Recalling Dr. Tiller: Abortion Opponent On 'Loving the Unlovable'

Reporters from around the world were in Wichita in the summer of 1991, as were some of the highest-profile figures among those who wanted abortion made illegal. Encouraged by Operation Rescue, which declared a "Summer of Mercy," thousands of partisans against abortion rights surged to that city to stage day after day of protests and rallies. Many of the demonstrations took place outside the clinic of Dr. George Tiller, one of few doctors in the nation who were known to perform abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy.

I attended for a week, covering the event for The Dallas Morning News. One of the people I met there was George Grant, author of a book very well known on his side of the divide: "Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood."

It's a history and critique – from a particular and avowedly Christian perspective – of Planned Parenthood and the impact of that organization on abortion.

Here's a short passage from the story I wrote back then:

[Kate] Michelman, [head of the National Abortion Rights Action League], is less eager for confrontation but sees no way to avoid the turmoil that she believes will follow an inevitable Supreme Court ruling striking down the right to an abortion. "I indeed believe that there will be chaos in this country the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time,' she said.

Such moral balkanization of the nation into abortion rights and anti-abortion regions concerns Mr. Grant, who grew up in Dallas and lives in Florida. He worries that the debate could turn violent.

"What you're seeing is the clash of two world views," he said. "But we certainly don't want the Serbs and Croats fighting on the streets of Wichita."

After Tiller's slaying Sunday as he attended church services, I wondered where Grant was and whether he still feared that balkanization of the nation. He's now the pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tenn. And this was the title of the sermon he delivered on Sunday, about the same time that Tiller was murdered: "Loving the Unlovable."

I asked him for his thoughts about the larger context of the murder. Like most leaders on both sides of the abortion divide, he started by condemning the killing.

"As you would probably guess, I am deeply grieved that Dr. Tiller was killed – and that his family, his church, and his community were all subjected to the horror of such unwarranted violence.

"This is a very sad day for us all – for the pro-life movement, for the church, and for the nation."

I noted that Tiller's murder had forged a small island of common ground, in the near-universal condemnation by leaders on both sides. Might that in itself have some broader meaning?

"I would love to think that might be meaningful – but my guess is that polarizing rhetoric will quickly return us to opposing trenches. And, as you've already noted, the fringes will play the blame game and do the very thing the family has asked us all not to do: politicize Dr. Tiller's death."

And what about that sermon – the timing being either an amazing coincidence or providential, depending on your beliefs. What was the theme?

"The passage I preached this morning – in Matthew 5 and its parallel text in Luke 6 – exhorts us to love enemies, to bless those who curse, to do good to those who hate, and to pray for those who persecute. In other words, we who were once at enmity with God ourselves are now to love as the Father loves."

Did he mention Tiller or think about people like him?

"The closest I came was to mention the acrimony of the most recent season in American politics where vilification, demonization, and antipathy seems to have become par for the course strategically.

"I have prayed for Dr. Tiller and his family for many, many years now.

"It is always interesting to me that Jesus saved his most withering criticisms for the Pharisees – not the corrupt Herodians or the brutal Romans. The religious men who narrowed the definition of "neighbor" and broadened the definition of "enemy" while demanding a conveniently partisan application of "lex talionis," [the law of retaliation] were the ones He openly declared to be at odds with the Kingdom. His "woes" were leveled at them."