Republicans For Choice PAC

Special Condolences to the Ford Family Betty Ford

Thank you Betty!

Our condolences go out to the rest of the Ford family,
Michael, Jack, Steven and Susan, on the passing of
their mother, former First Lady, Betty Ford, age 93.

Some historians think she had a greater impact on
our country than her husband, the late President
Gerald Ford, through her many charitable works
and the program she created in founding the
Betty Ford Clinic.

She was a strong supporter of Republicans For Choice and our work. At the 1992 and 1996 Conventions, she actually helped lobby Delegates on our behalf. We will always cherish our memories of her and her commitment to preserving women's right to choose.

FAR RIGHT STILL LYING ABOUT SCIENCE OF FETAL DEVELOPMENT

For decades, the Far Right anti-choice movement has been lying to Americans about the science of fetal development. Now they are formulating and introducing legislation to try and undermine Roe using the myth of fetal pain. They have frightened women and their families with stories of the fetus (unborn baby) in agony, feeling pain from abortion.

FINALLY, independent and real science to put that myth to rest.
Please visit this link:

http://www.newser.com/story/93767/fetus-feels-no-pain-before-24-weeks-study.html?utm_source=9at9&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20100625

In recognition of the recent anniversary of his assassination, and the resultant misinformation spread about him, we wanted to set the record straight…

DR. GEORGE TILLER WAS NOT AN EVIL MAN

Dr. Tiller was an early supporter and donor to Republicans For Choice. In 1991, he invited Ann Stone, RFC National Chair, to join him and his family for dinner after she attended and spoke at a rally in Wichita, Kansas during the so-called Summer of Mercy demonstrations.

Those demonstrations were marked by sporadic bursts of violence by so-called anti-choice demonstrators. Dr. Tiller, and his clinic, was among the targets.

Ann tells us that they had the dinner at a private club wince they needed to go somewhere that had security. Dr. Tiller hold her how his family was, and had been, personally harassed. As one example, his daughter had to change her wedding plans multiple times to find a secure location.

She asked him why he continued his practice of providing late-term abortion services. He was one of only three in the country at that time that did so.

His answer was swift and unconditional, "They had no where else to turn, I was their last hope...how could I turn away from them?" He then proceeded to lay out stacks of notes he had received over the years from former patients and their families. They praised him for his courage and for being there for them when no one else would help. Some went on to tell him how their lives had improved as a result.

Dr. Tiller was emotional as he talked about the agony these families had gone through in making these painful decisions. It angered him that anyone thought this was ever an easy decision. He wanted Ann to understand why this right remained so important to women and their families.

Dr. Tiller left the GOP years later due to increasing pressure and antagonism from those on the Far Right in the GOP. But he had told us that Republicans For Choice (RFC) had a special part to play. Working within the GOP, to promote greater understanding of what this issue really means to women and their families, is no small task.

Great tragedies like the brutal murder of this brave man (while he was serving as an usher in his church) underlines how more needs to be done to bring the two sides together to make sure this kind of violence is stomped out once and for all.

Dr. Tiller was not an evil man. He was not a baby killer. He was a dedicated physician who trusted women and their families to make the decision about this procedure. He simply remained steadfast and ready to provide this service to them if they so chose.

Many of the women who came to him faced it as a life or death decision; for others it was a mental health question. Ann recalled one note from the mother of a pre-teen whose life had nearly been destroyed by her pregnancy. She wrote with great emotion of how he had saved her child when no one else would.

There are two sides to the stories in the abortion wars. And both sides are quick to demonize and make examples of the most extreme cases. This is no way to find solutions or dramatically affect the abortion rate. Both sides need to think again about how the decimal level of this debate can be reduced and women and their families can benefit instead of being pawns in a public relations war.

Maybe this killing of a prominent figure who was so often demonized... a killing in his house of worship...can serve as a wake up call. Maybe some good can come of it...
and that Dr. Tiller will not have died in vain. We can only hope.

NOTE: Interestingly, Ann Stone and Dr. Tiller both belong to the same denomination, the Lutheran Church, ELCA. Their church recognizes a woman's right to choose but advocates it as a measure of last resort. Dr. Tiller also saw it in that light.

This point is important for those who claim the moral high road and invoke religion on this issue. Many of the most mainstream religions in the US today also support this as the
woman's right to decide.

You would never know this from the mainstream media's coverage of this debate.

More on Ann Stone's Views On Dr. Tiller --

http://www.womensradio.com/content/templates/?a=3729&z=62

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