February-May, 2009: Subsequently Murdered Late-Term Abortion Provider and Supporters Notice ‘Uptick’ in Anti-Abortion Activity

In the weeks before his murder on May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller, who provides late-term abortions as part of his medical practice, has a feeling something major is planned. Other abortion rights advocates across the country will later say they notice an uptick in incidents and threats before the shooting: more people at protests, more clinic vandalism, and more singling-out of doctors. Tiller’s colleague Susan Hill will recall: “I said, ‘George, I think there’s something coming.’ He said, ‘I do, too.’ Strange things were happening in our Mississippi clinic and in North Carolina. He admitted that for the first time, he really believed that something was going to go down.” Warren Hern, one of the handful of remaining doctors who perform late-term abortions, will say he is not receiving the protection he needs from constant harassment at his Boulder, Colorado, clinic: “I’m practicing medicine. I’m doing something legal. Why should I have to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, to keep from getting shot and to protect my patients? This is madness.” [Kansas City Star, 6/5/2009]