Two Thoughts on the Murder of George Tiller

Actually I have three thoughts. To get the first one out of the way, the murder of George Tiller is wrong. As evil as Tiller’s mass late-term abortions were, killing him was wrong.

Second, this killing is the sort of thing that subverting constitutional democracy invites. One reason we have our constitutional democracy is so that heated issues can be dealt with by political means. We want to resolve issues like abortion by the ballot box and by the deliberation by those we elect, not by the gun.

But when those democratic means are cut off by unconstitutional judicial fiat, as in the case of elective abortion, the motivation to resort to the gun increases. And a few unstable people likely will do so. It is no coincidence that anti-abortion violence increased after Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe v. Wade in 1992. Hope to combat abortion by democratic means was dashed. So a few people felt compelled to resort to violent means.

I’m not inside the head of the man who killed Tiller. And one should not extrapolate too much from one incident. But if you arbitrarily cut off the constitutional democratic process on a heated issue as the Supreme Court has on abortion, then violence is a likely outcome. And the election of Obama certainly reduces hope of overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the abortion issue to the people and their representatives, making this another likely time for violence.

Third, it is right that pro-lifers are almost unanimously condemning the murder of Tiller. But as for those who defend elective late-term abortions, allow me to save them the trouble. If you defend elective late-term abortions, you have less moral judgement than a dog. Any outrage from you over Tiller’s killing or over just about anything is worth less than said dog’s bark. So you need not bother.

You’re welcome.