The American Taliban: at Work Against Women, Science, and Reason

Last week an Indonesian woman had conjoined twins by c-section. They share one body but have two hearts and two heads. They cannot be separated because of the lack of organs. This “birthing” reminded me of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Wichita abortionist who specialized in late term abortions of severely deformed fetuses. Anti-abortion groups often cite Psalm 139 verses because they suggest that life begins at conception: “For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made: your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Well, God makes no mistakes about 80 percent of the time with His knitting needles. Sometimes the “knitting” in the womb really gets unraveled. The number of spontaneous abortions in the world ranges between 15 and 20 percent. Usually that means that some essential parts of the fetus have dropped stitches and broken yarn. And sometimes Mother Nature really screws up – or God is not paying much attention to his womb checkup. Then something dreadful happens after conception. That’s when we need the Tillers of the world, just as we need the person to pull the lever for the trap, to trip the switch on the electric chair, to drop the poison pellet into a pot, or the person with the real bullets in the rifle as we execute a criminal or fight a war.

Was It The Christian Thing To Do?

Dr. Tiller was one of three abortionists conducting legal late-term abortions in the U.S. Although his practice was legal in every sense, “pro-life” Christian zealots, fresh from killing and bombing doctors, nurses, and workers across the land, forced him to turn his clinic into a fortress with fencing and floodlights, security cameras, metal detectors, bulletproof glass, and armed guards.

For 30 years evangelical Christians put up blockades, boycotted his suppliers, tried to have him arrested at every opportunity, photographed and filmed his movements, forced him to wear bulletproof vests and drive an armored SUV, protested at his church sanctuary, bombed his clinic, shot him five times in 1993, and threatened him with death by letter and phone call hundreds of times. Perhaps some thought it was the Christian thing to do.

Finally a religious nutcase (with the e-mail name of “ServantofMessiah”), egged on by the irresponsible statements of Catholic bishops, evangelical ministers, and those that make a Mafia living as protest parasites such as Flip Bentham of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry and Phil O’Reilly, put a gun against Tiller’s head and killed him in his Lutheran church while he was serving as an usher. In public the rabid spokespersons for the Christian anti-abortion army deplored the killing, saying “It wasn’t me!!” But under their breath they were saying, “Only two to go, only two to go.” This was a pure political assassination and an act of religious terrorism designed to win the abortion wars.

Although hundreds of “dreadful” things can happen, I want to concentrate on just a few – and then ask questions of prominent anti-abortion figures in the area.

What About Anencephalic Fetuses, Tay-Sachs Babies, Cantrell Syndrome Fetuses, And Rape?

There seems to be hundreds of medical problems that could result in late-term abortions but I’m going to concentrate on four. Anencephaly is a disorder of neural tubes that fail to close between the 23rd and 26th day of pregnancy, resulting in the lack of formation of the brain, skull, and scalp. If you would like to see physical evidence of this knitting failure, google the subject. I feel the pictures are even pretty strong for an adult newspaper.

Just imagine a baby’s head completely flat just above the eyes. Sometimes the remaining brain tissue is not covered by skin. A baby with this defect is usually blind, deaf, unconscious, and unable to feel pain. Most do not survive birth, but if they do, they usually die within a few hours from cardiorespiratory arrest. Usually the malady can be discovered by scan. Then the parents are confronted with a black or white decision: a late-term abortion or carrying the fetus to term, only to have it stillborn or die within hours of birth.

I would like to have Bishop Samuel Aquila of the Fargo Roman Catholic Diocese tell me how he would counsel the parents in this situation. I would like to have Martin Wishnatsky, another local anti-abortion gadfly, tell me how he would counsel the mother. Would he adopt the child while it is in the womb, pay all medical expenses, and then assume expenses for the burial? I would like Bette Grande, a Fargo member of the North Dakota Legislature, to tell me how she would counsel the mother. Would you choose heartbeat over brain? Would you sponsor legislation to provide care for mother and fetus while waiting for the fetus to be stillborn? Would you assume responsibility for the continued health of the mother so she could still have children? My e-mail is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The Cantrell Syndrome is a complex medical problem involving holes in abdominal walls which allow essential organs, even the heart, to be actually outside the body. Google for pictures. Other defects are often associated with this syndrome: cranial and facial anomalies, errant chromosomes, clubfeet, “malrotation” of the colon, water on the brain, and poor brain development. Survival is possible after many complex operations to correct defects – but it is uncommon. I would like an e-mail from Bishop Aquila, Wishnatsky, and Grande describing how they would counsel a mother of a Cantrell Syndrome fetus. My e-mail is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Tay-Sachs Destroys The Central Nervous System

Another major disorder often ending in abortion is Tay-Sachs Disease, a fatal, recessive genetic disorder in children that quickly destroys the central nervous system. Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder which often appears in persons of Eastern European descent. About one in every 27 Jews, as an example, carry the Tay-Sachs gene.

Babies with Tay-Sachs appear to be normal for the first few months after birth, but ganglioside GM2, a fatty substance, accumulates in the brain. Because the nerve cells become filled with fatty material, the child begins to deteriorate. It becomes blind, deaf, and unable to swallow, and paralysis sets in. Tay-Sachs is caused by the absence of a vital enzyme. Victims of Tay-Sachs usually die before the age of five. The unraveling of the knitting often starts in the fetus early in the pregnancy but is not clinically apparent until the child is several months old. Genetic testing is possible. I would like an e-mail from Bishop Aquila, Wishnatsky, and Grande describing how they would counsel a pregnant carrier of the Tay-Sachs gene. My e-mail is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

And then we have the victims of rape who became patients of Dr. Tiller. There were many, but usually late-term abortions, performed on very young victims who did not realize they were pregnant. One of his patients was a ten-year-old who had been raped by an adult relative but did not realize she was pregnant until the fetus was at 28 weeks. I would like an e-mail from Bishop Aquila, Wishnatsky, and Grande indicating how a pro-life advocate would handle this situation. Would you have the child examined to see if she could carry a child until term? Would you recommend an abortion if the child was incapable of carrying the child to term? Would you put the finances of your church available to the child and her parents? Would you make arrangements to adopt the child? My e-mail is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Why Did Law Enforcement Officials Recommend Tiller To Victims Of Rape Or Incest?

Those Christian Bible thumpers blocking the driveway and sidewalks to Tiller’s clinic were ignorant of what it takes to be a real Christian while yelling unChristian words at his workers and assistants. One 68-year-old woman who had worked for Tiller for years got an anonymous letter one week before Tiller was killed: “Somebody should kill you, so you can’t kill anymore.”

Tiller’s pastor revealed after his funeral how he arranged for adoptions for some of his patients. Tiller often had women who were in their third trimester live with his family until they had their baby. The pastor said, “He was giving women in the most desperate of situations options when they had none.”

Most of the women who came to Tiller were referred to him by their obstetrician. They came from Canada and other countries as well as every state in the Union. Patients were interviewed by two clinic counselors before meeting with Tiller. Their job was to detect any signs of mental illness. Then they were physically examined by a second doctor, as required by Kansas law. In several legal cases he and his staff testified that he turned away hundreds of women each year because they did not meet the legal requirements for a late-term abortion.

Even with that, anti-abortion groups put his name and picture on “WANTED” posters and subjected his clinic to blockades and sieges. Tiller had to be protected by federal marshals for years after other doctors were killed for providing abortions. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson called Tiller “the most infamous abortionist in the U.S.” Phil O’Reilly of the Republican network Fox News had been using this line for years prior to the killing of Tiller: “In the state of Kansas, there is a doctor, George Tiller, who will execute babies for $5,000 if the mother is depressed.”

According to our laws, like them or not, Tiller was a medical professional who gave women the right to choose a legal procedure for problem pregnancies. He, his family, and all of his workers were harassed, bombed, shot at and shot by uninformed religious fundamentalists who are selective in thought, word, deed, and intellectual curiosity.

Is It “God’s Will” The Fetus Had No Brain?

Why did the Indonesian woman have conjoined twins? Was it because she was a Muslim and had incurred the wrath of God because she hadn’t converted to Catholicism? Pope Benedict says the only way to get to Heaven is to join the one true church. Muslim clerics would say it was “God’s will” and continue to flog some woman because she had pants on. Was it God’s will that the fetus had no brain? E-mail me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your answer. Where does it say in the Bible that Catholics are better than Lutherans and have the only key to the Pearly Gates? If you think that religion has brought more progress to western civilizations in 2,000 years than science has in 100 years, please e-mail me.

Why should medical professionals operating within the laws of the land have to carry guns, wear bulletproof vests, ride to work and play in armored cars, and protect against IEDs in the middle of Kansas or North Dakota?

The simple fact is that a line from an article by NY Times writer Nicholas Kristof about poor pregnant Pakistani women applies to bishops, ministers, and the Dobsons of this world: “If men had uteruses, ‘paternity wards’ would get resources, ambulances would transport pregnant men to hospitals free of charge, deliveries would be free, and the Group of 8 industrialized countries would make paternal mortality a top priority.”

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