George Tiller Biography

George Tiller became known as one of the only doctors in America who provided late-term abortions. He was beloved by the people who needed his care and could find it nowhere else; he was hated by "pro-life" anti-abortion activists who considered his work to be murder. After leaving the Navy in 1970, Tiller planned to become a dermatologist, but a family tragedy changed his plans. His parents, sister and brother-in-law were killed in an airplane accident. He took over his father's medical practice and discovered that his father had provided (then illegal) abortions, giving women a safe option for a procedure that could be dangerous to the health of the mother when performed by non-professionals. Deranged anti-abortion activists bombed Tiller's clinic in 1985 and he was shot in both arms in 1993. Finally, on May 31, 2009, while serving as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas, Tiller was fatally shot.