A few hours ago, one of the nation’s most courageous and dedicated abortion providers was murdered at his church in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. George Tiller cared for women from all over the United States who had nowhere else to turn, women whose pregnancies had gone tragically wrong after they had passed the gestational limit of nearly all other abortion providers. Because of his unique importance to the nation’s reproductive health care system, Dr. Tiller was targeted by opponents of legal abortion, and he was always in danger. In 1993, he was shot in both arms but refused to abandon the women who were relying on him and went on to perform abortions on his schedule that day. More recently, he endured a lengthy criminal investigation into his practice that had been initiated by opponents of legal abortion and from which he was fully exonerated. The Women’s Law Project honors the memory of this extraordinary physician and friend to women by redoubling our efforts to protect Pennsylvania abortion providers and their patients, escorts, counselors, and clinic staff from anti-abortion terrorist tactics. Our thoughts go out to Dr. Tiller’s family, coworkers, and friends, and to the brave and devoted community of providers, here in Pennsylvania and across the country, who survive him.

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