The Murder of Dr. Tiller and Common Ground on Abortion

The murder of Dr. George Tiller has managed for the moment to inspire a near-unity of official response from across the spectrum of organizations concerned with abortion. Right, left, however you want to draw the lines, there is pretty much universal condemnation.

Looney fringe reaction is easy enough to find if you want to go looking. Anonymous comments on abortion opponent blogs that range from outright cheering to mild regret. If you want to wade through the swill, here's a post on the Daily Kos that has some of it.

But from just about anyone I'd think of as a leader, the reactions have been as un-nuanced as you'd want. Here are some excerpts:

Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission:


Interfaith Alliance Board Chair, Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich:

"Today's despicable shooting at a Kansas church is profoundly disturbing. The abortion issue evokes deep passion from people on all sides, but resorting to murder should never be an option. The fact that it happened at a church is all the more distressing. Our houses of worship should be places where people find comfort and solace, not where they fear for their lives."

"The solution to reducing the number of abortions in this country is not murder; it is for all sides to work together towards a common ground."

From Operation Rescue:

"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller's family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."

From Catholics United:

"Dr. Tiller's death comes at a time when some are calling for a heightened war of words over abortion even as a new common ground approach – aimed at unifying Americans behind solutions to the economic and social factors underlying many abortion decisions – is gathering steam. We have absolutely no reason to believe that those who seek an escalation of the so-called "culture war" are responsible for today's unjustifiable act of violence. We fear, however, that this murder is a byproduct of increasingly hateful and intolerant language on the part of some militant opponents of legal abortion – language that has often sought to demonize people like Dr. Tiller to the point of dehumanization."

"In the wake of Dr. Tiller's death, we call on all sides of the abortion debate to commit to charitable dialogue and pursuit of common ground solutions. It is only through this sort of respectful communication that we can find real solutions to abortion and avert tragedies like the one that occurred in Kansas today."


And so on and so on.

But then, hmm, there is this from Randall Terry, a founder of Operation Rescue:

"George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name: murder... Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."