Family Life

06.01.09 | FL News Team

The murder of controvesial late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller brought people from both sides of the issue together to his Kansas clinic to pray for the slain 67-year-old and his family. Anti-abortion activists who had previously led protests at the clinic found themselves in the position of praying for Dr. Tiller yesterday.

Many pro-choice residents turned out to pray as well. This, after the doctor was gunned down during Sunday morning church services. He was serving as an usher in the lobby of the Reformation Lutherna Church in Wichita when he was shot and killed around 10am local time.

Investigators say the shooter threatened two people who tried to stop him from leaving the scene. The suspect, identified as a 51-year-old man named Scott Roeder, was apprehended about two hours later some 150 miles from the crime scene.

As one of the few abortion providers in the U.S. to perform late-term abortions, Dr. Tiller was the target of both legal and illegal anti-abortion efforts before he was fatally shot Sunday. In March he was acquitted on 19-criminal counts for alleged violations of the state's late-term abortion regulations.

His clinic has been vandalized and has been the site of almost daily marches and monitoring by pro-life protesters. In 1993, Tiller suffered injuries in both arms when he was shot at the Wichita clinic. Rachelle Shannon remains in prison for the shooting.