Message to Wichita, Kansas vigil honoring Dr. Tiller
Hello to everyone here showing your respect for Dr Tiller and your belief in the freedom of choice. I am sorry I am not physically here with you, but please know that I am here in spirit
None of us can pretend to know what Dr Tiller would say to us right now. We know what he used to say about understanding the heart of a woman. We know what he believed about each woman having the knowledge to really understand what was best for HER.
We know, tragically, that he gave his life for what he believed in. We know that his family lost a husband, a father, a grandfather, We know that the Pro Choice movement lost one of our biggest heroes, a compassionate, extremely competent physician, a voice that spoke truth, a rock we all thought could never be moved.
What we DON’T know is what will become of the women in this country if the right to safe, legal abortion continues to be eroded and compromised and marginalized and becomes even more inaccessible. We don’t know to what extent the anti-choice forces will go to deny even more women the right to control their own destinies. We don’t know how many more clinics will be burned, staff terrorized or doctors killed. We don’t know if our government will actually step up and make sure abortion is treated as the basic health care we all know it is.
But I personally know this: George Tiller would tell us to never back down, to never stop telling the truth, to never forget the individual woman who walks in the door of a clinic in need of help in ending a pregnancy she is not prepared for. And he knew that this is about us. All of us. And it is about your mothers and wives, your sisters and daughters and granddaughters and best friends.
It is about someone else wanting to control us. It is about power.
Please, in honor of Dr George Tiller, use your voices, your presence, your skills and your hearts to keep abortion safe, legal and available to every woman, to every family that needs this care.
This is not some esoteric concept. This is a matter of life and death.
Every women have a reason why is doing it.