A documentary about those who perform late-term abortions, “After Tiller,” previewed recently at the Sundance Film Festival. The directors of the movie, Lana Wilson and Martha Shane, were interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! about their film. Much of what they said was revealing.
George Tiller was the most maniacal child killer in U.S. history, and it is testimony to his deeds (he was the king of partial-birth abortion) that there are only four “doctors” left in the entire nation who are able to do what he did for a living (three of whom worked with him). “After Tiller” is their story. But it is also our story: these people unwittingly validate the pro-life position.
Goodman discussed how these abortionists are faced with “dilemmas” and “agonizing” decisions. Dr. Shelley Sella uses the term “baby” to speak of the unborn children she readily discards, and director Shane mentions how these women go on “grieving the loss of their child.” Best of all is Dr. Susan Robinson who recounts what she tells her patients:
“Look, of course you don’t want an abortion. Nobody wants an abortion. You have three choices: You can have a kid that you say you can’t take good care of; you can have a kid and give it to somebody else, who you know or don’t know; or you can have an abortion, which you think is the wrong thing to do. Those are your three choices. They all suck.”
Robinson is to be commended for her brutal honesty, though she failed to note that the child wouldn’t weigh all three choices equally. She also needs to explain why “nobody wants an abortion.” Why not? Why is it that none of her patients really want to undergo the surgery she is happy to perform? What makes her patients so different from the patients of, say, back surgeons?
“After Tiller” tries to put a human face on an inhuman practice, and it fails. Here’s the proof: the film never shows the patients’ faces, though permission was granted.
