The situation in Kansas is a case of taking justice into your own hands. A doctor in Kansas, George Tiller, was murdered while attending church. The suspect is under arrest and in custody in connection with the murder. Dr. Tiller, nicknamed "Tiller the Killer," was known for performing late-term abortions. Tiller performed thousands of abortions, a majority of the fetuses being viable outside the womb and/or unnecessary.
Although pro-life myself, I believe that this murder was a despicable act of domestic terrorism. Dr. Tiller was within the law to perform these abortions. The Supreme Court has made it legal to have an abortion at any time of the pregnancy. Tiller was working within the law to help women in
certain situations. Although I believe that abortion is wrong, what Dr. Tiller did was legal and medically ethical.The person that killed Dr. Tiller must be punished. A society cannot survive if a person can kill another based on their opinion and beliefs. If we allow personal killings like this, then we have descended into a government of men and not of laws, where upholding the law is impossible. Without a government of laws, man will descend into a state of war, as described by Hobbes as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Leviathan). We must maintain the rule of law and counter any act of injustice with a measured response.
One final thought, the killing took place in a church where Tiller was an usher. If the killer had read Hamlet, a rational person does not kill a person in the confines of a church, the holiest of sanctuaries. Apparently, the killer's only concern was to murder Dr. Tiller wherever he had the opportunity.
