I thought this story was worth reprinting here. Some of you may already know this sad story:
Death of an American Hero By Joseph Smith
I spoke with Dr Tiller in 2008, and would like to share my experience.
We’ve all been conditioned on what to think and believe about abortion. Even those of us who staunchly believe in a woman’s right to choose, are emotionally and intellectually tainted by the extremist elements among us who have bombarded the public with a multigenerational barrage of lies and propaganda and, as in the case of Dr Tiller, violent reactions to a medical procedure that very few of us truly understand.
Facts do not matter to those among us who would plunge this nation into a dark age of religious fanaticism. One need only use Google to find a very elaborate and overwhelming amount of disinformation INTENTIONALLY planted online, not unlike the disinformation used to discredit the 9/11 Truth movement. Horrific photographs (in many cases staged or completely misrepresentative of the truth) saturate the internet, designed to intercept and terrorize any woman seeking medical attention who is unfortunate enough to use the internet as a research tool.
Example: Partial birth abortions. Even the most staunchly pro-choice among us would have a difficult time defending this practice, as it has been described to us by the pro-life campaign. A baby is partially born, alive, only to have an invasive procedure performed in which a sharp object is used to pierce the skull and kill the baby. In another accounting, babies are ‘dismantled’ while still alive – cut up into pieces – dying a horrible death by dismemberment.
Truly horrific. Unfortunately, also completely fictional. There are currently NO medical facilities in the United States that perform procedures even remotely resembling these scenarios It is complete fiction – left unchallenged by the cowardly mainstream media.
And to those of us not directly affected by the abortion issue, it is a subject that we would rather avoid discussing.
But some people do not have that choice. In 2008 I discovered that my wife was carrying a 28 week baby with a congenital defect. My first reaction was anger. How could this defect remain undetected for so long? But, upon researching the subject I discovered that this particular defect is in fact so rare that it is not part of the amniocenteses screening process, and the symptoms are generally not visually evident thru ultrasound imagery until after 24 weeks.
Without going into details, the prognosis was extremely grim. The chances of survival for the infant was very low, with a 100% probability that the child would be severely physically disfigured and mentally crippled. She would in all probability never come to full term, and should she survive the actual birthing process, never grow up to be physically or mentally normal. And to make matters worse, the pregnancy would threaten the life of my wife as the fetus was unable to swallow and ‘recycle’ the buildup of amniotic fluids, possibly resulting in the placenta ripping away from the uterus, resulting in hemorrhaging and possibly rapid death for my wife.
When a team of physicians and geneticists (some of the best in the world) assembled to tell us the news, their professional opinions were unanimously in favor of a termination of the pregnancy.
And then the devastating news: It was no longer legal in my state to perform this essential procedure.
It is hard to put into words the emotional side of this story. Our first child. Crib and nursery already assembled. It was a devastating blow that I cannot and will not attempt to put into words. All intellectual reason was violently ripped away from us, and we were left with nothing but our own profound sense of loss, tears and, worst of all, feelings of helplessness. It is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.
And then there was the internet waiting for us, ripe with intentional lies and distortions and horrific images of blood-spattered fetuses, from the so-called pro-life advocates of the religious right. This is the ‘compassion’ of the far-right religious extremists in these United States of America, terrorizing (both literally with violence and figuratively with ideas) women and families faced with the most tragic and profound crisis of their lives – utterly abandoned by America’s political and medical community.
We were told by our doctors that only two clinics in America could help us. One such clinic was Dr. Tiller’s in Kansas. Although ultimately, for logistical and insurance reasons, we chose not to use Dr. Tiller’s services, he did provide us with free medical advice and information that ultimately helped us find our way thru the emotions and logistics of saving my wife’s life. He helped dispel all the myths associated with the procedure, and provided us with compassionate support at a time when we needed it most.
In the very short time I knew Dr. Tiller he was charitable and compassionate with his time. He preformed these procedures at great risk to his own personal safety because he knew that his services were essential to saving women’s lives, and providing them a humane and safe option for medical care at what is, in most cases, the most tragic of circumstances for any woman and family. Dr. Tiller was a hero. Although shot in both arms in 1993, he bravely remained on the front lines, a foot soldier for women’s rights and basic human decency. He refused to yield to the hysteria and lies that the pro-life movement generates to rob women of this life-saving procedure.
Dr Tiller gave his life to preserve what is left of women’s rights, compassion and basic human decency in America’s medical community.
I am well aware that there are those who believe, as an article of faith, that human life begins at conception. These individuals seeks to limit scientific research into stem cells, and deny victims of rape, incest and life-threatening disorders the basic medical attention they deserve. And in the name of these arcane religious beliefs doctors are killed, Terry Schiavo’s death is publicized and politicized, stem cell research is blocked, nations are propelled into religious wars, torture and capital punishment is dispensed with blood-thirsty vengeance and ultimately the very fabric of our freedoms and humanity are diminished.
It is time to treat those who would threaten doctors, and the safety of women in America, as we would any other domestic terrorist group in America. It is time to draw the line, here and now, with the death of Dr. Tiller, and restore safe and responsible healthcare for women in America – putting medical choices back in the hands of physicians and patients and families.>