Dr. George Tiller, one of about three abortionists in the United States still providing abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy was gunned down in his church yesterday morning. The doctor who has provided abortions to women for over twenty-years died instantly.
For years, Dr. Tiller had been a target of the pro-life movement in an attempt to convert him or shut his operation down altogether. Just recently he had been acquitted of charges brought against him involving the abortion process. His clinic was once bombed and he was shot in both arms in one attack. Dr. Tiller insisted that what he was doing was to ensure the healthcare and rights of women.
This event is tragic for many reasons. First, murder of anyone be they be unborn or a mature adult is wrong. We do not have the right to take the life of another human being born or unborn. Dr. Tiller had the right to live just as those babies that he killed in abortion had the right to live. Secondly, those who favor abortion are likely to use this incident as a way to spread fear regarding those who are pro-life by falsely linking the gunman and the movement together. Police have often repeated that the suspect they captured outside of Kansas City acted on his own. Already the mainstream media has provided an outlet for the expression of vitriolic hate for the pro-life advocates and their organizations. MSNBC interviewed a doctor who was a personal friend of Dr. Tiller. At the end of the interview, he declared that "the only difference between the Taliban and the pro-life movement is 8,000 miles." In other words, those who favor the protection of life in every phase are terrorists!
The crime of abortion is a grievous sin that has ushered in an era of violence that is unprecedented. While no abortion doctor has been killed in over ten years, the stage is now set for violence to be on the increase. Violence often begets violence.
What is happening in society because of the sin and divisive nature of abortion makes one sick. People are at each other's throats. One of the problems of this issue is that there are no gray areas. You either believe you have the right to life or you don't. You are either alive or you are not. It is very black and white. There are those who say that we must seek common ground in this issue. Sadly, there is no common ground. There are no compromises. To compromise is to allow the death of at least one baby and that cannot be allowed to happen.
We must pray for Dr. Tiller and his family and all those women on whom he performed an abortion. We must also pray for our country that has been badly, if not mortally, wounded by the horrific sin of abortion. It is an abomination before God and cannot be permitted to continue. Neither can we allow violent means to stop the legalized procedure. If we say we follow Christ then we must act as he did. We must embrace those who see things differently than we do because Jesus has commanded us to love one another.
We must also hold the media accountable. MSNBC has not provided any representatives of the right to life movement during its coverage today. Any time they refer to the pro-life movement, they refer to is as the anti-abortion movement. They have begun to make a martyr of Dr. Tiller when, in fact, he has killed thousands of unborn children over the years.
Cool heads must prevail. Prayer must be offered even more so now in the light of yesterday's events. We must turn to God for wisdom in how to deal peacefully with one another. Else our fate will be one of violence. We cannot let the voices of over 50,000,000 unborn babies be silenced and reduced to an unfortunate, insignificant statistic. May God help our nation!
