The headline read: Kansas doctor performing abortion shot dead in church!
Chilling, that Dr. Tiller was assassinated inside the Temple of God. Fascinating, that this doctor extreme right-wingers have constantly attacked over the years, was a conscientious member of the Reformation Lutheran Church. Until his violent death, he served as an usher and his wife sings in the choir.
Imagine him to be your father. It’s the first day of class and the moody teacher, as the first order of the day, summons you to share something about yourself. You reluctantly stand up, facing your expectant classmates, and you solemnly declare “Well, my father kills babies for a living.”
As a daughter, my last wish is for one courageous woman, just one, to speak up how her life was redirected and not laid to waste because of my father’s unusual profession.
The closest to an abortionist I encountered was Michael Caine’s Dr. Larch in “Cider House Rules.” In college, I had my John Irving phase so when his novels were translated into movies, I wasn’t far behind on his trail. Dr. Larch is one of the most sympathetically captivating fictional characters that wrenched my gut – how he tended those orphans and bid them “goodnight, you kings of New England” each day. He owned my heart and never for a second did I think that this man was a monster.
The existence of “abortionists” cannot be oversimplified by the logic of supply and demand. With or without them, women will continue imperiling their lives performing self-abortions.
In principle, I subscribe to the idea that what a woman subjects her womb to is a State question in so far as providing safety nets and legal protection. After all, the whole rationale of the State is advancing the quality of life of every individual.
But more than permitting women to have a choice, I would crusade for a comprehensive sex education program. Empower individuals by squashing their squeamishness about sex, allaying their fears that every sexual act may lead to pregnancy and early responsibilities. If there were no unintended pregnancies, abortion is out of the equation.
These fanatical anti-abortion groups that bomb and vandalize reproductive health centers must realize that it’s not the Dr. Tillers of this world who decide on performing abortions. It’s women, in their own volition, who willingly submit themselves to the procedure. This world is not short of rapists who brutalize unwilling victims and military torturers who extract information from unwilling political prisoners. Go after them. Chop their dicks, whatever, and make a soup.
No matter which side of the fence you sit on, Dr. Tiller’s brutal death diminishes humanity – the hypocrisy of persecuting a human being for “murdering babies’ by murdering him. Is this the biblical justice right-wingers love to harp on, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?
Sad, this headline is.
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2 comments:
salt and peppa just said what everyone is thinking but too shy to utter:let's talk about sex. let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be. Education is more than just sex talk. It is also about knowing one's worth and one's choices. We can't expect the media to teach those things to the reckless youth.
i hear ya, i hear ya! The State has to lead this effort and must not be cowered by machinations of another strong institution, the Church.
salt and peppa, where could they be now?
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