Tiller Abortion Clinic Closed Permanently

The murder of abortion doctor George Tiller has had its desired impact, the closing of one of the few clinics in the United States willing to provide late-term abortions.  Roxana Hegeman for AP:

The family of slain abortion provider George Tiller said Tuesday that his Wichita clinic will be “permanently closed,” effective immediately.  In a statement released by Tiller’s attorneys, his family said it is ceasing operation of Women’s Health Care Services Inc. and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic. “We are proud of the service and courage shown by our husband and father and know that women’s health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service,” the family said.

[…]

Dr. Warren Hern, one of the few remaining doctors in the country who performs late-term abortions, said the closure of the clinic was an “outrage” and he feels the loss for Dr. Tiller’s family and the patients he served. “How tragic, how tragic,” Hern said when contacted by phone at his Boulder, Colo., clinic. “This is what they want, they’ve been wanting this for 35 years.”  Asked whether he felt efforts should be made to keep the clinic open, he said: “This was Dr. Tiller’s clinic. How much can you resist this kind of violence? What doctor, what reasonable doctor would work there? Where does it stop?”

[…]

Randall Terry, the founder of the original Operation Rescue group, responded to news that Tiller’s clinic would remain closed with, “Good riddance.” He said history would remember Tiller’s clinic as it remembers Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. “What set him apart is that he killed late-term babies,” Terry said. “If his replacement was going to continue to kill late-term children, the protests would continue, the investigations would continue, the indictments would continue.”

Tiller’s alleged killer is pleased as well.  CNN:

An anti-abortion activist suspected in the death of Kansas doctor George Tiller told CNN on Tuesday the closing of Tiller’s women’s clinic is “a victory for all the unborn children.”

Scott Roeder, 51, would not admit to CNN’s Ted Rowlands that he killed Tiller, who was gunned down at his church May 31. But he said if he is convicted in Tiller’s slaying, “the entire motive was the defense of the unborn.”

[…]

Roeder said the closure would mean “no more slicing and dicing of the unborn child in the mother’s womb and no more needles of poison into the baby’s heart to stop the heart from beating, and no more partial-birth abortions.”

Lovely.

UPDATE: Matt Yglesias passes on word from Kate Klonick that Operation Rescue is going to make an offer to buy the office.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Furhead says:

    If I’m not mistaken, that leaves two clinics left. It would be interesting (and of course sad) if the result was some woman dying during childbirth which the doctors fully knew was a possibility.

  2. An Interested Party says:

    Well look at that…terrorism works…

  3. G.A.Phillips says:

    If I’m not mistaken, that leaves two clinics left. It would be interesting (and of course sad) if the result was some woman dying during childbirth which the doctors fully knew was a possibility.

    How many women are saved by emergency abortions each millennium?

    Well look at that…terrorism works…

    It works on little unborn babies too.

  4. floyd says:

    Aip;
    Hyperbolic nonsense!

  5. Furhead says:

    How many women are saved by emergency abortions each millennium?

    I honestly have no idea. In the 19th century, it was quite common for women to die during childbirth. Of course many of those were simply breached babies which could have come out with a C-section.

    The problem, you see, is that *you* don’t know the answer either. But still you want the government to decide rather than doctors and the person whose life may be threatened.

    As you remember from the Tiller discussion, we’re talking about women who actually wanted babies but something had gone wrong.

  6. KenJ says:

    “As you remember from the Tiller discussion, we’re talking about women who actually wanted babies but something had gone wrong.” If this was true, it would make more sense for a women to see her own doctor, not go to a planned parenthood center and have a stranger examine and advise them. Tiller’s own PR person (Jarman?) said most late-term abortions were performed on women who were too lazy to get the abortion early, or too stupid to realize they were pregnant. I’m obviously paraphrasing, but the gist was they wanted an abortion, not a baby.

  7. G.A.Phillips says:

    The problem, you see, is that *you* don’t know the answer either. But still you want the government to decide rather than doctors and the person whose life may be threatened.

    How many almost zero, but lets put the stawmen aside.

    I want people to stop murdering unborn humans period. I want that idiot ruling overturned, its not how you make laws in this country!

    And what does trying to save a womens life or her babies have to do with abortion or a clinic that specializes in it again?

    http://sflillinois.org/705/sun-times-letter-to-the-editor

  8. An Interested Party says:

    re: floyd June 10, 2009 15:32

    Well you certainly know of what you type, as you practice it on a fairly frequent basis…

  9. Our Paul says:

    If one takes the position that G.A.Phillips (June 10, 2009 | 06:24 pm) takes, to wit:

    I want people to stop murdering unborn humans period. I want that idiot ruling overturned, its not how you make laws in this country!

    One thing would be predictable. There would be no uniformity between states as to the medical practice of abortion. The only thing that Roe vs Wade accomplished was to enforce uniformity as to women’s decision making rights over their own bodies.

    If one examines European abortion laws, there are variations, but there is no argument as to the permissibility of abortion. One thing is for sure, the abortion rate through out European countries is lower than in the United States. The second thing I can guarantee. There is no clinic bombings, no assault on physicians, and you will not find placard bearing, screaming protestors harassing women seeking this service.

    The moment one takes the “stop killing babies” position he or she is in a box, as discussions on how to decrease abortions are viewed as contrary to the primary goal of obliterating this practice. The box is even more confining then one would suspect at first glance. Any social programs advanced to support women and prevent recourse to abortion would immediately engender the cry that the government is promoting promiscuity.

    Sigh, it is tough to be a male in a Christian country, it is beyond my comprehension how women bear it…

    Pssst: the rant by Collen Malloy, MD (link posted by G.A. Phillips) is inaccurate in several respects. Assuredly the maternal death rate in England is not 5 times greater than Ireland.

    And yes, the pun was intended.

    R. Paul Miller, MD

  10. KenJ says:

    Our Paul: I don’t know how you can call Malloy’s letter a “rant”. It is well written and I don’t detect a whining tone. Many people have no problem taking an absolute position on abortion – either for or against it. Many simply don’t care. But I doubt the feeling of “being in a box” occurs to those who oppose abortion.

  11. hln says:

    Mr. Miller’s actions in killing Dr. Tiller were woefully, horribly wrong.

    However, the trend in these comments is troubling. Consider…

    1) The embryo/fetus – at the moment of conception – has the entire genetic code of the person.

    2) We are unique people – that same sperm and egg cannot combine at any other time in the future and could not have combined at any other time in the past.

    3) If it’s permissible (socially and legally) to kill a baby in the womb because it cannot care for itself/isn’t viable/is a nuisance/you’re sacrifing it to the gods of convenience, why isn’t the same true for an infant, who suffers from the same lack of ability to care for itself but is in a more visible human state. Or maybe I just answered my own question.

    The ONLY argument in the abortion discussion that matters is the prime one. Is it human and alive? (And do humans have a right to life)? Everything else is a distraction.

    If it’s not human, please tell me what it is. The viability argument (can thrive outside the womb) that’s often presented is going to go by the wayside with greater technology, and soon. We can keep early born little (wanted) 1 pounders alive with these incredible machines and technologies and help them to grow into normal little babies. That will extend to full incubation in coming years. So every embryo from the petri dish or the mommy’s body will be “viable” at that point.

    If the person in a womb isn’t a person but a thing, then partial birth abortion – even a “I changed my mind when one leg was out but the rest of the body was still in the uterus” should be just fine, and no one should be squeamish at all. And why draw the line there – 6 week-old shrieking at 2 a.m.? Even if you think I’m nuts and are in the “I don’t know when it’s a human” camp, you have to admit it’s human at some time, and the reality isn’t something you get to set – only your worldview. A conservative person says – go with the sure thing. Conception = human.

    If some of these commenters want to look me in the digital eye and say, yeah, it’s human and a person, but it should still be a woman’s choice to be rid of it since she has to house the thing, ok, I’ll at least respect your argument for being honest.

  12. Our Paul says:

    Ah yes, KenJ (June 11, 2009 | 06:52 am) here is my view. The moment one presents bogus statistics to back up their arguments one is dealing with either an ignorant person, or an educated person whose ideology or theology takes precedent over an informed discussion. Collen Malloy, MD, with credentials in neonatology, is clearly falls into the educated group.

    A simple web search shows a maternal mortality rate for Ireland 2000-2007 was 6 per 100,000 births, and 7 per 100,000 births in the United Kingdom. The quoted site was chosen for the simplicity of its graphics, and reflects either WHO data or OECD data. If Ireland’s maternal mortality rate is 5X less than the United Kingdom the maternal mortality rate would be 1.4 per 100,000 births, a figure that cannot be defended.

    What Dr. Malloy is attempting to imply is that a high abortion rate leads to increased maternal mortality, and that a low abortion rate leads to a decrease in maternal mortality. This is just dishonest for two reasons. First, it implies that deaths during abortions performed by trained medical personnel exceeds maternal deaths during child birth, which cannot be substantiated. Second, a major cause of maternal mortality is botched abortions in countries where health professionals are barred by law from offering this procedure.

    Finally, Dr. Malloy’s post is a rant because she implies that Catholic health professionals will be forced to participate in abortions. There is no local or national movement in this direction.

  13. Our Paul says:

    Pssst… hln (June 11, 2009 | 11:01 am) the name of the alleged murderer of Dr. Tiller is Scott Roeder. Those of the Miller clan do not like to be identified as zealots who are performing God’s work, whether it be wearing an explosive vest, or killing a physician who performs abortions.

  14. hln says:

    I didn’t correct myself when I saw I goofed it after I posted. I wondered if someone would take that as an opportunity to attack my goof instead of address the issue.

    You did. Fair enough – sorry all you Millers.

    That man – Mr. Roeder (briefly nee Miller) – was NOT performing God’s work. What he did was horrid. It took a life, and that was not his place. Thought I made that clear.

    hln