Roeder Found Guilty of First Degree Murder

Today we released the following statement:

Today in just 37 minutes, the jury in Wichita found Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

While this verdict won't bring back Dr. Tiller, it is important that justice was served. Important for the safety and security of other abortion providers and important for women's continued ability to access quality abortion care.

In a civilized society, we cannot allow anti-abortion extremists to murder abortion providers in order to advance their own religious and political beliefs.

There is no justification for murdering doctors who provide abortion care. We hope this verdict will be a deterrent to those who may be considering following in Roeder's footsteps, and send a clear signal that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Wednesday's Words from Women

Over one-third of women of reproductive age have an abortion by the age of 45. However, women who have chosen abortion are often absent from the public debate. In order to break the silence surrounding abortion, we will be featuring real stories from real women each Wednesday on our blog. If you would like to share your story with us or have it published on our blog, go to http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/hotline/share.html.

Right now is just not a good time to have another baby. I’m the only one working in a household of five. To bring another person into my household would be unfair to the unborn child and to others in the house. I am pro-choice because I think I should be able to decide what is right for me and my family--not people who don’t know me or my situation or who are going to judge me for my actions. All circumstances are different and accidents happen to women and families. I can’t tell you how much the Hotline and clinic are helping me today. I appreciate it so much--thank you to everyone that makes it possible.

--Submitted by Carol* through a member clinic.

*Name has been changed to protect patient privacy

National Abortion Federation and ACLU Ask Court To Preclude Voluntary Manslaughter Charge In Trial Of Dr. Tiller’s Murderer

Today we issued this statement announcing a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the National Abortion Federation:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the National Abortion Federation, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Kansas in the trial of Scott Roeder, the alleged murderer of Dr. George Tiller, asking the court to preclude Roeder from arguing his anti-abortion beliefs in support of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter rather than first degree murder.

“In a civilized society we cannot allow extremists to commit murder to advance their own religious or political beliefs,” said Vicki Saporta, President of the National Abortion Federation. “Scott Roeder should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Allowing the defense to argue that Scott Roeder’s anti-abortion beliefs in any way lessen his accountability in Dr. Tiller’s murder sends an ominous signal to all vigilantes,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We should all be concerned; having sincere political beliefs does not mean someone should be able to get away with murder.”

Scott Roeder has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller on May 31, 2009, while Dr. Tiller was attending services at his local church. Earlier this month, in pre-trial hearings, Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert ruled that he would not allow Roeder to use a justifiable homicide defense, but left open the possibility that the defense could put on evidence that would support the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. This ruling might permit Roeder to argue that he was motivated by anti-abortion beliefs and therefore should be held less accountable.

“This is a dangerous misinterpretation of the law,” said Doug Bonney, Chief Counsel & Legal Director, ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri. “No matter what our political or moral beliefs, we are not entitled to kill those who disagree with us. We would not allow someone who murders a general to get a lesser sentence because the murder was motivated by a belief that war is unjustifiable.”

Doctors who provide abortion care deserve the full protection of the law. They devote their lives to ensuring that women can obtain the health care they need. It is important that we support a woman’s ability to make this most private, personal decision, and it is critical that we protect the medical professionals who care for them.

If convicted of first degree murder, Roeder could be facing a life sentence; if convicted of voluntary manslaughter, he could receive less than 10 years for Dr. Tiller’s murder.

Lawyers on today’s brief include Kolbi-Molinas and Talcott Camp of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project and Bonney of the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri.

The ACLU brief is available at http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/state-kansas-v-roeder-aclu-amicus-brief

Wednesday's Words from Women

Over one-third of women of reproductive age have an abortion by the age of 45. However, women who have chosen abortion are often absent from the public debate. In order to break the silence surrounding abortion, we will be featuring real stories from real women each Wednesday on our blog. If you would like to share your story with us or have it published on our blog, go to http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/hotline/share.html.

I am a full-time student carrying a 3.7 GPA, and the proud mother to a two-year-old, mildly autistic, special needs child with a severe seizure disorder. Having another child at this hectic and sometimes frightening stage in my life would do both children an injustice. I can’t tell the relief I felt following my abortion, when all was said and done and I was still healthy, and my beautiful son still happy. The staff at the clinic was respectful and amazingly helpful, and at no point did I feel pressured to do something that I didn’t want to do.

--submitted by Sandra* through a member clinic


My daughter suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a violent rape. She will never be the same innocent girl she was. Her decision to have an abortion has not been an easy one. As my support has always been there, no one understands how hard, how much it hurts, or the confusion, unless you have walked in those shoes. The protesters that walk outside the building, with their shouts and their signs, have no clue about my daughter’s story. The clinic helped my daughter “walk where no woman wants to walk.” It was not planned and it was not her fault. Thank you to the Hotline for helping my daughter.

--submitted by Loretta,* on behalf of her daughter Alexandra,* through a member clinic

*Names have been changed to protect patient privacy

Wednesday's Words from Women

Over one-third of women of reproductive age have an abortion by the age of 45. However, women who have chosen abortion are often absent from the public debate. In order to break the silence surrounding abortion, we will be featuring real stories from real women each Wednesday on our blog. If you would like to share your story with us or have it published on our blog, go to http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/hotline/share.html.

Due to my situation, the clinic and the Hotline have been my life savers. I am a single mother of three, and at the time, I found myself in a very bad predicament. I am basically homeless and have no income. With the help of the clinic and Hotline, I am able to focus on getting my life back on track and providing for the children I already have.

--submitted by Lynn* through a member clinic


My first semester in college, I was raped. A couple of weeks later, I took a pregnancy test and found out that the person who raped me had gotten me pregnant. I am pro-choice because if a girl ever has to go through something like that, they need the choice. If the choice is not out there, women will find other, less safe ways not to have a child.

--submitted by Gail* through a member clinic

*Names have been changed to protect patient privacy

Wednesday's Words from Women

Over one-third of women of reproductive age have an abortion by the age of 45. However, women who have chosen abortion are often absent from the public debate. In order to break the silence surrounding abortion, we will be featuring real stories from real women each Wednesday on our blog. If you would like to share your story with us or have it published on our blog, go to http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/hotline/share.html.

The Hotline and the clinic helped me a great deal during this difficult time in my life. I am a single mom trying to move forward in my life. Due to financial hardships and no help from my child’s father, the light of success seems too dim to see. I thank the people at both the clinic and the Hotline for giving me and my son a chance for a clean slate.

--submitted by Diana* through a member clinic


I grew up in an anti-choice household, but ever since I was able to truly think through the issue, have been pro-choice. But like many beliefs, for most of my life it went untested. Then, last spring, I became pregnant and came face-to-face with my belief that women have the right to their own body, including the right to an abortion. I was 29, had a master's degree, was employed full-time and had a supportive network of friends and family. By some standards I had everything necessary to adequately take care of a child. But I wasn't ready. I had just ended an unhealthy relationship; I didn't want to be pregnant. I didn't want to have a child. It was and always will be my body. I made a choice that was best for me. My body, my choice, and thankfully still my legal right.

--submitted by Susan* through our website

*Names have been changed to protect patient privacy

NAF Member Shares Stories of Providers, Patients in New Book

NAF member Carole Joffe has just published a new book, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us.

After thirty years embedded in reproductive-health research, Joffe relays compelling testimony from doctors, health care workers, and patients as they struggle against barriers that attempt to shame women and marginalize physicians, even within the medical community. Real-life stories include those of poverty-stricken rape victims scrambling—and sometimes failing—to cover the cost of abortions that should be covered by Medicaid; a doctor having to beg her superior for permission to perform in-hospital an abortion too complicated to handle at a clinic; and a woman whose miscarriage caused septic shock, and was refused care and bundled off to another hospital.

Some of the real-life stories come from Joffe’s observations of the NAF Hotline.

>Read more about the book.