After Tiller, Before Acceptance

Recently, I watched a documentary called After Tiller, which follows the careers of Dr. Leroy Carhart, Dr. Warren Hern, Dr. Susan Robinson, and Dr. Shelly Sella, the only four doctors in the United States who can perform late-term abortions, after the 2009 assassination of their colleague Dr. George Tiller. Tiller performed late-term abortions and was shot by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, while serving as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.

Before watching this, I had absolutely no idea such a situation even existed. Obviously I was familiar with the struggle for the rights of women to have the ability to terminate their pregnancies if they so choose, but I had never considered or heard of the struggle of doctors who are tasked with helping women end a pregnancy after the so-called “deadline” for abortions. Most states have time restrictions on what they deem to be a legal abortion, but it can vary greatly from place to place, which only creates more confusion and a greater challenge for people trying to help women who have surpassed the states cut off date (for a list of each states week restrictions follow this link).  

These people really are doing amazing work. They face death threats, frustratingly ridiculous laws, and constant stigma, simply because they are trying to help people. All four doctors unanimously agree that the reason they stay in their field of work, despite all of it’s hardships, is because they know if they were not around to assist women who wish to receive abortions, those women would become desperate and find other, possibly dangerous, ways to end their pregnancies. At one point Dr. Susan Robinson laments that she doesn’t feel she can ever retire because there are so few people who do her work, she worries about what the future will hold for her patients if she is not around. Due to their amazing dedication and constant support of women’s rights, I believe that these four doctors are themselves a small but crucial social movement. They are tireless in their efforts to complete their jobs to the best of their abilities and they constantly push for greater acceptance and support of not only themselves, but the women the work with as well. Their understanding is essential to the welfare of anyone who doesn’t feel they can continue a pregnancy.

So, because they are their own movement, I must ask; what then is the tipping point? When will people understand that there are so many reasons to end a pregnancy and these doctors are simply doing what is best for their patients. The movie interviews several women seeking late-term abortions and each of them has a different and highly personal reason for choosing to do so. A few have babies who will not survive after birth because of various conditions, one woman became pregnant after being rape, another woman does not have the financial means to support herself let alone a child, and the last girl they interview is a teenager who is not ready to become a mother. All of these women have completely valid reasons for wanting an abortion and yet many try to stop them performing an act that has the possibility of bettering the situations of both the mothers and the children. 

In the mindset of Betty Friedan, I am not pro-abortion, I am pro a woman’s right to choose. No one wants an abortion, it isn’t a pleasing or satisfying act, but for many it is necessary and were it not for these four courageous doctors a number of people would be denied the access to their reproductive rights. This is a movement that can not be allowed to die.  

Edit: This is a fantastic spoken-word poem about abortion called "What Women Deserve" by Sonya Renee