Never stop fighting for reproductive justice!

The following statement on the assassination of Dr. George Tiller was issued June 1 by the National Women’s Fightback Network.

Dr. George Tiller is a hero in the reproductive rights movement. We will never stop fighting for reproductive justice for all women!

WFN contingent at June 1 vigil in New York. WW photo: John Santos

Women have lost a true friend. Dr. George Tiller stood up for decades and provided vitally necessary medical and reproductive health care for women of all ages and backgrounds.

When an ultraright zealot shot him years ago, Dr. Tiller stood up. When his clinic was vandalized and firebombed, he stood up. When his clinic was harassed day-in and day-out, he stood up. When he received death threats day after day, year after year, for simply helping women, he stood up.

When the state of Kansas in the person of Phill Kline personally went on a vendetta against Dr. Tiller to close his clinic down, he stood up. When the state subpoenaed him and threw bogus charges at him, he stood up, and a jury acquitted him.

Dr. George Tiller understood the desperation women often faced when seeking his medical care. They came from all over the country to see him, when no other doctors would help them. They came with complicated lives and problems and he would help them, no matter what the risk was to himself or his clinic. He did what had to be done to help women.

Dr. Tiller was well loved by his community and by women from all over the country who knew that he put his life on the line every single day to provide them care. He was courageous and had tremendous integrity and compassion for women.

That the ultraright would madly pursue its attacks on Dr. Tiller shows they have not stopped in their misogynistic mission to stop reproductive care for women and that they will stop at nothing.

We denounce their actions! We denounce the racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-woman rightwing and their murder of a dedicated, brave doctor who was doing what he should—helping women who needed him.

We denounce the coldblooded murder of Dr. Tiller as a vicious act of terrorism that is calculated to intimidate clinic providers and workers all over the country as well as the entire reproductive rights movement.

We who support women’s rights and reproductive justice are standing up—with Dr. Tiller’s family, his friends, his co-workers and the entire pro-choice movement—in denouncing his death. We are determined to continue the fight for national, comprehensive reproductive health care.

Dr. Tiller’s death only confirms our resolve to continue to fight for reproductive justice for all women.