What was left out was the equally compelling, equally real, equally heart wrenching testimony of real women whose values told them that the best way to honor themselves and spare suffering to the doomed life they carried late in pregnancy was to end that life. These women sought care from Dr. Tiller in the care of a compassionate physician and staff---a physician and staff who understand more than the writers of law and Order ever could what it means to want a baby and then lovingly let it go. The point of choice is that the woman herself gets to define what a death with dignity means to her. She and her family get to honor their own beliefs and values.
There is no balance here. We are shown the character of a woman D.A. who used to believe in Roe v. Wade, but was thrown into confusion by hearing of someone else’s experience. If we know anything it is that one person’s opinion or experience doesn’t tell us much about what we would do in that actual situation. A pro-choice perspective makes room for each woman to come to her own truth. Any other perspective forces someone to compromise their own integrity.
The Abortion Care Network brings the experience and voice of Independent Abortion Providers and the women we serve into the national conversation. This kind of truly fictitious television reveals just how needed that voice is.
The only task now, Bonnie, will be ensuring Roeder doesn't profit from his crime. I read online that another jailed anti-abortion advocate has threatened more acts of violence. Is there any more doubt that people like these are domestic terrorists? It's well past time for the cowardly corporate media to expose both them and their apologists for what they really are. Shining a light on these cockroaches will do a hundred times more good than threatening the families of the enablers.
Posted by: Julie | Saturday, February 06, 2010 at 05:49 PM
Some justice! GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY on all three charges. So that part of this story is past.
During the trial when they were showing the pictures of my Boss' poor devastated head, I was sitting where the picture was posistioned just over his murders right shoulder. I do not think that image will ever leave me. I am getting older and as with everyone there are times when I would just like to withdraw from this battle and live my own private life caring for my family and my critters. I think that that image is what I will bring up if I ever do seriously think I want to quit the fight. That image and memories of the patients and their stories should be enough to know why we keep at it.
The jury only took about a half hour to decide.
Posted by: bonnie moss-rhodes | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 09:48 AM
How in the world does this story in any way reflect on Dr. Tiller? Other than the fact that pandora does not like abortion or those that preform them. It is only in her mind that the connection is made.
I could point out that there seems to be an ongoing investigation and that no perhaps one should wait and see what the facts are in this particular case.
I have just spent the last few days at the trial of the coward who shot Dr. Tiller. Now there do seem to be some very hard facts in that case. Blood on the killers shoes, video tape of him buying the gun and ammo, eyewittness accounts of the shooting, photos of the blood and wounds.
then we had randal terry founder of operation rescue show up today working overtime to get his photo taken. The rest of the week there have been the usual justifiable homicide advocates. What a freak show.
I've been sitting there wondering when roeders arrogance slips enough that he begins to see he is another patsy like svelmoe and griffith (in)sp??
Who will get the etremists their fifteen minutes of publicity before he slips into oblivion spending what he has left of his life loocked up. Not the brightest bulb in the pack.
Like the shooter in the killings on Fort Hood you have to wonder why these home grown terrorists are allowed to escalate to the point of cold blooded murder? Both seem to have mental conditions and both had raised alarm bells. Both had made contact with those who justify murder for their political agenda. Where are the safeguards?
Posted by: bonnie moss-rhodes | Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 04:13 PM
Was this the work of a Dr Tiller protege?
I'm sure his former employees will be delighted to learn his work goes on.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/01/27/2010-01-27_queens_clinic_probed_after_abortion_death.html
Detectives are investigating a Queens clinic where a 37-year-old woman was fatally injured while undergoing an abortion, officials said Tuesday.
Alexandra Nuñez began bleeding heavily during the procedure at A1 Medicine in Jackson Heights on Monday, officials said.
One of Nuñez's arteries was inadvertently severed and she went into cardiac arrest, according to police sources.
She was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where she died a short time later.
Detectives have interviewed the staff at the Roosevelt Ave. clinic, but no charges have been filed, police said.
"There is an investigation going forward," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, "but as of yet, there's no indication of any criminality."
Nuñez, a single mother of four who lived in Plainfield, N.J., underwent the procedure at 3:30p.m., police said.
She had told her family that she was going to a doctor's office in Newark to have a cyst removed - and her death stunned her eldest daughter.
"I'm upset because I never got a chance to say goodbye," said Daisy Davila, 19. "She didn't want anyone to go with her. I made dinner and lunch [yesterday] hoping she would come back."
"We're not angry. We just want to know what happened," said Davila, who insisted that her mother did not believe in abortions. "She was a strong woman, always happy. I looked up to her."
An employee at the clinic - a one-stop gynecology and plastic surgery clinic that was still seeing patients yesterday - insisted that everything had gone well at the second-floor medical facility.
"The patient was transferred to the hospital, she didn't die at the clinic," said the woman, who refused to give her name. "Nothing happened here."
A1 Medicine was accredited in July to do office-based surgery that requires moderate or deep anesthesia - and that includes abortions, according to a spokeswoman for the state Health Department.
Posted by: Pandora | Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 02:00 PM
In other words, OperationMentallyChallenged doesn't have the BALLS to do anything other than talk. Not that anyone is surprised by that, considering Theodore Shulman is a worthless piece of shit :). So, keep talking little man, (actually - you're quite large are you not?).
On a different note, the Hill's don't even go to Riveroaks anymore. But Theodore here is much too stupid to find out where they really are. He found a church bulletin with their names on it, dated in 2008, and ran with it. :Sigh:, but one can't expect much from him.
Theodore, I hope you enjoy the rest of your bottom feeding life.
Wait, I'm lying. I hope you realize what a useless piece of oxygen sucking vermin you are, and spend the remainder of your days agonizing over it :D
Cheers!
Posted by: lulzy | Monday, January 18, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Pandora, are you inciting to murder??? That's against the law, you know.
To answer your question, I have no aptitude for crime. I don't think I've EVER gotten away with a crime, or successfully committed one. Hell, I got arrested trying to buy grass in Washington Square Park! Besides, I'm terrified of guns.
As the fellow said:
"Nur Einer könnte,
was ich nicht darf:
ein Held, dem helfend
nie ich mich neigte;...
unbewusst,
ohne Geheiss,
aus eigner Not,
mit der eignen Wehr
schüfe die Tat,
die ich scheuen muss,
die nie mein Rat ihm riet,
wünscht sie auch einzig mein Wunsch!"
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 08:35 AM
Why on earth did you do that?
When are you actually going to do something as opposed to running your mouth?
Posted by: Pandora | Monday, December 14, 2009 at 08:05 PM
Pandora, I have already warned Pastor Spink.
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 08:05 PM
So what are you waiting for, big mouth?
Posted by: Pandora | Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 03:35 PM
The address and phone number of River Oaks PCA in Germantown, Tenn., where the terrorists/accessories-to-murder Karen Justin Gloria and Joy Hill worship, can be found here:
http://www.riveroakspca.org/about_us.htm
Phone number: (901)755-7772
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 05:10 AM
This pastor doesn't need to be shot through the eye, just exposed as someone who gives aid and comfort to domestic terrorists. He's no better than someone who funnels money to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Posted by: Julie | Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 06:15 PM
" Send the pastor, William Spink, a message! Tell him that if he allows them to continue worshipping there, then he's a terrorist too, and deserves to be shot through an eye while presiding over a church-ceremony."
Why don't you do it, big mouth?
Posted by: Pandora | Wednesday, December 09, 2009 at 08:00 PM
I agree, "an eye for an eye" is the wrong approach to take with right-to-lifers. The right approach would be: "a HEAD for an eye"! Or: "Your head, AND your children's heads, for one abortion-doc's eye".
It's time for the Tony-Soprano approach: They send one of yer guys to the hospital; you send ten of theirs to the morgue.
To the other commentor: sure, the Hill kids were young when Hill did his terror-crimes. BUT they still have an obligation to come forward an publically denounce them, as James von Brunn's son did when he shot up the Holocaust Museum, and as Scott Roeder's ex wife and kid did.
The Hills' silence makes them culpable. They are enablers of terror and accessories to murder. If the "abortion war" were a real war instead of a totally one-sided terror campaign, the Hills would have been killed years ago. And they worship at River Oaks PCA in Germantown, Tennessee, easily findable online. Send the pastor, William Spink, a message! Tell him that if he allows them to continue worshipping there, then he's a terrorist too, and deserves to be shot through an eye while presiding over a church-ceremony.
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Saturday, December 05, 2009 at 03:47 PM
I've said it time and again, Bonnie. I understand why Operation Counterstrike feels that way and where he/she is coming from. But I disagree on the need to stoop to their level, exposing anti-choicers and the extremists for who and what they are will be much more effective. The moral high ground belongs to the pro-choice movement and we need to make that fact clearer than ever. Yes, absolutely, write letters and make your voices heard! Silence equals compliance with their demands for government rule over women's reproductive choices.
Posted by: Julie | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 05:05 PM
pandora, if I had had the ability and the means and had been born a few decades latter maybe I would have become a Doctor and If I had I would hope I would have had the courage of those who provide services to women who seek total reproductive care.
Unfortunately I was born into a very fundamentalist family who felt a female should have no more ambition than marrage and childbirth.
Other than the practical schooling to become an LVN what I could afford to spend on school only allowed me to recieve a bachelors degree in Anthro. Light years away from what Doctors who preform abortions have.
So I just do what I can in support of them. Not many med schools take students in their sixties. I do however encourage my Granddaughters and would be so proud if they chose this life course.
A Sane Person,
I see pandora jumps right in and proves my point abought how they love the negative attention.
We just waste time feeding the extremists egos when we resort to threats. I especially like your point about paul hills young daughter. Who knows she may grow up to be a champion for womens equality. Being born and raised by extremists does not always make one an unthinking zealot. Many of these children grow up quite able to put reason above dogma.
Posted by: bonnie moss-rhodes | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:15 PM
A Sane Person,
I believe Paul Hill was executed for his crimes .... amazing how pro-aborts are never happy. It's not likely the nutjob will ever make good on the threats. We might just shoot back ..... pro-aborts define courage as someone like Tiller who killed babies. What guts ..... Operation Counterstrike hasn't the courage to deal with someone that can fight back.
Posted by: Pandora | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Ain't that touching .... everybody write letters to politicians.
If Bonnie thinks being an abortionist is such a worthwhile job perhaps she ought to become one, rather than encourage other people to do it.
Posted by: Pandora | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:10 AM
When we threaten them we give them what they so desperately crave, attention. We make them appear more important than they ever are in actuality.
To fight them and their agenda we keep on doing the work needed to ensure that all women not only have the right to the best reproductive care possible with all options open but that they have access to good safe clinics and the means to exersize that right.
pandoras ilk would make all women of childbearing age less than the sum of their uteruses utility. They would take away the very ownership of a womans body from her and hand it over to strangers who claim to own "god" also.
This is what we must fight. The idea that women and their rights are simply expendable when it comes to promoting idealology.
Like the cowardly waste of oxygen that shot my unarmed boss from behind in a church than threatened to shoot others before running away, their are always those who want simply to cause hurt so they can feel better about themselves.
They never do anymore than damage what they claim to support.
Anyone who truly wants to "avenge" Dr. Tiller and all the others murdered by these morons, work to carry on his cause. Don't let a small bunch of unhappy zealots prevent one woman from getting the care she by law has a right to. Support all those wonderful dedicated Practioners who have and continue to place their lives on the line to provide women with this option. Speak up, write letters, talk to neighbors and let those politicians that think they can trade a womans right to own her own body for political profit.
Posted by: bonnie moss-rhodes | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 07:03 AM
Sorry, I got so worked up over that nutjob Operation Counterstrike, I couldn't even type. That should say," Joy Hill was three when her father killed Dr. Britton," not "Tiller," of course.
Posted by: A Sane Person | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:30 PM
OperationCounterstrike wrote:
"If Scott Roeder does not get put to death, the following individuals (at least) should be killed in his place:
Karen, Justin, Gloria, and Joy Hill, the widow and children of the late terrorist murderer Paul Hill. They worship at River Oaks PCA in Germantown, Tennessee. Go there and shoot them each through the eye!"
That's great. An eye for an eye, eh? How on earth does that make you any better than Paul Hill? Kill more innocent people? Does that bring Tiller back? Isn't this the exact same logic anti-abortion nutjobs use? Do you really think that's going to further the pro-choice movement AT ALL? Do you know Joy Hill was 3 years old when her father murdered Tiller. How on earth do you figure she needs to die to make up for it? You are insane and you should be locked up for making death threats. You are no better than the murderers you claim to oppose. You obviously don't care about life or the rule of law at all - this is just a game to you and you are just on the other side. You obviously don't have a problem with Paul Hill's methods, just his ideology.
Posted by: A Sane Person | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:23 PM
"We should be working on making them MORE to be pitied!"
We? You must have a mouse in your pocket, as it's very unlikely you'll ever do more than run your mouth.
Posted by: Pandora | Friday, November 20, 2009 at 08:00 PM
I agree, Bonnie, that right-to-lifers are mostly to be pitied.
We should be working on making them MORE to be pitied!
When they and their children start getting shot to death, then we can pity them big-time.
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Thank you Julie for your kind words. It is so easy to speak up for Dr. Tiller. The facts and truth make it so.
Operation counterstrike, I understand your anger. I have not been able to get past my own. If this coward that shot Dr. Tiller from behind is ever sentenced to death I will want to be a wittness to that death.
On the other hand the zealots on the other side have for years stooped to the lowest levels with their threats and harrassment. They are the ones that promote their belief system and "ownership of God" as placing them above the law and worth of all others.
I also believe they really crave the attention that threats give them. They want to see themselves as important and since they really have not accomplished much in the last thirty some odd years they settle for the negative.
Just my opinion, based on thirty years of countering them,for the most part they are not susscessful people in most of their lives. Look at the moron that shot my boss. A real family values guy, except for having distroyed his marriage, not being a father to his son and fathering a daughter out of wedlock, to say nothing of not holding on to a job. Or the self appointed guardian of family values at the gate to our clinic over the last few years, a twice married catholic, who pled no contest to domestic violence with the first wife, who was reported by someone in his own house for getting physical with his young son and arrested, who has been fined for filing law suits that have no basis, who sends out letters claiming he is the ceo of an air service that no one can find any existance of. (He does have a franchise for a christian dating service that he runs out of his basement). I could go on and on. These are folk who live on a mythology that gives them some purpose in their otherwise rather lacklusters lives. Think of those who got so caught up in the game of Dungeons and dragons that what was a story line became their reality becuase it was so much more to them than their reality.
Except for a few in leadership and those that turn a buck off of the issue these folk are to be pitied. Pitied but like all deluded folk well suprervised to prevent any more of them from being used like the morons who have been cheered on to murder.
Posted by: bonnie moss-rhodes | Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 08:17 AM
I see, Julie, you are criticising me for not being tough enough with the right-to-lifers. Please accept my humble apology. I'll try to post suggestions for a MORE militant response soon.
Posted by: OperationCounterstrike | Monday, November 16, 2009 at 07:02 PM
Dang it,Operation Counterstrike, cool it! You're almost as bad as Pandora. Show some class, OC!
Splendid series of posts, Bonnie, simply splendid. Even if they did fail to educate a certain anti-abortion person, you did a great job in refutation.
Posted by: Julie | Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 06:48 PM