The Assassination of Dr.Tiller: The Marginality of Abortion in American Culture and Medicine

ON SUNDAY May 31, 2009, George Tiller, an abortion-providing physician in Wichita, Kansas, was assassinated in his church by an anti-abortion extremist. This event was not entirely surprising to observers of the abortion conflict in the United States. For years, Tiller had been the most high-profile and polarizing abortion provider in the country. He was reviled by the anti-abortion movement, and had endured previous attacks on his life. At the same time, Tiller was a revered figure within the close knit abortion-providing community—fondly called by his peers “Saint George”—not... More