Letter of protest to the producers of Law and Order:
I was unable to catch the original broadcast of your episode titled “Dignity” (sic) as I was traveling across the state to attend an abortion clinic escort training session, learning how to defend women seeking basic medical care with some dignity from hordes of pushing, shoving, yelling, threatening, religiously motivated lunatics. Out here in the real world, abortion clinics are still being besieged by mobs that have only increased in number and in threats since the election of Barack Obama and the assassination of Dr. George Tiller last May.
Not even 5 months have passed since Dr. Tiller was shot in the head while standing in his church on a Sunday morning. When I finally watched “Dignity” I was appalled by the shameful and criminal justification you’ve articulated for the murder of one of the most courageous and heroic doctors in this country (literally: the show mounted a justifiable homicide defense for the “fictional” murderer of the “fictional” Dr. Tiller).
It is truly a sign of the times we are living in that a “liberal” show created and set in New York City, the capital of the empire, should reflect the most reactionary sentiments in this country right now. This has once again proved the point that
“[n]ow that ‘common ground’ has become ‘killing ground,’ they [the anti-abortion movement] need to be stopped, not conciliated with, through mass public condemnation, and a growing movement to protect abortion providers.”
Millions of viewers have seen “Dignity” and are being affected by its message. Any claims of poetic license are beside the point. No one would argue against fantasy or the right to create inventive stories. This is about using an entire show to slander and defame a man who was just murdered and to provide a platform for the most extreme sections of the anti-abortion movement that just murdered him! I won’t repeat all the analyses of this disgusting episode that others have passionately written .
However, a few basic facts:
- Fetuses are not babies. 90% of all abortions happen in the first trimester, when the embryo or fetus is this size or smaller:
- Late second or third trimester abortions are provided for women who truly need them and often had no one else to turn to than Dr. Tiller; including women living in NYC. Without his experience and legal ability to perform these complicated procedures, many women would have literally died.
- Because fetuses, defined by their dependent and biologically integrated status in relation to the pregnant woman, are not babies, abortion is in no way comparable to murder. Portraying abortion providers as bloodthirsty baby-haters who jump at the chance to stab newly born babies in the head with scissors is ridiculous, harmful, and throws fuel on the fire built by those inciting violence against doctors and clinics.
- Without safe and legal access to abortion, women die: not just in the past in the U.S., but around the planet today, 67,000 women die because of unsafe abortions. Many more are injured.
- There is not a single anti-abortion organization in the country that supports birth control: all of them oppose using any form of birth control as well as abortion. This should tell you that this is about women’s role in society as fundamentally being defined by our ability to bear and raise children, rather than pious concern for unwanted fetuses.
- This is not about the fetus’ dignity, but the woman’s! Outlawing abortion, or making it de facto unavailable through the murder of enough providers will not prevent abortions; it will only prevent safe and legal abortion.
It is not fanatical or hypocritical, as your writers suggest, to forthrightly assert that women are not incubators and should not be forced to bear unwanted pregnancies. In fact, it is completely consistent with a worldview that sees women as fully human to trust them to decide whether and when we want to become mothers.
Dr. George Tiller risked his life and ultimately lost it for his decades of service in the spirit of the button he wore daily: “Trust Women.” It is more than sickening that you have decided to lend your support to a movement that seeks not “dignity” for babies, but the subjugation and degradation of all women.
If you want to express your displeasure over this episode, write to the executive producer of Law and Order , Rene Balcer, at 100 University City Plaza, University City, CA 91608.
or
Select "Law & Order" from the menu on NBC.com
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Law and Order's portrayal of the "fictional doctor" was ridiculous. A defense is definitely necessary, but this article's acclaim of Tiller as a hero is a little bit ridiculous. He was a man doing an incredibly difficult job, but I don't think his practice of late term abortions was positive at all. The adoption of Tiller as a Liberal darling
is a little bit much.
Nevertheless, focusing on his portrayal in this program - I thought it was very inappropriate. Amen.
Dr. Tiller was a hero to many of his patients. But I'll let them speak for themselves:
http://www.aheartbreakingchoice.com/kansasstories.html
He provided a very much needed service to women in the face of death threats, assault, daily harassment, and public vilification. He ultimately lost his life because he made it his life's work to help women who had no where else to turn. I think that DOES make him a hero.
A lot of women ( please note I did not say "all")note him as a "hero" because he brought relief and compassion in a bad situation, not saved their very lives. Heroes save lives.
Even Catholic hospitals will perform a third trimester abortion to save the life of the mother. This is something I regrettably know for a fact as my mother has a hero at one of the Catholic churches and when my pregnancy got rocky that option of treatment was definitely on the table while a crucifix was on the wall above my hospital bed.
I think his profession made him a wonderful person in the eyes of those who benefitted from/needed his service.
I can't tell if you're disagreeing with me or not.
If so, I think you're definition of "hero" is too narrow.
It may be, I think we throw hero around far too often. I've heard people being called heroes for not littering...isn't that what you're SUPPOSED to do?
Being an abortion provider was his chosen speciality as a gyn/doctor and for him to be anything less than sympathetic to his patients woulld be an atrocity. Now, had he done any pro-bono work then you can sway me to the heroic side of the spectrum.
Because if I am not mistaken- the common issue on abortion is that it IS expensive and that in his practice he pretty much performed all if not most of the abortions personally and was paid dazzling dollars (thats a 100 steps up from pretty pennies in case you were wondering)to put himself at risk. Cops are paid less than he was and the good ones certainly put their lives on the line, are harrassed, assualted or threatened everytime they go to work but going to work doesn't make them heroes- its when they actually save a life/lives that everyone calls them heroes.
its when they actually save a life/lives that everyone calls them heroes.
No, that's only when YOU call them a hero. I think police officers who do their duties to uphold the law in the face of danger and do nothing to exploit their status or power within society definitely ARE heroes, too, whether or not they've saved a specific life.
I also don't think the fact that Dr. Tiller charged for his services negates that he went to work every day to help women in the face of death threats and harassment.
I think what makes Dr. Tiller a hero was all the things along the lines of intimidation and death threats he put up with, and still continued to do his job. Even when death threats were pouring in he continued when he could have stopped doing abortions all together or at least limited himself to performing them in the first trimester thereby possibly reducing his notoriety and position as a target of interest for anti-choicers. Instead he continued to perform late-term abortions even though he knew he was endangering his life. I think he and everyone who worked in his clinic can be described as heroes. The only counter argument I would really consider would be that of if pro-bono and low-income procedures were offered.
"Because fetuses, defined by their dependent and biologically integrated status in relation to the pregnant woman, are not babies, abortion is in no way comparable to murder."
The same thing you said here is why many people are vehemently against anyone being charged for causing the death of an unborn but WANTED fetus against the pregnant mother's will.
The line of argument that protects people from being prosecuted for aborting healthy or fetuses who do not pose a physical health risk to the pregnant mother has been the same line that allowed for what was essentially the murder of someone's child to pass as assault on the mother- the less damage it did to HER body (as in anything not being the fetus) the less the charge was.
Let's not say that viable fetuses are not babies for the sake of jsutifying something that needs no justification. Abortion isn't about what's best for babies or fetuses it's about what's best for the pregnant woman.
Let's not say that viable fetuses are not babies for the sake of jsutifying something that needs no justification. Abortion isn't about what's best for babies or fetuses it's about what's best for the pregnant woman.
I think that's a very good way of putting it. I always hate the "But it's a fetus, not a baby!" argument because it seems to suggest the pro-choice fight hinges on whether there's life vs. no life or a baby vs. just a mass of cells. It doesn't. It has everything to do with the woman's right to bodily autonomy and the fact that no person should be legally mandated to give up use of his or her body to save someone else's health or life.
Saying, "It's not a baby!" seems so hand-wringing and apologetic and trying to make abortion seem nicer and more palatable.
Exxxaaaactly!! If we make it about "but the fetus was better off aborted" or " its NOT a baby!" then that gives teh pro-lifer a leg to stand on. If they prove you wrong, you lose the argument.
I have to disagree with the last two comments about how the 'fetus is not a baby' argument undermines the pro-choice argument. I mean, if you agree that fetus is a baby, meaning an actual human being, how can you say that what's "best" for the pregnant woman trumps the life of that human being? I'm just really confused by the proposition that it is irrelevant whether a fetus is a baby or not. It seems entirely relevant to me.
It basically comes back to bodily autonomy arguments. Whether or not a fetus is a baby or has a 'right to life', you have to ask yourself 'when, if ever, does a woman lose the right to control over her own body?' I can't think of another situation where a person's right to bodily autonomy would be negated, at least among mature and mentally competent people.
If you feel the right to bodily autonomy is absolute, then whether or not a fetus is a baby really doesn't matter, because as long as it's within the womb, the mother has the right to demand it be removed.
Let's say, for a moment, that we did grant fetii all the rights of a born person, including right to life.
Abortion would still be acceptable, and here's why. While it could be argued that it'd be a very nice thing to do, I'm not morally obligated to give up body parts/products or the use of my body. I don't *have* to give up so much as a pint of blood, even if the cost of not doing so is someone's life. If I can't even be forced to do that, how much less am I obligated to give up an organ, or go through 9 months of pregnancy and then childbirth.
90% of all abortions happen when the fetus (or embryo in many cases) is tiny. I neglected to include the size in my post. After three months (remember, 90% of all abortions happen before this point), the fetus is this long: oooooooooooooo
(see: http://revcom.us/a/1265/what-is-abortion.htm)
So it's quite relevant to show how bogus all the pictures of perfectly formed, chubby, smiling infants that are used by the antis are. And I see no quarrel with the autonomy argument here - babies do not exist within other human beings. Fetuses do. That's what makes them fetuses and not babies.
One time I was counterprotesting a big anti-abortion mobilization and a woman came up to me and asked what the difference is between a baby and a fetus (she also asked an anti who just yelled: "they're the same thing!!") - I answered, "A fetus exists within, and is biologically integrated into and dependent on the woman. What makes it a human being is that it is born and becomes a part of our society." She was like... "Ooohhh. Now I get it! Society." She still seemed somewhat troubled by the issue but at least now she felt like she understood how we could have clarity on it. So I think this point bears repeating and explaining to people.
As for Dr. Tiller being a hero... there's no doubt about it. He was shot in both arms and went back to work the *next day.* His whole life was saving women's lives, and risking his life and well-being to do it. Listen to what he said:
“Make no mistake, this battle is about self-determination by women of the direction and course of their lives and their family’s lives. Abortion is about women’s hopes and dreams. Abortion is a matter of survival for women.”
It's a crying shame if we women can't see what his life was all about and honor his memory by speaking out against his public defaming and preventing any other acts of violence against our doctors.