Abortion Doctor: "Hate Speech" Responsible For Tiller's Death

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) ― In a profile to be published in Esquire's September issue, Hern said he got hate mail and death threats in 1970 when he started working in family planning. Hern, a friend of slain Kansas doctor George Tiller, said the threats resumed in 1973 when he helped start Boulder's first non-profit clinic.

"I started sleeping with a rifle by my bed. I expected to get shot," Hern told the magazine.

Tiller was shot May 31 while serving as an usher at his church. Hern said Tiller's death was the result of 35 years of "hate speech" against abortion providers, something he blames on anti-abortion politicians and commentators.

"[Bill] O'Reilly is a disgrace to American society," he told the magazine. "He's full of shit. This is not a debate, it's a civil war. And the other people are using bullets and bombs. I think O'Reilly is a fascist, and he would fit right in in Nazi Germany as far as I'm concerned."

Besides Tiller, Hern was the only other U.S. doctor to publicly acknowledge that he performs abortions in the final weeks of pregnancy. It's not known whether other doctors are also performing such abortions but afraid to discuss it openly.

Tiller's family decided to close his clinic. A Nebraska doctor, LeRoy Carhart, has said he plans to start performing third-term abortions in Kansas.

Hern has called the straightforward name of his Boulder Abortion Clinic a declaration that abortion shouldn't be clandestine. But he told Esquire he objected to the word "abortionist" because it has become a "degrading and demeaning word that has the same negative connotations as the most despicable racial epithet."

Hern said he's been treated with contempt by fellow doctors and some of his own patients. He recalled a 14-year-old girl who told him she had to have an abortion because she wasn't old enough to have a baby. She had told a counselor abortion doctors should be killed, and he recalled asking her if she thought he should be killed too.

"Yes, you should be killed too," Hern quoted her as saying.

Hern said he believes abortions are the most important work he can do in medicine because a woman's life can depend on how it is performed. But he also said he doesn't think anyone gets used to it.

"I think we're hardwired, biologically, to protect small vulnerable creatures, especially babies. The fetuses may not be babies, but some of them are pretty close," he said.

Comments

[Talleyrand]

O'Reilly is not a fascist, he does not have that much intelligence. He is, however, an opportunist (like Beck, Limbaugh and the rest), and therefore would be a perfect candidate for the propaganda ministries of former failed dictatorships like the USSR and Nazi Germany. He and his cohorts do their work according to the local conditions. In the USA, there is such an abysmal background hum created by bloggistas, twits, and other web-based noisemakers, that only the most outrageous crap can actually make it to the airwaves to be noticed. You have to be willing to let yourself be photographed getting out of a car wearing a mini-skirt and nothhing else. That is O'Reilly, that is Limbaugh. At some point their acting is so good that they even believe the message themselves. Then they turn up the heast and increase the ratings, get a bigger paycheck, and so on.

Meanwhile, real journalists can't even get an answer to a query on serious stories. Believe me, I have tried. I am waiting for nearly 300 answers this year alone.

[gs425]

No...the killer is responsible for Tillers death.

[Poorsarah]

I will disagree that it is "hate speech" to say something is right or wrong. Every religion has their own set of rules and beliefs; and, according to our four basic human freedoms, freedom of religion is a diverse part of our world in which we live. Everyone also has the right to freedom of speech whether people agree or disagree with the issue. I will agree that they cross the line into hatred when they use cutting or demeaning words to poke fun at or hurt people; they also cross the line into hatred when they express their frustrations and/or anger into acts of violence.

[Probus]

Dr. Hern is right Billo is responsible for Tiller's death simply by putting a huge target on this innocent doctor's back. Billo is responsible for the hate speech that is connected to Dr. Tiller unfortunate death.

[mergina]

Limbaugh and the lot should be on trial as accessories to murder.

[seanparnell]

Once we overturn the First Amendment, this will be possible. Until then - not so much.

Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org

[stereolabb]

I second that. Hern is a profile in courage.

[PatA]

I served for 5 years on the board of directors for Planned Parenthood in Oklahoma City. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if the situation arose.
I experienced a life-threatening event during my first pregnancy and was denied an abortion. I miscarried one month later.
I KNOW how painful and scary it is to have the right to make a choice for yourself taken away.
All of you religious right fanatics should walk one mile in the shoes of someone who has experienced something like I did. You would lose interest in the first 500 yards and go back to your couch and your television. (and your pork rinds)

[OlongapoEd]

The doctor is absolutely right that this is a civil war, not a debate. There is no possibility of reasonable debate as long as the forced-birth agitators insist that abortion is murder and incite the murder of abortion providers. The entire right has become throughly eliminationist.

[CuriousInSeattle]

I am a Republican and support 100% the left in the abortion debate. Please , please keep aborting your zygotes, or collection of cells, or whatever you call it. I think it is wonderful.

[stefiz]

hypocrite much!

[protagonia]

The funniest word in any of your posts?

The word "Curious"!

LOL!

[tundramonkey]

Because Republicans have traditionally gone abroad for their female health needs. If women can't afford to go to Mexico, Canada, or Europe, then they can't afford family planning or health care period. Women only exist to serve as quivers for manly arrows, right? George W. Bush did the honorable thing and paid to send that underage girl to Mexico to have "the problem" solved.
The funny part is that the most extreme leftists I've ever known have been the children of Republicans. Child abuse survivors band together I guess. Check out armchairsubversives dot com for corroboration.

[PlaceboStudman]

The issue here is one of semantics. The difference between "murder" and "killing". Murder is the heinous immoral act of killing one with no purpose. Killing or terminating a life (and I do define life as being created at the moment of conception) that is medically necessary for the health and safety of the mother and the baby in order to save a life or reduce unnecessary suffering absolutely must be available for the general health and welfare of society at large. Preventing death, in some cases can be just as harmful to the health and welfare of society (in terms of over population and the distribution of resources) as the killing itself

[Opti]

Society at large and the health and safety of the mother have never weighed heavily on their minds...ju­st because you are able to think rationally. Well, you know what I mean.

[PlaceboStudman]

Sometimes it takes a battering ram of logic and rational thought to burst through the wall of ignorance and ideology.

If we don't try, it'll never happen. Evolution isnt a passive process. It is an active response to obstacles in an ever changing world

[MikaS]

I volunteer as an escort at a clinic in a nearby city. I believe in free speech but speech that seduces violence is not a right. I believe very strongly in what I do but I am also weary of it. Dr. Hern was correct and I applaud him for stating it.

[falco]

Slippery slope. Who defines "hate speech"? I personally don't like the government defining anything for me, given the state of our nation. This kind of thinking will only lead to curtailment of freedom. No thanks. Sorry for this one death as a result, but it is a risky business to begin with.

[PlaceboStudman]

Hate speech is defined as any attack that is based upon a person's identification with a group or organizations, such as "Gays (or abortion doctors, or stem cell researchers) are going to h3ll"

[ldmason45]

This is another right wing conspiracy !!! I think Bill O'Reilly was sending subluminal messages to lone crazy people to kill tiller. Who is Bill O'Reilly, or anyone else to say that a late term abortion of a viable fetus done because the baby is an inconvience not because of the mother's health is wrong? As with everything else, those conservatives who don't agree with our agenda shoud be silenced and hand over their money.

[DreamWalker]

If you honestly think that your right to free speech is absolute and comes with no responsibility, then I strongly encourage you to shout "Fire" next time you're at the movies.

[ohsapient1]

Gotta go. I hope, no matter our division we START with the fact that this is a great country and I would be honored to fight for your right to disagree with me...

[Opti]

Peace.

[jimrs6]

If your career is based on the kil ling and extraction of unborn children, you should probably expect some criticism.

[planetjeffy]

or if your career is based on telling lyyes and say crazzy stuff to get an audience (especially when one of your targets is murdered) - you should expect some criticism.

[jojothedoggirl]

As should you if you do not know the reason most women get late term abortions. But then it's really none of your business.

[ldmason45]

As you should know, the majority of the late term abortions tiller performed were not because of threat of physical harm to the mother to carry the baby to term. The babies were just an inconvienc­e..

[Opti]

Fetuses with all of their organs growing on the outside of their bodies are not children. These are emergency procedures provided to families who desperately wanted to have children. Instead, they found themselves in a nightmare. Have a little compassion. And no one cares about criticism, but Dr. Tiller was murdered in hi church during Sunday service as he served as an usher. His wife was singing in the choir. That takes "criticism" to a shocking level, does it not?

[ldmason45]

By the third trimester of pregnancy a "baby" is formed. Fully developed.

[PlaceboStudman]

If your career is based on trying to usurp power over other humans from an invisible man in the sky for your own political agenda then you should probably expect some criticism

[Opti]

Hee hee...;-)

[quindy]

Not in a civilized society. When did you read that doctors are killed in Europe for performing abortions? Also I don't find anywhere that they are criticized. The problem with people like you is that you are imposing you opinion on others regardless of circumstances.

[ohsapient1]

Gotta go. We may have amazing chasms in our belief systems, but I served as did every male member of my family to ensure each and every one of us, heathen, Christian, Muslim or otherwise have the right to freely exchange ideas.

God bless America...

[PartyPartyParty]

You do know that the Christian religion is a pagan religion? Paganism involves ritual sacrifice. Christ was crucified.

You pagan, you.