Archive for Dr. Tiller
Statement of Katherine Spillar, Executive Vice President of Feminist Majority Foundation on Kansas Judge’s decision to allow evidence in support of a “voluntary manslaughter” verdict in the trial of Scott Roeder for murdering Dr. George Tiller
Today’s perplexing decision is effectively back-door permission for admitted killer Scott Roeder to use a ‘justifiable homicide’ defense that is both un-justifiable and unconscionable.
Allowing an argument that this cold-blooded, premeditated murder could be voluntary manslaughter will embolden anti-abortion extremists and could result in ‘open season’ on doctors across the country.”
Kansas Judge Warren Wilbert ruled today that he will allow defense attorneys to present evidence to the jury about Scott Roeder’s beliefs prior to his shooting of Dr. George Tiller in church, which would allow a verdict of ‘voluntary manslaughter,’ defined as an ‘unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.’
At the same time Judge Wilbert denied Roeder the right to use a ‘justifiable homicide’ or ‘necessity’ defense. Rejecting ‘justifiable homicide’ while allowing ‘voluntary manslaughter’ is almost a distinction without a difference, since a verdict of voluntary manslaughter could carry as little as five years of jail time, and even that sentence could be reduced. It is an outrage.
In fact, Judge Wilbert had already rejected Roeder’s lawyers’ request to use the ‘justifiable homicide’ defense, citing a 1993 Kansas Supreme Court case predicting that such a defense would ‘not only lead to chaos but would be tantamount to sanctioning anarchy.’
Katherine Spillar is the Executive Vice President of the Feminist Majority Foundation and leads its National Clinic Access Project, which is the oldest and largest national clinic defense project in the nation.
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Abortion in the Crosshairs at Allentown
By Carole Joffe, Ms. Washington Correspondent
Note: this is the second in a series about the climate at abortion clinics in the aftermath of the murder of Dr. George Tiller
“How do you prefer to die, by knife or by bullet?” This was a question posed to a clinic escort by a protestor at the Center on the day of Tiller’s funeral. Around the same time, a Jewish volunteer Read the rest of this entry »
No Dignity For NBC
by Michele Kort, Ms. magazine Senior Editor
Anyone who’s watched the long-running NBC series Law and Order—the original, not the spinoffs—knows that its stories are often “ripped from the headlines.” So it wasn’t all that surprising that the October 23 episode, entitled “Dignity,” was obviously inspired by the murder this past spring of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his church. Read the rest of this entry »
A Man Who Trusted Women
By Michelle Kort, Ms. Magazine
Originally Posted on RH Reality Check
In her 28th week of a very wanted pregnancy in 2000, Miriam Kleiman, a government employee in Washington, D.C., and her husband, Jason, learned that their male fetus had a severe brain malformation. He would probably die shortly after birth.
The couple immediately went for second, third and fourth opinions. The news stayed the same.
“This is not a fair life for a baby,” they decided. “Even with every medical intervention, the baby’s going to die. It’s not if, but when. If there’s no hope of improvement, why do that to a baby?” When she and Jason made their choice clear to the perinatologist they consulted, the doctor left the room and came back with a scrap of paper. There were just four words on it: Dr. Tiller, Wichita, Kansas.
Sotomayor Hearings and the Culture Wars
Posted by Eleanor Smeal
Buried in the stories about the Sonia Sotomayor hearings are mentions of the arrests at the hearings of four anti-abortion protestors, including Norma McCorvey, who is the Roe of Roe v. Wade.
Not mentioned is the disgusting, little pamphlet being handed out there by supporters of Randall Terry, founder of the original Operation Rescue, an extreme anti-abortion group. In launching his 12-city tour to “defeat” Sotomayor he released this horrifying skeleton image of Sotomayor. Take a look at it and realize the depths to which the “culture wars” have sunk. Read the rest of this entry »
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