“An Incalculable Loss to Women’s Health Care”
Michelle Goldberg has a must-read article at The American Prospect about Dr. George Tiller. The article is written from a perspective we have not heard much about before now: that of the women who actually needed the services Dr. Tiller provided. Goldberg takes A Heartbreaking Choice — a website where women who have had late-term abortions can tell each other their stories — as a starting point to discuss who Dr. Tiller really was, as a person and a doctor, why women went to his clinic, how he and his staff treated them, and what might happen to them now that he is gone. Along the way, Goldberg debunks some of the nastier lies about Tiller and his work (see my bolds):
The Web site A Heartbreaking Choice is a place where women share their stories of late-term abortion. Though clearly pro-choice, the point of the site is not political; it is a support group for grieving parents. These are women who desperately wanted their babies but whose pregnancies turned disastrous. A section of the site is devoted to “Kansas Stories,” because when women learn very late in their pregnancies that their fetuses have abnormalities that are likely to be fatal, Dr. George Tiller’s Wichita clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, was one of the only places in the country that could help them.
One woman described her elation at being pregnant and how the possibility of motherhood offered a glimmer of hope through several family deaths. Then she found out her fetus had severe spinal and cerebral deformities. “I laid on the table crying and knowing in my heart at that point my son was not going to make it,” she wrote. At almost 23 weeks pregnant, she was too far along for an abortion in her own state, and so, like many women in her situation, she made the anguished pilgrimage to Wichita.
Writing five weeks after her abortion, she said, “I hate that my son is gone. I hate that I had to make the decision to end his life. I hate that my womb and my arms are empty. But I am strengthened in the fact that I made my decision by focusing on him and what was best for him. I am eternally grateful to the wonderful people that guided me through this horrible experience with compassion, love, and understanding.”
Her gratitude toward Tiller and his staff is not unique. Ayliea Holl, the administrator of the site, saw a different doctor for her own abortion, but she’s met many of Tiller’s patients. “Every single one of them received the kindest, most caring and compassionate, the best health care that they could get,” she says. “Dr. Tiller was extremely compassionate. He was so helpful to so many women.”
After his murder, it’s not clear who will take his place. In the mainstream media, Tiller is frequently described as “controversial.” But in the tight-knit world of abortion providers and pro-choice activists, he was often called a saint, because he took on the hardest cases, whether they could pay or not, and was incredibly tender with his patients. “His clinic was known for really treating women with extraordinary decency and respect,” says Carol Joffe, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis, and one of the country’s foremost experts on abortion. They sent him volumes worth of letters of effusive and urgent thanks.
Tiller’s death is an incalculable loss to women’s health care. There are two other clinics that do late-term abortions, but neither are known for taking patients regardless of their ability to pay or for ministering so comprehensively to their emotional needs. Tiller’s murder leaves a void that could imperil women across the country.
Read the entire article here.
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7 Responses to ““An Incalculable Loss to Women’s Health Care””
Thank you again, Kathy, for bringing a face to this that seems all too often glossed-over, a face that should be front-and-center when we talk about late-term abortion. It's important for those of us who are women of child-bearing age, or those of us who have loved ones who are or will be of child-bearing age, to think about this aspect of Tiller's murder. I remember thinking last night that there was no situation I could experience in the remaining stages of my life in which I would need an elective abortion, but what happens if a wanted pregnancy goes terribly wrong after 21 weeks? There are now exactly two places in the country where I could go for treatment. I'm lucky: insured, lots of savings in the bank, surrounded by friends and family. If the anti-choice crowd gets their way and abortion becomes fully illegal, I would have little difficulty jumping a plane to Scandanavia to get the procedure done. What of those women who are not so lucky? They end up just dying or being severely damaged, or just carry that dead or dying fetus another 4 months, knowing that it has no chance of survival.
I actually was in the position of needing an abortion — two, actually, for the same reason, because the fetuses had a fatal genetic condition called Tay-Sachs. However, I was more fortunate than the women who had to go to Dr. Tiller because (a) I had first-trimester abortions (the second was just at the beginning of the second trimester) because my then-husband and I knew we were carriers of the defective gene and there's an early prenatal test for Tay-Sachs; and (b) at the time I had health insurance through the company I worked for, so I didn't have to worry about paying for it. But I definitely know what it feels like to have to abort a much-loved, much-wanted pregnancy. When right-to-life extremists call doctors like Dr. Tiller “baby killers” and accuse women of “slaughtering babies in the womb,” it just infuriates me, because they don't know what they're talking about and, worse, they don't know, don't really have any idea, of the damage they do — the cruelty to women who are already in a devastating situation. I think a lot of them, if they really knew that, understood that, they would not act that way. Most people don't intend to be hurtful. But there's just so much misinformation and religiously influenced extremism involved in this issue.
Kathy thanks for bringing this account of Dr. Tiller. . . as i have read the reactions and responses to Dr. Tiller's death have thought in order for other's to understand Dr. Tiller they would have to understand the land that bore him. . .He comes from the Flint Hills, and the Flint Hills is one of the few open original lands left in the U.S. that has not been uprooted by the plow. The reason is because the Flint Hills is embedded with flint and flint is stronger than the steel and iron of the plow. I have often thought about the symbolism of the Flint Hills and it being the heart of America. I like to think that America's heart is fertile original ground and protected with a strength that holds true to the most basic. . . vast, strong, and original. . .Also Dr. Tiller overcame a serious tractor accident and was able to recover when people thought that would be the end of his career just like the first assault. . .These women experienced the bigness of his heart and his opponents experienced his resolve to stand firm in what he believed was right for the women and families he cared for. . . .
Also i so hear what you have to say about your own experience, and extend heartfelt understanding of the difficulty of your choice and loss. Some scars still bleed. . .thanks for your voice. . . and what you say is so true for many cannot begin to understand the weight and aloneness of some choices. . .i made the decision to abort a non-viable fetus. . .and that was as difficult as anything i would ever want to do. . .
Beautifully written, ordinarysparrow. Thank you.
Many thanks for sharing this. This info never seems to get out to the MSM, and the anti-choicers certainly pretend these harsh & gut-wrenching realities do not exist.
Walk a mile in THEIR shoes…
there is no place an this earth for abortion, you having sex use condom, an less the person rape
http://www.1wallmart.com/women-health.php
A moderate voice is often needed.
Dr.David Black
http://www.blackchiropractic.com.au