It is a gorgeous, sunny Sunday afternoon and I am with my family. I flew home last night, just in time to attend a beautiful outdoor wedding reception. The trees were strung with lights, the night air- warm and inviting. The mood of the garden embraced each guest as they floated around the open space. We were all there for love.
This morning, I had a flashback to one year ago, this exact day in this exact place one week from today. It was a Sunday morning. I was at home. I was with my family. But on that day, the mood was heavy and although it was early morning, I could see no sun in the sky. It was that morning, I found out about Dr. Tiller’s murder. I was in complete and utter shock. My mind could not process the news. My hands and body were shaking so much I could barely read the news, slowly and then steadily appearing online.
I then broke the news to my mom, and as she started to process it, we began to call our loved ones and share in the inability to comprehend what had just happened. How things would never be the same. For women. For us. For his family. We were all struggling with feelings of outrage and anger, grief and sadness.
It was a Sunday. God’s day (some people would say). And dear George Tiller was at church, unarmed and unaware of what was about to happen. I think about him often, totally vulnerable.
Last year, I was at home. There was a ceremony. It was a Sunday. We lit candles in the backyard. Lots and lots of candles, one for every year he supported women in their choice to have an abortion. In their right to a happy and fulfilling life. All our loved ones were there. The mood embraced every person, but this time it was of heartache. Sadness. Disbelief. And yet, we were all there for love.
Today, I want to share his words:
“Abortion is not a cerebral or a reproductive issue. Abortion is a matter of the heart. For until one understands the heart of a woman, nothing else about abortion makes any sense at all.”
Dr. George Tiller
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