"What's the Matter with Kansas?" movie clips show abortion doctor George Tiller and foes

We've been covering the murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas physician who was one of only a few providers of late-term abortions in the country, if not the world.

We were in the very tense Wichita courtroom last March when after only 45 minutes a jury acquitted him of breaking Kansas abortion laws. So our curiosity was piqued by a story in Salon today about a movie based on the popular Thomas Frank book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?"  It sought to explain why a traditionally liberal state had turned conservative in recent years, although in truth, given the fact that its recent Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, currently the secretary of Health and Human Services, is a pro-choice Democrat, one has to say it's a place where conservative and liberal strains keep the state in a perpetual political pendulum.

In the 1990s, the state became a ground zero in the abortion wars when Tiller and his clinic, Women's Health Services, became a focal point for the protests of abortion foes. Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old man with ties to right-wing militia groups, has been charged with murder and awaits his fate in a Wichita jail.

Salon posted a clip from the documentary, by Laura Cohen and Joe Winston, which features interviews with Dr. Tiller and his foes including Troy Newman, the California pastor who moved to Wichita from San Diego to put Tiller out of business. And there's an interview with Mark Gietzen, who protests legal abortion by driving a panel truck around Wichita festooned with photographs of aborted fetuses.

To get a sense of the calm, purposeful way that Tiller thought about the path he had chosen -- which lead to one previous assassination attempt as well as bombings of his clinic -- the clip is revealing. As is the button he wears: "Attitude is Everything."

The movie will have its premiere in August.

Here's a clip:

-- Robin Abcarian

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Comments

[jan jarman]

i have lived in wichta for the past 11 years, and i can tell you first hand, this place is nuts. i have never encountered such a group of hate filled, bigoted zealots. wichitans lie about what a lovely place this is - full of friendly people - so untrue. the people here vandalize your car if you have an obama bumper sticker. they will leave nasty notes on your car. they scream at you as they drive by.....all for a simple bumper sticker with only obama's name or if you have a darwin fish on the back. seriously.

two people i work with (in an office of a dozen) relayed how "just" it was that dr tiller was murdered. they both said he was going striaght to hell. that is two who spoke in front of me. the majority are openly anti-choice, but are a little shy about sharing the totality of their feelings.

i hope wichita is an anomoly - perhaps a pocket of ignorance? sometimes it is a very sad place to live. freedom?? not here....unless you agree with the majority. if you are non-christian or if you disagree with the fundy's, watch out because i guarantee they are watching you.

[Paul Bradford]

Sadly, there are a lot of people who think they can protect the unborn by trying to frustrate mothers who want to access abortion services. This strategy not only hurts women, it does nothing at all to advance the cause of justice for the very young.

Who's in the best position to determine whether abortion is the right choice for a mother? The mother herself. Who's in the best position to determine whether abortion is the right choice for the child? The child certainly can't make the choice. Do you want the father to choose? Do you want the state to choose? Do you want the pope to choose? Of course not! The only one who can make that choice is the only one who's responsible for the child -- and that's the child's mother.

When we understand about choice, and about who should be responsible for whom, we can have a culture of life. Demonizing and dehumanizing people won't save any lives.

Paul Bradford, Pro-Life Catholics for Choice

[Angel]

"...dehumanizing people won't save any lives."

It most certainly hasn't, Paul Bradford. Dehumanizing UNBORN BABIES has enabled Planned Parenthood, NARAL, & similar organizations to shed innocent blood, to brutally kill millions of innocent children, to persuade mothers to kill their own children by convincing them it is their basic human right.

It has enabled them to earn BILLIONS OF DOLLARS worth of blood money from taxpayer money and profits. Not even Al Qaeda can dream up such travesty.

Pro-Life Catholics for Choice ought to be ashamed of themselves for promoting such inhumane treatment of human beings; for going against Catholic teaching; and CHOOSING to defend DEATH instead of LIFE. Woe to you for promoting the brutal mass murder of innocent children!

You can use all the "prochoice" rhetoric in the world but in the end, YOU. WILL. FACE. GOD. When he asks you "why did you promote the killing of my own creation, my own masterpiece, my precious children", what would you say?

ABORTION DOES NOT SAVE WOMEN. It only gives us more problems. It hurts women deeply & by numbing us to the pain, has dehumanized us too. What's worse, it was never about us or our rights or our freedom. IT WAS JUST ABOUT THE MONEY.

P.S. Women exploiter extraordinaire, Hugh Hefner, paid for Roe which legalized abortion.

[J]

Wichita's crazy? Come on. I've lived here 13 years and yes, there is a segment of the population that is a little nuts.
But I'm in an interracial marriage of nearly a decade and have never had anything said to me or my kids.
I work in a very public job, yet I have not experienced any of that.
Do I doubt you? No. But don't make it seem like that stuff happens all the time. This is actually a pretty decent city.
As for not having freedom, what are you talking about? My goodness, if it's so bad, move.