Tiller's abortion clinic to close permanently

[topaz]

When George Tiller was killed a couple of weeks ago, the clinic's management said that it would close for the following week to regroup, but would reopen afterward.  Or at least that's how I recall it.

That is not to be.  The Tiller family announced today that the clinic would remain permanently closed.

Who can blame them?  But the result is that there are only two facilities now in the U.S. where women at risk can seek late-term abortions.

I take a little bitter comfort in knowing that this move leaves abortion opponents are distraught and at a loss, for purely tactical reasons:

Although Operation Rescue worked for years to close down Dr. Tiller’s clinic, his death was never the outcome Mr. Newman wished for, he said. Of the man charged with killing Dr. Tiller, he tearfully said, “This idiot did more to damage the pro-life movement than you can imagine.” (NYT)

Comments

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

“This idiot did more to damage the pro-life movement than you can imagine.”

I don't know, I can imagine quite a bit.

[mangosteen]

“This idiot did more to damage the pro-life movement than you can imagine.”

I don't buy it. "That idiot" showed that extralegal tactics are effective. I want to know what they're saying in private.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

This site (http://www.abortion.com/abortion_clinics_late_term.php) lists eight-- is it out of date?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I guess "late-term abortion" is not as clear-cut a term as I had thought. My understanding -- and it is possible I am incorrect -- is that there were only three clinics in the U.S. that would perform abortions after the 21st or 22nd week of pregnancy, of which Women's Health Care Services in Wichita was one. It looks to me like most of the sites on that list do not perform abortions after that date, though they do offer late 2nd-trimester abortions.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Are most late-term abortions because the fetus is going to die anyway (like in the case of anencephaly where the fetus has no brain or skull)? Or maybe the mother becomes dangerously ill?

Will these move away from clinics and into hospitals?

[keyne.livejournal.com]

The second trimester runs roughly 14-27 weeks, so "late 2nd-trimester" would necessarily mean after the 21st or 22nd week.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Can someone explain to me why his killer -- and the latter's supporters/enablers -- are not being tried as terrorists? Because this is exactly what the overused term "terrorism" really means.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I could try, but I shouldn't say something that bitter in a friend's journal.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

In this context, what do you mean by trying them as terrorists? Trying them by military commissions? AFAIK, the enabling legislation for that only explicitly covers alien enemy combatants.

In the Padilla case, the Bush administration argued that US citizens working for Al Qaeda were covered by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, but that addressed people and organizations that "planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001" ... "in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." Domestic terrorism wasn't addressed, so even if the Obama administration agrees with its predecessors' interpretation, it wouldn't apply in this case.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Well, all right, I guess the legal mechanisms we have that target "terrorism" don't cover this case. But I'd sure like to see more people at least identifying it as terrorism.

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

Probably because it doesn't fit the legal definition (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002331----000-.html) of "domestic terrorism."

[ctseawa.livejournal.com]

Chalk one up for the American Taliban, a collection of terrorist organizations but not treated as such since they're American and "Christian".

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

The term I like for these people is "Talibangelists," which I encountered a few years ago online. I find it gets the point across nicely.

[ctseawa.livejournal.com]

I like it. I'll have to try to remember this one.