Following Dr. Tiller's murder on May 31st Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federtion of America, released this moving statement regarding his life and work. The following is quoted from her "Connection" correspondences with the Planned Parenthood community.
Remembering Dr. Tiller
by Cecile Richards
Today the entire Planned Parenthood family is mourning the senseless and brutal murder of our friend and colleague, Dr. George Tiller. He was a courageous man — husband, father, grandfather — and a doctor whom women from all over the country and from all walks of life turned to. The stories from women and families cared for by George are streaming in, along with the shock and heartache over his needless death.
Our hearts go out to Jeanne Tiller and the entire family, as well as his extended family of dedicated staff and the thousands of women who turned to him for medical care.
Dr. Tiller served not only through his medical practice. I first met George Tiller back during the 2004 elections, when he was helping establish a political committee in the state of Kansas to elect pro-choice candidates. He recognized that we had to liberalize laws throughout the country for women to have equal access. He was committed to women’s rights in thought and in action, and he touched the lives of so many.
Lynne Randall, Planned Parenthood Federation of America vice president of CAPS (Consortium of Abortion Providers), and I spoke yesterday morning. Lynne has dedicated her life to improving abortion access and care for women, and Dr. Tiller was her hero. I asked her to share some thoughts with us.
“George Tiller was incredibly kind and respectful. He never lost sight of why he was providing care for women. He saw the direct link of abortion and a woman's need to end a pregnancy and her ability to care for her family and herself.
“He was incredibly brave. Without the backing of a large organization and just out of a sense of service, he provided care that most doctors aren't willing to provide. Many aren't brave enough to stand up to the level of harassment and violence that Dr. Tiller faced personally and professionally.
“He cared for the whole family. He would meet with the patients’ family members who came to Wichita. The support people were counseled together about caring for their loved ones and themselves. He did not isolate them, as too often happens at clinic. He would never ignore the support people. Not George.
“George saw his practice as a reproductive health ministry, caring for women physically, spiritually, and emotionally in a time of crisis.
“George was a family practice doctor in Wichita. He took over his dad's practice. The practice slowly evolved to become an abortion practice. Only then did George learn that his dad had helped many local women end unwanted pregnancies in a quiet, safe way before abortion was legalized.
“George also had the utmost respect for the woman and her body. He would teach other doctors to respect the woman's cervix and not force or rush things. Her cervix is important, he would tell his mostly male colleagues.
“Attitude is everything. He and his staff would wear buttons with that slogan.
“Clinics all over the country referred women to him for compassionate care. I had the privilege of observing his practice. He was my gold standard of compassionate care.”
Peter Brownlie, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, knew Dr. Tiller for many years. In fact, Peter worked tirelessly in the state against the efforts of the former crusading Attorney General Phill Kline, who relentlessly harassed Dr. Tiller and other providers. Peter shared these thoughts yesterday.
“Dr. Tiller’s murder is an enormous loss for our movement and for women and their families across America. He provided abortions to women late in their pregnancy and under some of the most difficult medical circumstances. Dr. Tiller had been harassed by abortion opponents for much of his career — his clinic was burned down, he was shot in both arms by an abortion protester, and he was recently targeted for investigation by Phill Kline in Kansas, with a jury acquittal coming just a few months ago. None of this stopped George Tiller from his commitment to providing women and their families with abortion care that others were unwilling to offer.
“We at Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri feel a special loss with George Tiller’s murder. Dr. Tiller was a hero to us, and a friend and supporter of Planned Parenthood. We have a health center in Wichita, KS, which George and his wife, Jeanne, supported in many ways. Our staff worked with Dr. Tiller’s, referring patients to one another to ensure they received the care they needed. Many of our staff and volunteers, in both Wichita and Kansas City, knew Dr. Tiller personally and are personally grieving, as I am.
“Our staff and board are shocked and shaken by this horrific act of terrorism and the all-too-close reminder of the realities we confront in serving women and families in this area. They, like Dr. Tiller’s staff, are everyday heroes who make me, and all of us, proud.”
Deborah L. Tolman, Ed.D., professor of social welfare and psychology at Hunter College School of Social Work and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, shared her story.
“On June 6, it will be 15 years since I met Dr. George Tiller. After the 18-week structural sonogram during my first pregnancy, my husband and I were told that an encephaly had been found. We watched and waited for nine weeks, but the encephaly developed into a fatal condition. We had very few options, as even in nearby New York, 24 weeks was the limit for a late-term abortion, but we did have a choice. We could go to Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Witchita, Kansas.
“When we got close to the clinic the first day, we drove through a swarm of protesters who banged on our car, yelling at us about our evil, misled intentions, before we got close enough to the clinic for the restraining order to take effect.
“Patients for late-term abortions came in groups of three, all dealing with profound birth defects or threats to their own lives. All of us had wanted our pregnancies. None of us wanted to lose our babies.
“I began crying as soon as we arrived, knitting and crying, knitting and crying. I cried the entire time we were there, before, during and after. Dr. Tiller sat with me through those awful three days.
“Dr. Tiller was a man of unparalleled courage, profound warmth, and spirituality. Where another doctor might have walled himself off from the emotional distress, anger, and sadness that his patients brought to his clinic, he opened himself to us, created a process for coping with what he knew to be the exceedingly difficult choice we had made. A choice that he made possible. A choice for which he has now given his life.
“I wrote Dr. Tiller a letter after my first son was born, a year and a half later. I told him that as a feminist scholar, he was my hero. He told me that he had my letter, framed, on his wall. His fortitude, his generosity, his sense of humor, his profound commitment to making choice possible came through as strongly as they had on the worst and most fortunate day of my life, the day I met Dr. Tiller.”
This is a day to remember Dr. Tiller and to thank the courageous women and men who work in Planned Parenthood health centers every day, providing vital health care to three million patients a year. We are grateful for your unyielding support for women’s health and reproductive rights.
May we live to see the day when doctors can provide women’s health care without threat of violence and women can enter clinics without fear of harassment. To Dr. Tiller’s family, we wish you peace, and we honor the courageous and compassionate care he provided to so many.
For more about Dr. Tiller, I recommend the New York Times story, and for a local perspective, Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks. If you want to leave a message or story about Dr. Tiller, please visit the Planned Parenthood Action Center blog — we will find ways to share these stories with the entire Planned Parenthood family.
'Til later,
Cecile
