Why Tiller did what he did

Following the murder of Dr. George Tiller I have read a number of different reports. Most have lamented the murder of a human being, while a small group (all “Christian”) claimed that it was no more than he deserved for performing abortions.

There are some good people, however, appalled by what happened, who are also uncomfortable with the fact that Dr. Tiller was one of the few people who was willing to perform late-term abortions. And it is them I wish to address.

Most of us are bothered by the idea of a fetus that is nearly to term, nearly a baby, being forcibly aborted. What kind of person, we wonder, would do such a thing, or would have it done?

What is often not understood is that the vast majority of late-term abortions are not by careless or lazy women who “put it off” until the last possible minute. Virtually all of these people want their babies, and have every intention of having them until something goes terribly wrong.

I learned to accept late-term abortion with the pregnancy of a friend a few years ago. She and her husband were thrilled to be pregnant, and looking forward to welcoming their new life into the world. Then came the test results. The diagnostic term, at least back then, was “anencephalic monster”. A cyst had formed at the top of the spinal cord, and the baby had no brain. It was being kept alive inside the womb, but would die as soon as it was born.

My friend did not have an abortion. She carried the baby to term, and went through his birth and death. But late-term abortion was one of the options she considered, and I was right beside her. If she did not want to carry what was in essence a dead baby for the rest of the pregnancy, she had my full support.

And that is what late-term abortion is about. No, it isn’t nice, but neither is it frivolous. These people have thought – and cried – long and hard about what they are doing, and deserve the right to make that choice.