The Devaluation of Life

Yesterday, while serving as an usher at his church, Dr. George Tiller was shot and murdered.

His accused murderer was caught and arrested about three hours later.

In case you do not know who Dr. George Tiller is, allow me to explain. Dr. Tiller became famous for being one of a handful of physicians who routinely performed late-term abortions (after 21 weeks and the period of viability). His clinic has been protested many, many times. He and his family have been threatened, he was shot in both arms once before, and his clinic has been vandalized. He lived under constant threats and with security guards watching his every move. Yet still, he was murdered in cold blood.

No matter how despicable this doctor's actions are to me, no matter how very wrong it is for a doctor to take an innocent human life....the man who killed this abortion doctor in cold blood is just as despicable and wrong, make no mistake about it.

The bigger issue here is important, however. Many who support abortion see no problem with taking an innocent baby's life for the sake of convenience, because let's face it, that's the number one reason for abortion. In fact, if a woman simply does not want to be pregnant, that alone is reason enough for someone like Dr. Tiller to abort her baby...even after the point at which that baby could easily have survived outside the womb. Pro-abortion supporters cheer the woman's "right to choose". To them, there is nothing wrong or shameful or unlawful about taking this innocent life.

Consider now how this differs from what Dr. Tiller's accused murder did. Presumably, the man who shot Dr. Tiller disagreed with what the Dr. was doing and didn't want him around anymore. To the shooter, Dr. Tiller was an inconvenience and therefore he "chose" to abort his life because he didn't want him around any longer.

Are the situations really all that different, if we take away the emotions?

Don't misunderstand me for a second. I absolutely 100% disagree with what the shooter did. It is unmistakeably wrong for the shooter to kill someone, even if that someone inconvenienced him or disagreed with him. I just wonder why we see abortion, and in particular late-term abortion, as anything different. If we begin to see some lives as valuable and others as worthless, where do you draw the line? If the only difference is that we could see Dr. Tiller's face and hear his voice, if these attributes alone gave him value and worth, then I think we have a whole lot of hypocrites who support one type of murder over another.

They're both wrong and they both should be condemned.