UPDATE

According to the Wichita Eagle, a suspect in the shooting has been arrested and is in police custody. The police have said that the suspect is 51 years old and the license plate number on a light blue Ford Taurus led to the arrest. The name circulating on the Internet is Scott Roeder, the owner of the Taurus. There is a Scott Roeder who is a member of Operation Rescue. President Obama said that he was “shocked and outraged” by the murder. “However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence,” the president said in a statement issued by the White House.

Of course, a member of the Operation Rescue group has spoken out. Randall Terry, the founder of the group, said that he was more concerned about President Obama’s comments than about the violent death of Dr. Tiller. In his comments, Terry does not grieve for Tiller or denounce the murder but seems more concerned about the president’s reaction and what it bodes for the pro-life movement.

“George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.” Source: Huffington Post

Wow, such vitriol. This is certainly not the way to go about reaching a common ground. This man’s murder will not stop the abortion debate one bit.

George Tiller, Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle

Abortion doctor, George Tiller, 67, has been shot and killed just after 10 a.m. this morning as he walked to services at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he was a member. No information has been released about whether the suspect is in police custody. You will recall that Tiller became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion. His clinic, Women’s Health Care Services is one of a few in the country where late-term abortions are performed. Protesters blockaded Tiller’s clinic during Operation Rescue’s “Summer of Mercy” protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993. He was wounded in both arms and Ms. Shannon remains in prison for the shooting. I scarcely believe murdering Dr. Tiller will put an end to the abortion debate.

Members of the congregation who were inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting were being kept inside the church by police, and those arriving were being ushered into the parking lot. Witnesses are being transported downtown for interviews and other members of the congregation are slowly being released from inside the sanctuary.

The clinic was severely vandalized earlier this month. His lawyer said wires to security cameras and outdoor lights were cut and that the vandals also cut through the roof and plugged the buildings’ downspouts. Rain poured through the roof and caused thousands of dollars of damage in the clinic. Tiller reportedly asked the FBI to investigate the incident.

Sgt. Bart Brunscheen of the Wichita Police Department said there has been no activity today at Tiller’s clinic, although security crews were being brought in to make sure the building was secure. Officials also were going to check the clinic’s security cameras to see if there was any activity over night.

Tiller and his clinic have faced continuous threats and lawsuits. A Wichita jury ruled in March that he was not guilty of illegal abortion on 19 criminal charges he faced for allegedly violating a state law requiring an “independent” second physician’s concurring opinion before performing later term abortions. Immediately following the ruling in this criminal case, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts made public a similar complaint against Tiller that was originally filed in December 2008. Tiller’s medical license could eventually be suspended or revoked by the board on the basis of the complaint. Source: Wichita Eagle

There’s a new twist to this murder. Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly had come out forcefully against Dr. Tiller. According to Salon, has characterized him as “a savage on the loose,” saying he’s guilty of “Nazi stuff,” and “a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida.” He has said that Tiller “destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000.” I hope that people will remind Bill O’Reilly of all the incendiary things he said about this man and about others with whom he has philosophical and ideological differences. I am in no way inferring that O’Reilly is the cause of this man’s untimely death, but we must end the character assassinations that can foment such animosity.

Killing Dr. Tiller will certainly not put an end to the sometimes heated debate about abortion. It will cause the issue to be brought front and center once more. Though I am personally against abortion, nonetheless, I believe it isn’t my right to tell another woman what she can and cannot do with her body, nor should it be the right of the government to intervene in such a personal and painful decision.