Tiller Murder Increases Tension Over 'Common Ground' Approach To Abortion-Rights Debate

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 04 Jun 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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The recent murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller has increased tensions between groups on both sides of the abortion debate at a time when the White House is advocating a move toward "common ground" on the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tiller, one of the few doctors who performed abortions later in pregnancy, was shot to death in his church on Sunday. According to the Times, some advocates feel that the murder will further complicate the Obama administration's efforts to find areas for agreement in the abortion-rights debate. Abortion-rights advocate Cristina Page -- an author and blogger who attended initial White House meetings on forming effective reproductive health policies -- called Tiller's death a "massive setback" to the idea of finding common ground with abortion-rights opponents. She added that it is "sort of like having a family member murdered and then being asked to make nice with the assassin's family. It's unnatural." However, some antiabortion-rights groups say that President Obama's policy moves, such as his proposal to rescind the Bush administration's provider "conscience" rule, have undercut his calls for compromise. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said, "It is very hard to find common ground when none of your policies overlap with the people you are trying to find common ground with."

The Obama administration in the coming months plans to continue meetings with advocates on both sides of the abortion debate as it drafts policy proposals aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion, the Times reports. According to the Times, one area of debate that arose after the first meeting was the White House's distinction between reducing the need for abortion versus some antiabortion-rights advocates' focus on reducing the number of abortions. After the meeting, Wendy Wright, president of the antiabortion-group Concerned Women for America, blogged that she disagreed with abortion-rights advocates' objections to the phrase "reducing abortions." Page said that Wright seemed to aim to start a fight over words to impede discussion. "We've gotten dragged very quickly, by [Wright], back to the same debate that we've all suffered through for 36 years," Page said. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that the "issue should be reducing the number of unintended pregnancies." Melody Barnes, head of Obama's Domestic Policy Council, said in an interview in May that the White House's "goal is to reduce the need for abortions. ... If people have better access to contraception, that's a way of addressing the issue at its root, rather than do a tally of abortions" (Wallsten/Abcarian, Los Angeles Times, 6/3).

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