Horrible: Dr. Tiller's Wichita Clinic Will Shut Down For Good

Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet at 11:36 AM on June 9, 2009.

This morning brought the distressing news that the Wichita clinic where Dr. George Tiller treated his patients will not reopen, following his death by an assassin's bullet on May 31.
"The family of Dr. George Tiller announces that effective immediately, Women's Health Care Services, Inc., will be permanently closed," read a statement sent to the reporters earlier today. "Notice is being given today to all concerned that the Tiller family is ceasing operation of the clinic and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic."

We are proud of the service and courage shown by our husband and father and know that women's health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service. That is a legacy that will never die.

Like Dr. Tiller himself, the clinic that he ran was the target of decades of harassment, threats, and violence. After opening in the 1970s, it was the site of constant protest by anti-abortion activists. In 1985, it was bombed.

Following news of his murder, Dr. Tiller's colleagues expressed concern over the fate of his embattled clinic. In an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Dr. Susan Robinson, a California gynecologist who used to fly out to Wichita multiple times a month to work by his side asked, "What's going to happen to all those patients? Where are they going to go?"

We've had patients from all over the world … The walls of that clinic are lined with letters from people who said, "You saved my life." You know, what about those patients in New Zealand, who are happily pregnant and find out at thirty weeks that their baby doesn't have a brain or, you know, that their baby has something horribly wrong? We took care of those people from all over the world. What's going happen to them?

At the time, Dr. Robinson said that she would continue traveling to Wichita "as long as the clinic is open." But her doubt was palpable.
"I just don't know if the clinic can survive this, because Dr. Tiller was -- he had roots in the Wichita community that went back two generations. You know, it took that to keep that clinic sort of operative in the environment of Wichita, where, you know, the mayor is anti-choice, the city attorney is anti-choice, and the law enforcement, you know, had their hands tied. They couldn't enforce the law. And I don't know if -- I don't think that clinic can go on for too long without Dr. Tiller to sort of interface with the community."
Dr. Warren Hern, a Colorado doctor, one of the few remaining health care providers who performs third trimester abortions, described the closure of his clinic as an "outrage."
"How tragic, how tragic," he told the Associated Press. "This is what they want, they've been wanting this for 35 years."

Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties Special Coverage.