Published: June 15, 2009 09:57 pm      

HECK: George Tiller and the ironies

Man who didn’t value life killed doctor

Though predictable, it was no less despicable. Just a day following the heinous murder of the country’s foremost practitioner of infanticide, George Tiller, radical antihuman rights activists on the left were already condemning the entire pro-life movement for facilitating the incident. Left-wing Web sites like the Daily Kos blamed conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck for causing it, the Huffington Post deemed it a morally outrageous hypocrisy, and PBS’ abortion fanatic Bonnie Erbe went so far as to characterize the entire pro-life movement as a breeding ground for domestic terrorists.

Of course rational people recognize that it borders on clinical insanity to rail about the moral outrage of killing a single human being while simultaneously defending and advocating the wholesale slaughter of millions of others. And just to make sure that there is no confusion on this point, let’s be clear on what Tiller did for a living.

George Tiller specialized in what is euphemistically called late-term abortion. There is a term that some of us use for such an act. It’s called murder.

Again, these are full-term, completely viable infants capable of living outside the womb with totally developed life systems – including the ability to experience pain. In short, Tiller practiced, and the left defended, infanticide. Hearing these leftists now lament the taking of human life is disgracefully stomach turning.

Notice then the irony of the situation. The only people in a position to truly express outrage over Tiller’s murder are those that the left is attempting to blame for it. But this is just one of the numerous twists surrounding this tragic situation.

For instance, consider this irony: Those that claim to be outraged by Tiller’s murder will be calling for a lighter penalty than those they condemn for causing it. When Tiller’s murderer is brought to justice, it will be those of us who oppose abortion that will be demanding his execution. The intrinsic value of human life (which, paradoxically, Tiller assaulted) is so great that anyone who violates it forfeits his own right to live.

Meanwhile, it will be those on the left who proudly defended Tiller’s life work that will call for a softer sentence. They consider the death penalty barbaric and find pro-lifers who advocate capital punishment inconsistent. “You can’t be pro-life and pro-death penalty!” they shout.

Evidently to them, being pro-abortion and anti-death penalty is somehow better? Is there anything more ethically offensive than those who defend the right to life for convicted, murderous felons, yet strip that right from innocent newborn babies? It is astonishing that anyone can be so blinded by their own self-righteous pomposity that they fail to see this blatant moral incongruity.

It’s also notably ironic that the same ideological movement that demands we not castigate all Muslims for the actions of a few is so quick to violate its own precepts when it comes to this issue. We aren’t hearing the throngs of Hollywood activists shouting that “most pro-lifers are peaceful,” or seeing Democratic congressmen thumping their chests while proclaiming that “revenge against the pro-life movement for the actions of this one radical will not be tolerated.”

Indeed, the ironies surrounding the murder of this murderer are plentiful to say the least. But perhaps the most tragic of them all is that in the end, George Tiller met a brutal demise at the hands of someone who exhibited a blatant disrespect for the intrinsic value of human life ... a lesson that Tiller – with the left’s blessing – dedicated his life to teaching.

• Peter W. Heck hosts a talk show on WIOU-AM 1350 and is a frequent contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at peter@peterheck.com