Violence, Threats Have Marked Anti-Abortion Protest from Day One / Rachel Maddow/2019
In the podcast episode “Violence, Threats Have Marked Anti-Abortion Protest from Day One” presented by Rachel Maddow listeners hear about a doctor by the name of George Tiller, Who stood up to extremists to ensure abortion access. Although the podcast told the whole story of the antiabortion movement, the story of Dr. George Tiller consumed the listeners. In a small conservative town, Wichita Kansas, one doctor does not back down to angry protestors. When Dr. Tiller learned of the procedures his father had done for many women in the area, he knew it was what he needed to continue to do. So then, Tiller began to offer abortions to his clients. George Tiller knew if he didn’t help those woman they would find unhealthy ways to terminate their pregnancies. Many women had died from the lack of abortions provided until Tiller reinstated them in his clinic. Death threats were made to Tiller in the form of wanted posters. These posters provided addresses, pictures, and personal information of various doctors. Dr. Tiller was shot outside of his clinic and lived, he then went back to work immediately. Later proceeding a trial, Tiller was shot and killed at church during Sunday mass. The podcast highlighted how Dr. Tiller and other doctors were dedicated to providing special care for many women.
This podcast was very interesting to me because I have a strong opinion on abortion rights. One of the many things suppressing women in today’s society is their right to health care. The availability of women’s clinics like planned parenthood is crucial to women’s health in that, it is their natural right and without it, one may seek unprofessional help.
Every woman should have the right to choose what they do with their bodies. Planned Parenthood clinics provide anything from normal health services to birth control to abortions. If those services were not available, women may find harmful ways to get them. In the podcast, there was a story told about a woman whom Tiller had known for a long time that had an abortion done from an unprofessional and died because those services were not available to her. Imagine how many women would be affected if abortions were made illegal across the united states. According to socialistworker.org if abortions were illegal there would be 10,000 deaths per year resulting from unauthorized procedures. I look at abortions the same way I look at prohibition, people wanted alcohol so they found ways to get alcohol, some women may need abortions for any number of reasons so the government might as well find a safe way to provide that for them.
AH
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