Kansas City Star Tuesday editorial

One of the great tragedies of the murder of Wichita doctor George Tiller is that it enables public policy to be shaped by a bullet.

This is a horrible notion, and must be rejected by all.

Tiller was known throughout the United States, worldwide even, as one of the few remaining U.S. doctors willing to perform late-term abortions.

How few? Back in 1990, doctors in at least seven clinics would terminate late-term pregnancies. After a rash of abortion-related murders and other violence, the number had dwindled to three, with clinics in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.

If no physician steps forward to replace Tiller, there will now be two clinics, both run by aging doctors.

“If you’re a woman who needed the care he provided, there are few options,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. “It’s a devastating loss.”

Criminals and extremists cannot be allowed to shut down a legal medical practice. The federal government must do a better job of enforcing laws and policies put in place to protect abortion providers.

The U.S. Justice Department should revive a task force that was created in 1998, after the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian. The task force coordinated information on extremist groups, helped train local police agencies and funded clinic safety measures.

Protecting abortion providers faded as a priority during the Bush administration, and the task force went largely dormant. Barack Obama’s justice department should get the effort back on track.

Tiller had survived assassination attempts in 1986 and in 1993. He spent years under guard, and always knew he was at risk.

The physician also fended off repeated legal challenges. But despite repeated investigations, grand jury inquiries and one trial, he was always found to have followed Kansas law.

Tiller’s history of threats, harassment and legal challenges does a lot to explain why his is a lonely profession. But as long as abortion is legal, Tiller told associates, women should be able to have the procedure done safely, even in the late stages of pregnancy.

Late-term abortions provoke the strongest reactions in an arena fraught with emotional debate.

Proponents note the desperate circumstances of women who seek them. The vast majority of Tiller’s patients were carrying fetuses with severe abnormalities, those familiar with the business said.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Peggy Bowman, one of Tiller’s former employees. “Almost all of these families have set up the nursery. They’re ecstatic about being pregnant and then they get that awful news.”

Opponents note how infant-like a fetus appears as it nears full term.

With little common ground and the debate showing no signs of subsiding, it’s understandable that few physicians are volunteering to enter the field.

But the last thing this country needs in the abortion debate is for a radical with a gun to be able to create de-facto public policy.

After the killing, President Barack Obama said, “However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.”

That’s absolutely correct. But Obama must do more than talk. His administration must offer more protections for physicians to carry out the legal practice of abortion.