He died from the single gunshot wound. Roeder killed the doctor for one reason, and one reason only: Tiller was a prominent abortion provider — maybe even the most prominent in the country at the time — and Roeder wanted to stop abortion. But despicable? Oh, my God. Does it get worse? This is the mindset that Scott Roeder had when he murdered Tiller at his church on a Sunday morning. Tiller drove an armored sports utility vehicle and wore a bulletproof vest. Because anti- abortion activists regularly sued Tiller for what the activists viewed as baby killing, Tiller also spent a large amount of money on legal protection.
Following the murder of another abortion doctor in , federal marshals protected Tiller. According to Tiller, his clinic grossed 1.
Kansas attorney general Phill Kline, an anti- abortion advocate and former conservative radio host, led the investigation. In , anti- abortion activists gathered enough signatures to require Tiller to appear before two grand juries, both of which declined to indict him for wrongdoing. In part, Tiller was cleared by the vagueness of Kansas law. The evidence against him, however, was insufficient, and the jury acquitted him of all charges. Anti-abortion activists have seized on late-term abortions—particularly the so-called partial-birth abortions that were the object of the congressional ban and many state prohibitions—because of their impact on people who do not share their views on when life begins.
Violent actions against providers like Tiller rather obviously defeat the very purpose of this exercise in persuasion. Just as crucially, he underestimates them. Throughout the book he treats all forms of right-wing violence—indeed, of right-wing politics—as symptoms of anxiety over cultural and economic change. This anxiety, he suggests, has reached a crisis point, but will subside once Americans regain their moorings.
The reader is left with a vague sense of optimism that the abortion battle will end with the good guys winning, just as the good guys won earlier fights against segregationists and other reactionaries. Unfortunately for pro-choicers— among whom I emphatically count myself—there is very little evidence that anti-abortion views will fade away anytime soon.
The country is as divided on the fundamental issues as it was when Roe v. At a surprise resentencing hearing, prosecutors withdrew their request that Scott Roeder serve at least 50 years before parole eligibility. Roeder also was sentenced to an additional two years for aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers as he fled. Roeder was convicted in January of premeditated first-degree murder for the shooting death of Dr. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide in
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