The 67-year-old Tiller, who was controversial for performing late-term abortions, had been targeted for decades and at one point had the protection of federal marshals. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by a woman who remains in prison. His clinic was recently vandalized.
After Sunday's fatal shooting, Tiller's chief nurse called Carhart. Carhart made arrangements to keep his Bellevue clinic open while he is gone. When contacted Sunday, he said he was en route to Wichita to run Tiller's clinic for at least the next week.
Nationally, Tiller's slaying pushes abortion to the front burner of American politics. The killing follows President Barack Obama's controversial speech at Notre Dame University and the president's selection of Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court.
But for Carhart, the response is deeply personal and filled with rage at the level of violence directed toward abortion providers.
He sees his friend's death as "a declaration of war" on the part of radical anti-abortion activists whom he calls "fundamentalist terrorists . . . no different from al-Qaida, the Taliban or any of them."
Tiller had been a frequent target of harassment, both at his clinic and in the judicial system. Attempts to prosecute him ultimately failed.
You bet his killing is an act of terrorism, and the anti-abortion groups cannot just distance themselves from the murder. They need to bear responsibility for increasingly poisoning the debate.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the killing intensified.
Accused killer Scott P. Roeder's behavior had changed as of late.
The Tiller clinic will reopen next week.
And yes, O'Reilly and Fox News deserve some criticism regarding Tiller:
Frank Schaeffer, son of the late religious rightist Francis Schaeffer, accepts some of the blame for creating the climate in which this murder happened.
Video of Schaeffer is here.
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