She’s so fearless she bought a bright-yellow Mini Cooper emblazoned with lightning bolts as an “in-your-face response” to death threats advising her to watch out for car bombs. She used to be opposed to abortion but now chalks that up to religious brainwashing. She admits she’s not been doing well financially and that her “decision to start performing abortions was as much about making money for her struggling practice as about restoring access to a constitutional right.” And she’s married to a gay man, who used to be a patient of hers. (Opponents are seizing on this last detail with disgust, but reportedly she married him because he needed health care.) This lady is something else.
Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer... More by Christopher Frizzelle
Something AWESOME!
Godspeed, Doctor.
It’$ ALWAY$ about the Money.
And somewhere, “pro-life” people are reading that same article and hoping she is killed sooner than later.
What’s the problem? I thought we were letting the market decide?
@3: Indeed you are right. That’s why evangelical churches drum up opposition to abortion; it’s an easy way to fill their coffers without actually having to do anything to help the poor.
The highest abortion rate in this country occurred in the 1930’s, when people couldn’t afford another baby. If you REALLY wanted to lower abortion rates, you’d be campaigning for higher amounts of tax money to go to poor pregnant women.
@6 – And “pro-lifers” would be advocating providing birth control for everyone. Instead, they oppose birth control, as well.
@7: and the gays. A group guaranteed never to have an an unintended pregnancy aborted.
This is about keeping women in their place. It’s not about the possible child at all, and never has been.
Wow- this woman is so inspirational….
“She looked at the finances of her solo family practice and figured she might be the poorest doctor in the state. Though she lives modestly, she has had continuing problems managing money: her credit card companies have taken her to court, and her checks occasionally bounce. Determined to work alone, she did not have enough patients to cover the bills.
Offering abortions seemed the easiest way to keep the doors to her small office open, she said….”
REALLY?
are you sure?
Cause shooting abortionists seems to work pretty damn well….
“Statistics kept by the State of Kansas show that the number of women from the Wichita area who received abortions in the state dropped by nearly half (since Tiller was killed)”
“Since then, abortion rights advocates have hoped that someone would take Dr. Tiller’s place to show that violence is not an effective way to stop abortions. Despite their vows to redouble their commitment, the murder of Dr. Tiller actually scared people away.
“Opponents, even those who criticized the killing, have noted with some satisfaction that no abortions have been provided here since….”
Kansas had 15 abortion clinics 20 years ago, currently there is only one licensed clinic in the state.
10 is @6….
“Her husband, a longtime family friend, is bipolar and gay, she said — they married so he could have health insurance.
He was also her patient, leading a state medical board to reprimand her.”
“About 100 of her patients switched to other doctors….”
“She bought much of Dr. Tiller’s medical equipment and office furniture for $20,000. “
“The soonest she could begin offering abortions would be another 12 to 18 months, she said….”
“Judgement is thine sayeth the Lord.”
— Holy Bible, Republican edition
@10 Yes, there’s no way the women could have gone out of state for an abortion in Colorado or Missouri or anywhere like that.
@10 is my pick if you’re combing the unregistered comments here, as it comments approvingly on the effectiveness of terrorism (via assassination in this case) as a technique for social change.
Oh yes, the unregistered commenter: The poor soul who can’t get any woman to screw him, let alone carry his child. That’s why he has such an interesting view on sex and relationships.
I don’t understand why some men always have to focus on their Mommy issues.
Wait, you people still have unregistered comments set to show?
There’s nothing wrong with getting into the abortion business for the money, just like there’s nothing wrong with getting into the appendectomy business for the money. Abortions (like appendectomies) are nothing but routine medical procedures, and we have a for-profit healthcare industry. This woman has the right idea. If your opponents are already trying to kill you, why should you care what they think?
This woman has balls of steel, I wish her the best of luck.
Meanwhile…I am so glad I don’t live in Kansas.
Why is it a problem that she married a gay man? Don’t Conservatives go on and on about how gay people have the same right to marry opposite sex partners?
I love the “fuck you” of responding to car-bomb threats by getting a showy, unmistakable car. The unapologetic, I’m not the one who should be ashamed attitude is great, and her bravery will serve her well, considering she is working in a place where terrorists and government are working together to make her life as difficult and dangerous as possible.
My main worry is this new tactic of legislating abortion providers to death. Instead of coming out and banning it, you make it so difficult, so fraught with extra costs, arbitrary rule changes and impossible to follow regulation that you make it effectively unavailable. In addition, it’s very worrying to see abortion rights groups hesitant to challenge some of these laws (like the absurd and unscientific “heartbeat” laws) because they are genuinely concerned that if it reached the hyperpartisan conservative Supreme Court they could end up with a repeal of Roe. vs. Wade. Many of these laws seem designed to go against Roe precisely in order to force them to the SC, where the pro-lifers think they now have a shot of getting rid of Roe. I worry they might be right.
Hooray for the new freedom fighter and life saver.
She deserves our gratitude and good wishes.
18
Why Thank You.
Thank You Very Much….
But “comments approvingly” is a little ambiguous.
@6 got the ball rolling offering advice on what one would do “If you REALLY wanted to lower abortion rates…” and @10 just notes information from the article that suggests other methods might also be effective.
Do you have any thoughts on the effectiveness of genocide (via 900,000 abortions a year, inflicted disproportionately on poor minority children…) as a technique for social change?
Yes, Alleged, murdering abortion doctors will cut down on the accessibility of abortions. It’s exactly like how lynchings cut down on black people being uppity.
And you know it’s the same sort of people doing both.
24
The June 4 ‘Economists’ has an article on how the GOP is rolling back abortion in many states.
And the trend lines don’t look good for babykillers-
According to the article support for abortion is dropping;
in the early 1990s 36% of 18-29 yr olds said abortion should be legal under any circumstances vs only 24% today….
27
Or like John Brown putting the fear of slave revolt into the hearts of Southern slaveholders.
fuck you @29 if i ever need an abortion, i’m getting one. and i will teach my daughter that abortion is ok.
pro-choicers aren’t ever ever going away. ever. live with it.
30
gosh we hope you don’t forget and abort your daughter
@29: Co ja kurwa czytam?
Explain to me, I pray you, how John Brown’s agitating is at all like committing acts of terrorism against abortion providers.
@29, @10, et al.
You may recall that abortion was illegal in all 50 states in the ’30’s, even when it was at its peak. You can make it illegal all you want, but the total number of abortions (legal plus illegal) will not change; you’ll just drive it to back alleys, as we saw in Philadelphia this past year. Similarly, when abortion was made legal in 1973, the birth rate did not drop-evidence that the number of abortions did not change between ’72 and ’73.
What has lowered abortions over the last few decades is condom usage and the morning-after pill. Gov. Brownback’s cutting of SRS services in Kansas, by making contraceptives less available to poor women and cutting support for children of the poor, is likely to result in more abortions. Congratulations!
32
We’ll work with you on this, Junior.
Tell us what John Brown was famous for.
Do you know?
33
Outlawing murder or rape or gay bashing doesn’t eliminate those crimes, either.
Should we legalize every immoral activity that people will engage in regardless of it being illegal?
We want abortion of convenience outlawed because it is immoral.
Abortion kills an innocent human.
People may continue to kill their children.
But if they break the law to do it the guilt lies on them alone and not on all of society.
@35: Outlawing murder, rape, and gay bashing brings those crimes WAY down. Not only did bans on abortion NOT prevent abortions from happening, they made the abortions that DID happen more dangerous to the woman involved.
@34: John Brown led a small raid on Harpers Ferry in the hopes of sparking an uprising of slaves across the South.
Explain how that is at all like murdering doctors. Tell me, you jive turkey.
36
So you think if we make abortion illegal and execute illegal abortionists the way we used to execute murders and rapists it would bring the abortion rate down?
It’s an interesting proposal…
OK.
That’s a start.
How many people did John Brown kill over his career?
@37: No, that is NOT what I said, Alleged. When you were little and your parents told you to go to bed, did you interpret that to mean that you should stay up?
John Brown? There is no proof that he killed anyone. Men following him killed people, sure, and he fired plenty of shots in his own self-defense, but the count of murders committed by John Brown stands at zero.
38
well. that’s awkward.
because he was hanged for murder…
Slavery was legal in the USA in 1859.
Legal and widely supported.
It was also,
of course,
grossly immoral, inexcusable and unjustifiable.
Brown was willing to shed blood in the cause of stamping out slavery.
Freedom ain’t Free…..
He was hailed as a hero and martyr in the North.
He was vilified as a terrorist in the South.
Who was right, Junior?
Southern Slaveholders squealed that Brown was a tool of the Republicans.
Southern Slaveholders squealed that Republican abolitionist rhetoric inspired men like Brown to murder.
sound familiar?
Let us spell it out for you, Junior…
Slavery was legal , grossly immoral, inexcusable and unjustifiable.
Abortion of convenience is legal , grossly immoral, inexcusable and unjustifiable.
John Brown is a Hero and Martyr who broke the law in pursuit of a greater moral justice- destroying Slavery.
Do you know of any Heros and Martyrs who broke the law in pursuit of the greater moral justice of destroying Abortion of convenience?
We look on defenders and practitioners of Slavery with loathing and contempt.
The next generation will look back on defenders and practitioners of Abortion with loathing and contempt.
Because,
The Times;
They Are a’Changing……
@39 Simply wrong….Unless you can convince the vast majority of women (i.e. over 99%) that it’s immoral. Making something illegal does not work well unless an overwhelming majority -say, 99% – of the people back it.
Did making alcohol illegal because it was viewed as immoral make its use rare? No.
Did banning pot work? Ask anybody who lives in fear of drug cartels.
Did banning alcohol for 18-year-olds keep them from drinking? No.
And did banning abortion for 80 years (1890’s to 1970’s) make it rare? No, no, no. Illegal, yes, with lots of back-alley deaths of women, but quite prevalent.
Even in countries where abortion is punished by death (e.g. Iran), it is widespread (MORE widespread than in the U.S., in fact)
You are ignorant of history and biology on this issue. Your experiment has been tried, and it failed. Let me repeat, it was a failure. Banning abortion did not work.
You won’t make abortion rare until you make contraception foolproof, easy, free, and widespread without guilt.
You may make abortion illegal and feel smug about that, but if you succeed in banning contraception, you will have actually INCREASED the abortion rate, while increasing the incidence of complications of childbirth, of birth defects, and infant deaths.
Or….you can put your money where your mouth is, and help supply free contraception for impoverished women. That would have a greater effect on the abortion rate than anything you’ve written here about something that the vast majority of women do not feel is immoral (in the first trimester), in every poll taken on the subject.
@39: The times they are a-changing?
Yes, times do change. Times were that women had no rights as to what grew within them, when a woman was seen merely as a vessel and a servant to men. All that changed when the laws of this country affirmed that a woman’s womb is her own and no other’s. Times were that human beings could be shackled and sold like livestock, their servitude and that of their children justified by Noah’s curse on Ham. But today, all civilized nations have thrown away this ancient barbarism, holding that each person’s flesh is his/her own and no other’s.
You pretend that legal abortion is some relic of the past, some old evil that must be stamped out. All counter-revolutions claim revolutionary banners at some point.
Also, Bob Dylan explicitly stated that “The Times They Are a-Changin'” is NOT a political statement. Also, the Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung by the men who stamped out your hateful arrogance as they marched to New Orleans, purging the land with lead and fire. It is our song, not yours, Johnny Reb.
@41: Dylan’s made a lot of strange and cryptic comments about his songs, but the lyrics to “The Times They Are a-Changin'” are explicitly political, in particular “Come senators, congressmen / Please heed the call / Don’t stand in the doorway / Don’t block up the hall.”
@23: The problem is that getting married just for insurance benefits is insurance fraud. It’s a sham marriage.
How would you feel if the doctor who provided your abortion was assasinated for providing abortions? Would you feel at all responsible for creating a part of the incentive or demand for the service the doctor risks her life to provide? How about the folks cheering her for buying a distinctive car- will you feel partial responsibility for providing that encouragment if somebody blows the car up? Obviously, the people threatening the doctor are the bad guys. The legislators also have a hand in creating a volatile situation. The voters who oppose education and services aimed at preventing unplanned pregnancies are also a huge chunk of the problem. But how about people who are careless with birth control? Are they part of the problem too?
@44, no, I do not feel that people in need of medical care are responsible for the violent, tragic actions of terrorists and murderers.
“It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it” has never been more appropriate. Good luck, lady.
I wish her the best of luck (and will send money too). Anti-abortion policies mainly make it more difficult for poor women to get abortions. As a well-off woman, they could make abortion illegal here and I would simply drive or fly to someplace it is safe and legal. A poor woman (often, unfortunately, women of color) without the means and/or social network to go someplace else for medical care will either be forced to give birth against her wishes or will be forced to get a dangerous back-alley procedure. Anti-abortion policies are sexist in construction, and also oftentimes racist and classist in application.
40
You must be thinking of Clinton, who wants to make abortion rare….
We think abortion should be illegal.
Because slaughtering innocent babies is wrong.
And killing innocent people should be against the law.
The troll doesn’t feel a responsibility to tell women how to conduct their sex lives, or that they should or shouldn’t get pregnant.
The troll trusts women to control their own bodies, make their own decisions.
The troll is not your mommy.
But if people get pregnant then decide to kill their baby the troll realizes society has a responsibility to protect the baby.
41
The Times ARE changing.
Support for killing babies is waning.