Monday, July 27, 2009

Tuesday morning, prosecutors will try to show a judge enough evidence exist to send 51-year-old Scott Roeder to trial on first degree murder charges.

Roeder is accused of gunning down Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller in the foyer of the Reformation Lutheran Church on May 31. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

"There is a huge essence of martyrdom here," said Kari Ann Rinker, a lobbyist with the Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women, or NOW. "We have had an up-swell in interest in our organization, in women's health care, and in abortion care."

Rinker believes the surge in interest in the general population is a direct result of Dr. Tiller's murder.

Across the country, voices on both sides of the issue have long been near fever pitch. Abortion has become a focus in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice candidate Sonia Sotomayer.

And last week, two democrats -- one for and the other against abortion rights -- introduced new legislation seen by many as "middle ground." The bill would seek to reduce the number of abortions performed in the United States by promoting contraception and adoption, as well as offering more support to mothers-to-be.

In Wichita, Dr. Tiller's clinic now sits quiet. The signs that once read "Women's Health Care Services" along the edge of the clinic's roof have been removed. For the first time in decades, women cannot access abortion care in Wichita.

Abortion opponents say this is not how they wanted to achieve their goal.

Dr. Tiller's murder "hurt everybody," said Mark Schoenhofer, attorney for Operation Rescue president Troy Newman. "Nothing good came out of that."

Operation Rescue, one of the most outspoken anti-abortion groups, has taken heat for the violence that claimed Dr. Tiller's life. Scott Roeder had previously posted on the organization's website, had sat with members in the courtroom during Tiller's recent trial, and was found to have the organization's phone number when he was arrested.

But Operation Rescue says Roeder was not affiliated with the organization and has continually condemned Tiller's murder.

Schoenhofer says the crime is a setback for both sides.

"It puts a cloud over the good people fighting the good fight," he said.

Tiller's supporters hope his clinic might someday reopen under the care of another doctor.

"We have not given up," Rinker said. "We'll continue to do everything we can to protect a women's' rights in the meantime, until that doctor does appear."

Dan Monnat, Dr. Tiller's attorney and spokesperson for the family, said Tiller's widow and children would not attend Tuesday's hearing. "They have full confidence in the courts," he said.