Excerpts from Living in the Crosshairs
Preface and Introduction: via the Social Science Research Network
On Sunday, May 31, 2009, in Wichita, Kansas, anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder assassinated Dr. George Tiller. That morning, Dr. Tiller was in his church foyer awaiting the beginning of services, having completed his duties as an usher. As the pastor began the music signaling the start of services, Roeder, who had been sitting in the adjacent sanctuary waiting for Dr. Tiller, walked through the doors into the foyer. He walked straight to Dr. Tiller, pulled a gun from his pocket, pressed the barrel against Dr. Tiller’s forehead just above his right eye, and pulled the trigger. Dr. Tiller dropped to the floor, dead from the single gunshot....
Kristina Romero's Story: Time, What It’s Like to Work in an Abortion Clinic (July 16, 2015).
“They call you by name. They know your kids’ names. They know your mom and dad’s names. They know where you go to church.” Kristina Romero (pseudonym used because of threat of harassment) has worked in the field of reproductive healthcare in her politically conservative West South Central state for more than three decades. She has been the target of local anti-abortion protestors ever since the clinic started offering abortions in the late 1990s....
Kristina Romero's Story: Women's eNews, Abortion Clinic Boss Dons Bullet-Proof Vest; Uses Decoys (May 24, 2015).
Kristina has also been followed home. Sometimes when Kristina drives to pick up the doctor, she leaves from her home instead of the clinic: "One day I left to pick up the doctor and I got to the corner of my house and there's a big picture of the doctor with a bulls eye on him, and every corner that I turned was another picture, so obviously they'd followed me. And that was probably one of the creepiest days. The pictures were all up the main street I travel on, all the way back to my house."...
Inez Navarro's Story: Alternet, Anti-Abortion Extremists Use Sickening Tactics to Target Doctor (May 21, 2015).
One day about a month after the protesters started using Inez’s name, as Inez was coming into the clinic, one of the more vocal and prominent protesters yelled at her, “No one is going to protect you.” To Inez, this was the “big day where everything really changed.”...
Rodney Smith's Story: Salon, "When it got to the murders, I think I was surprised by that": An abortion provider’s story (May 2, 2015)
The security could not help him, though, in the US Supreme Court courtroom, where a few years before we interviewed him, Rodney was physically attacked by a protester....
