Dr. Tiller in his own words

In July of 1970, I planned to start a dermatology residency. On August 21, 1970, my father, mother, sister and brother-in-law were killed in an aircraft accident. My sister had a 12-month-old boy, Maurice. They had written out a will in longhand the evening before the airplane crash, that I was to raise Maurice. So we took charge of my sister’s boy and we moved back to Wichita. My game plan was to spend six months here, close out my father’s huge family medicine practice.

After I had been there for a little while, patients in the practice began to ask me if I was going to do abortions like my father did. I was outraged. Why would these nice people say that he was a scumbag kind of a physician?

I began to ask some of these women. And I found out that in 1945, ‘46, or ‘47, a young woman for whom Dad had already delivered two babies came to him pregnant again right away, and she said something to the effect that, “I can’t take it, can you help me?” That is apparently the way you asked for an abortion from your regular doctor before abortion was legal. Dad said, “No. Big families are in vogue, by the time the baby gets here, everything will be all right.” She had a non-healthcare provider abortion and came back and died.

I can understand how upset my father was. I do not know whether he did 100 abortions or 200 abortions or 300 abortions. I think it may have been something like 200 over a period of about 20 years, but I don’t know for sure. The women in my father’s practice for whom he did abortions educated me and taught me that abortion is about women’s hopes, dreams, potential, the rest of their lives. Abortion is a matter of survival for women.

When it became legal and my patients began to ask for it, I’d say, “Sure. It’s a legal process.” I was a service provider. I was a physician. The patients needed abortions, and I did them. It is my fundamental philosophy that patients are emotionally, mentally, morally, spiritually and physically competent to struggle with complex health issues and come to decisions that are appropriate for them.

—Edited transcript from Voices of Choice (via abbyjean: snowblind)

31 May, 2009
comments | 90 notes

notes

  1. exquisitedorks reblogged this from abbyjean
  2. leterel reblogged this from thedaysarenotfullenough
  3. thedaysarenotfullenough reblogged this from katoleary and added:
    He sounds like an incredible man, who will be greatly missed.
  4. telepathicaffair reblogged this from abbyjean and added:
    unbelievable. He...originally thought.
  5. amberlrhea reblogged this from abbyjean
  6. iseebi reblogged this from bthny
  7. adelamaide reblogged this from ucancallmeal and added:
    chrysee:hoitycoity:
  8. hithisisdanielle reblogged this from katoleary
  9. ceilingtofloor reblogged this from thecurvature
  10. luketullos reblogged this from abbyjean
  11. sugarysalvation reblogged this from dkpalmer13
  12. reflect reblogged this from abbyjean
  13. ucancallmeal reblogged this from chrysee
  14. chrysee reblogged this from hoitycoity
  15. snickerdoodle reblogged this from sarahchristine
  16. apropos reblogged this from hoitycoity
  17. yoginiinthehood reblogged this from sarahchristine
  18. blueberrybridges reblogged this from iamchrysanthemum
  19. hoitycoity reblogged this from abbyjean
  20. sarahbeara reblogged this from sarahchristine
  21. bthny reblogged this from sarahchristine
  22. sarahchristine reblogged this from thecurvature and added:
    thecurvature/abbyjean:...In July of 1970, I planned to start a dermatology residency. On...
  23. switchblades reblogged this from katoleary and added:
    Do they even make coffins big enough for those size balls?
  24. snazzified reblogged this from katoleary and added:
    Dr. Tiller’s strength and dedication to his work is incredibly admirable. He listened to this patients, and to his...
  25. vivresavie reblogged this from katoleary
  26. shrimpfriedbryce reblogged this from katoleary and added:
    While abortion is not a black and white issue, this loss of life was truly an unnecessary tragedy,
  27. katoleary reblogged this from thecurvature and added:
    Regardless of your feelings about abortion (and I truly believe that no one is pro-abortion), this is not the way to...
  28. thecurvature reblogged this from abbyjean and added:
    R.I.P. Dr. Tiller....very, very brave man.
  29. unsustainable reblogged this from iamchrysanthemum and added:
    In July of 1970, I planned to start a dermatology residency. On August 21, 1970, my father, mother, sister and...
  30. dkpalmer13 reblogged this from notemily
  31. phamos reblogged this from abbyjean
  32. mizzchelle reblogged this from iamchrysanthemum
  33. gozo-como-una-fuente reblogged this from iamchrysanthemum
  34. iamchrysanthemum reblogged this from abbyjean
  35. notemily reblogged this from abbyjean
  36. abbyjean posted this


blog comments powered by Disqus
layout modified from Blue Theme by David