my body and your satan

right outside my window, the sun is shining, it's warm and kids are throwing and catching balls. grown-ups are kicking them. couples are strolling, dogs are playing frisbee and the ice cream truck is going round and round. everybody living life, simply.

a few hours ago in wichita, dr. george tiller was shot to death in the lobby of his lutheran church. IN CHURCH.

dr. tiller was a family planning services doctor, and one of the few in the country who still performed late-term abortions. a few years ago, the religious right nutters were yakking and yakking about "partial birth abortions", which obviously sounds very upsetting. these are not mothers who *snap* and decide to terminate at the last minute. they are women confronted with a tragic decision, of a no longer viable baby, that could quite possibly kill or seriously injure them in the birth process. sometimes the fetus is horribly handicapped or already dead. these are lost children, sadly mourned by the women and families who must give them up.

his clinic offers funerary services, including photography, footprinting and handprinting, baptism, cremation, help for burial in or out of state, and arrangement for autopsy.

in 1986, his clinic was bombed. in 1991, it was blockaded for 6 weeks by operation rescue people. in 1993, he was shot in both arms as he left work. he and his family received regular death threats.

earlier this month, tiller had asked the fbi to investigate an incident where vandals cut wires to security cameras, cut holes in the roof and plugged downspouts, resulting in thousands of dollars in damage to the clinic.

now he is dead.

neal horsley, a devout born-again who is running for governor of georgia, maintains a website that publishes the home addresses of abortion doctors across the country. when one is killed a red line is drawn through his name.

randall terry: "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."

what are the men and women who harass, intimidate and attack patients and doctors? they are not pro-life. that phrase is meaningless. it's as banal as "support the troops". who the fuck doesn't? no, those people shouting and screaming outside of planned parenthood, those people making bombs and shooting guns are terrorists. domestic terrorists, attempting to legitimize and achieve their agenda through fear, and any means, lawful or no. they are not righteous, good OR christian in any sense of any of those words.

for a few years, i had a dentist whose office was in a medical building that had an abortion clinic in it also. in fact, it was where i got my abortion years before. going to get my teeth cleaned i had to run a gauntlet of hostility -- jeering and shouting, "baby-killer!' "jesus loves your baby!" "you will burn in hell for killing that baby!" it was terrifying. i got a new dentist. the town had to spend tens of thousands of dollars on extra police security. it was one of the clinics where john salvi opened fire in 1995.

abortion is legal in this country. it is a private and painful decision. i don't know anyone who was glib about terminating. that these loonies bookend their hate and violence with words of god makes me sick. if you want to carry out a pregnancy that may kill you, be my guest. do not attempt to force me to make my decision your way.

my heart aches for his family and their senseless loss. in fucking church.

sickening.