Violence returned to the abortion debate in the United States yesterday when a doctor who has long been the target of right-to-life activists was gunned down and killed in a church in Kansas where he was an usher.
Lawyers for George Tiller, a 67-year-old doctor who has long been one of only a few in the US willing to perform so-called "late-term" abortions, confirmed that he had been killed in the attack, which happened as he walked into the Reformation Lutheran Church in his home town of Wichita.
It was only two weeks ago that President Barack Obama gave a major speech on the abortion issue at Notre Dame University, one of the leading Catholic campuses in America. He urged both sides in the debate to avoid extremist positions even though their disagreements may be profound. Last night President Obama said he was shocked and outraged over the killing. Dr Tiller's attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time.
