Dr. George Tiller Memorial Award Nominations
 May 31 marks the two-year anniversary of the Sunday morning Scott Roeder walked into a Kansas church and shot and killed Dr. George Tiller. After his murder, people across the country gathered together, not only to mourn the loss of Dr. Tiller, but also to celebrate the life of a courageous man who saved countless women’s lives through his work.
Dr. Tiller coined the phrase “Trust Women.” In his own quiet way, his life work became one of supporting and respecting women. He demonstrated the trust he placed in women every day in his Wichita, Kansas clinic where he provided abortion care to women with nowhere else to turn – those facing tragic circumstances and serious health consequences to continuing their pregnancy.
For more than two decades, Dr. Tiller and those individuals who helped provide care to his patients lived under intense harassment and persistent threats of violence. Even under these adverse circumstances, Dr. Tiller never wavered in his commitment to providing abortion care and other reproductive-health services to women and their families.
Now, we claim Dr. Tiller’s mantle of privacy and freedom – and his call to “Trust Women.” We must not cede ground to violent anti-choice activists who seek to deny women the medical care they need and deserve. Two years after Dr. Tiller’s murder, we must not forget what lengths the extreme right wing will go to in order to deny women freedom, equality, and access to health-care services. We must not forget his sacrifice and his family’s sacrifice.
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