Kansas stories

I came home and learned about the murder of Dr. Tiller at his church in Kansas. Ayelet Waldman, whom I follow on Twitter, wrote "AHC members. Now is the time. We all come out of the closet NOW."

What is AHC? I looked it up; it's the organization A Heartbreaking Choice, "Lovingly dedicated to all AHC babies," a support group for parents who choose to end a pregnancy due to a severe prenatal diagnosis.

One section of the website is Kansas Stories with people writing their first-hand accounts of the circumstances that required them to travel to Kansas to have a late-term abortion. They really are heartbreaking, and they add so much to the often-theoretical discussion around abortion.

One woman wrote, "Everyone needs a little help. That is what I remember the doctor in Wichita, Kansas telling me."

Our hearts ache with sadness and no words can describe how much we miss him and how deeply we love him. He will always be close to our hearts, mind, body and soul. And if it was not for the Kansas doctor, giving us a little help, we are not sure what we would be writing … Death and life are the same mysteries.

These are amazing stories, all of them. And I imagine Dr. Tiller was part of most of them. They gave me a totally different perspective on what happened this morning, and on who this was who got killed.