Quote the one story clinic, women its health care services, run by dr. george r. tiller, has become the lightning rod for the battle. end quote. in what could be known as the summer of mercy, thousands of members of an anti-abortion group called operation rescue descended on the city of wichita using their bodies to physically block access to abortion clinics offered while screaming threats and prayers at the clinic s workers and prayers at the patients and thousands were arrested and it took a quarter of wichita s entire police force to control the crowd. as the new york times reported at the time, the protesters say the confrontation here is the beginning of the fight that is building as the supreme court moves closer, they say, to overturning roe v. wade. the decision that legalized abortion in 1973. end quote. that was also the summer that our next guest, julie burkehart started working at that very abortion clinic in wichita on a summer break from college. every other abortion c
This story means something very different to you than it does for many people. obviously, it affects everybody differently. but you have literally been on the front lines. you work with george tiller, who was violently murdered as part of the fight. what is going through your mind today, and this week, after seeing this draft supreme court opinion that overturns roe or it will overturn roe. well, thank you, ali, for having me on. i must say that when i looked at the draft opinion that came out, and read the opinion, i can say that i was devastated. as were all of us across this country who fight so hard for reproductive health care and who provide access to reproductive health care. it was quite a gut punch. but one thing that i, i feel that is really important for us to remember in this time, is that abortion is still legal,
Wichita had closed because of the continued harassment. but women s health care services did not. dr. george tiller and judy burkehart kept it open for nearly two more decades. despite if all. then on may 31, 2009, the only remaining abortion provider in the entire city of wichita, dr. george tiller, was shot in the head and killed by an anti-abortion extremist. and for about four years after the murder of george tiller, the 400,000 people of wichita had no abortion provider between them. other doctors were understandably scared off by threats and harassments. and the women s health care services clinic shut down. but in 2013, julie burkehart reopened it. because doctors didn t feel comfortable living in wichita give its violent history toward abortion providers, she flew them in. she later opened a second clinic oklahoma city, the first new abortion clinic in the state of oklahoma in more than 40 years.