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Remembering Dr. Tiller

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 4, 2009

Dr. George Tiller was shot on Sunday, murdered while attending his church. These are my memories of him.

Our first child died as an infant with multiple heart deformities. I was 24 weeks pregnant with our second child when we learned it would not survive birth. Semantics, but "my baby" turned into "my pregnancy."

We searched for a doctor who would perform a late-term abortion, illegal in Florida. The choices we found were in Wichita, Kan., or Belize. Over the three-day procedure, we got to know Tiller as an incredible, principled, compassionate man.

His clinic was the last resort for some such as me who were there for medical reasons; others were seeking late-term abortions, because they had been too scared to tell their parents or because the boyfriend who said he would stand by but then split. All the women, as well as those who accompanied us, participated in mandatory counseling. Tiller personally spoke with me and my husband about the threats to the clinic, his opposition to abortion used as birth control and his unwavering commitment to a woman's right to choose.

A year later, Tiller called us to see if we would like to adopt a child. A bright, young, college student had come to him for an abortion, but she was too far along. This was his other way of helping, and it wasn't the first time. We declined. Thankfully, I was pregnant again, and have since had two healthy children.

We have never forgotten this brave and compassionate man who was there for us and so many others. His murder is a blow to women and those who love them and to reasonable people caught in unreasonable circumstances.

SHERRY SVEKIS

Sarasota

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