Trust Women

Today Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed at his church in Wichita, Kansas. Tiller had been performing abortions for many years and was one of the few in the country who would perform late-term abortions when a woman or girl had but no other choice. In many cases, we're talking about 9 year old girls who get pregnant by their father or step-father or a married woman who learns at 6 months that here baby has not developed a brain. Over the years, he has been threatened and shot; he walked through countless picket-lines to do his life's work. It was not uncommon for him to have body guards to protect him. He was the number one target of the so-called "pro-life" movement (Orwellian discourse, indeed) which had its roots in Wichita.

As a Kansan who came up in the feminist movement in the belly of that conservative beast, this event strikes a deep chord with me. He was an ally, and he believed in the inherent dignity of this 50% of humanity we call women. I read that he had been seen wearing a pin that said, "Trust Women." He believed that women know their life situation, their bodies, their limits. What a radical and important sentiment; and yet he also went beyond bumpersticker politics and lived it; he walked the walk. And, he walked through fire to do the right thing. Of course, the people who have protested him and, likely, the man that used a gun to take Tiller's life, believed that they, too, were doing the right thing. This is a human riddle that I've yet to solve.

I never knew George Tiller, or his family, or his friends. Amidst their grief, they must be so proud of the courageous path he has paved. I honor his life today, along with all my sisters and brothers who work for the transformation of not just women's lives, but for all those human and non-human creatures that our culture views as dominat-able. May Tiller's life inspire us to continue the work. May we do the right thing, facing dangers in a way that begets love and dignity. In solidarity.