Thank you, Dr. George Tiller

I’ve been thinking all week about George Tiller. As sad and angry—particularly at the negligent law enforcement officers of Wichita—as his murder makes me feel, what I know about George Tiller’s life uplifts me. That there was a man who, knowing he was risking his life, dedicated himself to helping women gives me new love for half the species. Reading the newspaper—yet another story of a man who murdered his children to get back at his ex-wife, or hired someone off Craigslist to rape his wife at gunpoint—I often find myself consumed with misanthropy. (Wrong word, I know—it’s not humanity I’ve got a beef with—but there isn’t the right word. No coincidence, that.)

George Tiller reminds me that while men too often consider women’s freedom a threat to be countered with brutal violence, men are also capable of making the highest sacrifice to defend the right of women to self-determination. Thank you, Dr. Tiller.

Dr. Tiller was one of only four doctors nationwide who provided the kind of late-term abortions he did. As Salon asks, where will women—and sadly, girls—go now?

"We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller." Those included women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses, and rape victims so young they didn't realize they were pregnant for months. "We sent him 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds."

To make a donation in Dr. Tiller’s name to the National Network of Abortion Funds, to help provide the kind of health care he did to poor women and women facing major obstacles to getting abortions, go here.