In case you haven’t heard, Dr. George Tiller was murdered yesterday while serving as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Tiller was a staunch advocate of women’s rights – his motto was “trust women”. In his death we have lost not only a kind man but a physician who put his life on the line for his patients. His compassion has been rewarded with violence.

I have to confess, I thought the anti-choice movement had moved beyond this kind of violence, recognizing that the way to change people’s minds about their issue is not go to around taking lives – the very thing they claim to oppose. However, in the articles that have been written since Dr. Tiller’s murder yesterday, several folks have pointed out that the rhetoric of anti-choice people has not done anything to prohibit this from happening, as much as these groups claim to be against this.

Salon has an article specifically targeting Bill O’Reilly’s multiple mentions of Dr. Tiller as “Tiller the baby killer” and claiming that Tiller was guilty of “Nazi stuff”. More recently O’Reilly stated:

“No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller’s business of destruction. I wouldn’t want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day. I just — you know … Kansas is a great state, but this is a disgrace upon everyone who lives in Kansas. Is it not?”

Check out the rest of the article for more on how O’Reilly put Dr. Tiller in the spotlight.

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