Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made a floor statement late last week honoring abortion provider George Tiller, MD, who was murdered by Scott Roeder one year ago, on May 31, 2009. Scott Roeder was convicted of the murder in March and sentenced to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole. In the statement, Reid said “Dr. Tiller was killed at point-blank range, at his place of worship, in the middle of a Sunday morning, while his wife sang in the church choir just yards away. He was murdered by an unrepentant assassin who took a life in the name of protecting life. It was an indefensible crime and an incomprehensible excuse.” Reid continued, “Just as despicable as Dr. Tiller’s death was the fact that his murder wasn’t an isolated incident. It wasn’t even the first time someone tried to kill him. His clinic was bombed in 1985. He was shot twice in 1993. And over the next 16 years, seven clinic workers would be killed before Dr. Tiller would become the eighth. More than 6,000 other acts of violence have been launched at clinics and their workers – bombings, arsons, assaults and other attacks.” He also stated, “The tragedy of Dr. Tiller’s death…is independent of the issue of abortion. It’s not about the legality of abortion or funding of abortion. These are emotional debates, and ones on which people of good faith can disagree. What so shook that Kansas town was rather an act of terrorism. What reverberated out to our borders and coasts from the center of our country was the violation of our founding principle: that we are a nation of laws, not of men.” Reid concluded, “Not all of us would choose Dr. Tiller’s profession. Not all of us would seek his services or agree with his philosophy. But it is the responsibility of every American to respect another’s right to practice his profession legally. Those who believe in the sanctity of life cannot be selective. We must value every life – not just those with which we agree.”
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