Condemning The Murder Of Dr. George Tiller
Statement
Mr. NADLER of New York. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 505, which condemns the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot to death at his church on May 31. The resolution also offers the condolences of the House of Representatives to Dr. Tiller's family. I know that Dr. Tiller and his family are in the thoughts and prayers of every Member of the House today.
I want to commend our colleague, the distinguished chairperson of the Rules Committee, my fellow New Yorker, Ms. Slaughter, for introducing this resolution.
It is imperative that the House of Representatives speak with a united voice in condemning this crime. It is a sad reminder that medical personnel are still at risk from armed extremists who are willing to resort to deadly violence in order to advance their causes even when they cloak their cause in the language of life. There can never be room in a free society for the use of deadly violence to advance a cause. It is against everything this country stands for. I have no doubt there isn't a single Member of this House who would disagree.
This resolution renews our commitment to the American principle that tolerance must always be superior to intolerance and that violence is never an appropriate response to differences and belief.
As deplorable as this murder was, it was all the more reprehensible because the victim was targeted as he was leaving church. In the past 10 years, 38 people have been murdered in their place of worship and 30 more have been wounded.
Dr. Tiller was a controversial figure. He was the target of threats and even a prior shooting because of his dedication to providing needed, if unpopular, services. He was murdered solely because of the work he did. The continued violence directed at abortion providers, including doctors and the people who staff their clinics, is well-known. Bombings, shootings, vandalism, and harassment all serve to warn women and their health care providers that they may pay a terrible price if they choose to avail themselves of their rights under the Constitution.
This was not the first time a health care provider was similarly targeted. I am sure every Member of this House and every decent American, however they may feel or whatever they may believe on the question of abortion, will insist that this and every other question must be decided by our legal, constitutional, and democratic processes and not by murderous violence. I am sure we all condemn those people or groups who espouse or excuse domestic terrorism.
But while violence has long been directed at the clinics and the people who work there, this time the killer chose, in addition, to invade the sanctity of the Sabbath. Murderous intolerance is never justified; even so, the idea of bringing death and mayhem to a house of worship strikes all people as particularly reprehensible. These acts include the murder of an Illinois pastor in the pulpit in March of this year; the murder of an Ohio minister in November of last year; the murder of an usher and a guest during a children's play in a Tennessee church in July of last year; the murder of four family members in a church in Louisiana in May 2006; and the shooting of a worshipper outside a synagogue in Florida in October 2005; not to mention the attempted bombings of two synagogues in Riverdale in the Bronx just a few weeks ago. Whether these acts of violence target one individual or an entire community of faith, we must all join together and speak out against them.
I urge all of my colleagues to stand up to those who would bring their reign of terror into a house of worship and those who would seek to change American law by violence and unconstitutional means to express their opprobrium of this conduct by supporting this resolution condemning the murder of George Tiller and extending the condolences of this House to the members of Dr. Tiller's family.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. NADLER of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution condemns the murder of Dr. Tiller. It condemns the murder of people who are murdered in church and places of worship. It condemns the practice, and it has become a practice, of seeking to change the laws of this country, of seeking to intimidate women from availing themselves of their rights, of their constitutional right to an abortion, of intimidating doctors from availing themselves of their constitutional right to perform medical procedures that are legal and that they believe are moral by threats of murder and mayhem.
I was glad to hear Mr. Smith say that the pro-life movement is nonviolent, and I'm sure that most of it is. But, unfortunately, it is clear that there are some people, a small minority, who believe themselves part of the pro-life movement who are not nonviolent. And these people have engaged in such conduct and have murdered several providers of abortion simply for doing what they believe to be the right thing, what I believe to be the right thing, and, more importantly, what the law allows them to do, and to intimidate other people from doing this.
This resolution, which I trust every Member of this House will vote for, says that we do not believe in trying to change the law by violence. We do not believe in domestic terrorism, defining ``terrorism'' as an attempt to change the law through murder and violence and mayhem. We believe in constitutional processes. And if every single one of us does not believe in that, then we have no moral superiority over the terrorists that we condemn around the world.
So I trust everyone will vote for this resolution to express our horror of what was done in this instance, to express our belief that social change, if necessary, will be brought about by peaceful democratic debate and by votes, not by bullets, and that this country stands for the evolution of law by debate and by consideration and by democratic means. I urge everyone to vote for this resolution.
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