#aftertiller

*Note: I respect everyone’s views even if they are different from my own.

Because I was unable to attend the past plenary, my assignment was to watch a documentary called “After Tiller” on Netflix and write a response to it. “After Tiller” is a documentary that focuses on the lives of four abortionists who provide abortions for women who reach their third trimester. They do so even after a famous abortionist, George Tiller, was murdered by anti-abortionists at church. The film explores these doctors’ lives, and it portrays the difficulties and constant struggles that they face every day because of their careers. Watching this video was most definitely eye-opening for me. I never really knew how severe abortionists’ situations could be living in America. In the documentary, some of these doctors discuss forms of harassment that they have experienced; one doctor explains in the video that his stable was set on fire by anti-abortionists, and as a result, 21 out of 25 of his horses were killed. Another doctor mentions in the film that one day he found that his office had been shot at, and there were five bullet holes in the glass windows. In addition to displaying the difficulties these abortionists constantly struggle with, the film also provides stories of different pregnant women and why they asked for abortions. Some women did so because their fetuses suffered from fatal, rare diseases, and others did so because their babies were results of rape. The film shows how these women faced societal pressures while making the decisions to ask for abortions, and the audience is able to understand the difficulties these women experience throughout the film. Overall, the documentary was definitely eye-opening, informative, and interesting, and I’d definitely recommend watching it! 

Dr. George Tiller was assassinated six years ago today by an anti-abortion activist during worship services at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. At the time of his death, Dr. Tiller was the director of one of three clinics nationwide that provided late term abortions. He kept his practice open for three decades, despite his clinic being firebombed in 1986, and being shot five times in 1993. We thank all the people who risk their lives to provide abortion services to those who need them. You are all heroes. 

Dr. Shelley Sella.

So i just finished watching this documentary called AFTER TILLER and it was about a mans work. The man was George Tiller and he specialised in late abortions so that's abortions after 20week. He was one of the only doctors known that could do this. George was shot in a church tho one day in 2009 i think and the killer said something that made me mad. He said he walked in to kill George in a church because George wouldn't have expected it and would have had his guard down. I mean who wouldn't you're in a holy and safe place after all. He then later said George killed babies and he's glad he's no longer out there doing that. That annoyed me for many reasons but mainly because he thought he had a the right to kill an innocent man because of his belief. The clip shown of him showed him smiling in court. I mean you walked into a holy place with a gun with the intention to murder and you're happily saying it in court and justifying it with a stupid and unacceptable excuse. There was also the fact that a group of people burnt down the stable of another doctor who performs this abortion and justified it saying the doctor takes lives so what're a few horses or something like that. I was absolutely mortified by this. Then there was this woman in one of the protest that held a sign saying no to abortion because she regretted hers and i was like WHAT???? Are you absolutely kidding me? You had choices when it was your time and you know how that felt being in the situation and now you want other woman not to have the ability to make a choice. Isn't that a bit selfish? I mean you regret your choice but how do you know she'll regret hers? What if the women dont have means to support the child and can't handle giving it away or rather yet what if the child is sick or would be born sick or would live a miserable life. How is that going to be any better? They're so many things to consider and a woman should have the right to make her own decision without laws telling her she can't whether it's 10 weeks down the line or 20 weeks down the line. There was then a law passed in a state on the basis that when a fetus is 20weeks they can feel pain. A law was passed on this when it wasn't a proven fact, there were many doctors who said that there are no facts to prove this. I was just absolutely mortified by all this. I'm not saying I'm for abortion, i'm not saying I'm against it, i'm saying I'm for a woman having the right to make a decision. To make her decision.

Five years after Dr. George Tiller's murder, we honor commitment to helping women who had nowhere else to turn. He is greatly missed.