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NEWS & LETTERS, June - July 2009
Boston vigil for hero
Boston--The vigil here on June 1 for Dr. Tiller drew several hundred downtown. Speakers who knew Tiller told personal stories about his persistence, optimism and unwavering bravery. One NARAL organizer spoke of meeting him at a conference, where he was giving out pieces of carved glass. Some were etched with the word "courage," some said "justice." The organizer stood there trying to decide which to take, when Dr. Tiller looked at her and told her to take both, that she needed both of them. They were in her pocket now, she said.
Others told personal abortion stories. One woman spoke of her back-alley abortion in the early 1970s, of being driven blindfolded by four men to a secret location, of having to self-abort with a wire coat hanger coated in rubber, of being sick with a 105 degree fever for a week and being cared for by her roommate who was a nurse, and of being shamed by a doctor who examined her later and demanded to know what she had done to herself. Another woman related her story of having to travel all over the South for her procedure, being shuttled from one clinic to another due to lack of appropriate services in her community. She'd never told her story before to anyone except her closest friends, and received applause from the entire room.
The most common feeling that resonated throughout the vigil, though, was one of purpose. The microphone began as a place for mourning, and eventually became a place where speakers took turns making promises to the room and to the movement at large. A former anti-choice activist expressed remorse, saying that she felt guilt that anything she said or did could have contributed to Dr. Tiller's murder. She then vowed to become a clinic escort so that she could put her body between the terrorists and the doctors and patients.
Abortion providers expressed a renewed sense of purpose, and promised to continue with their work. Men vowed to listen to women, and women who had never been activists before promised to take up the banner and do their part.
We walked out of the vigil singing songs and carrying candles for Dr. Tiller, and for the pro-choice movement at large. The mood was appropriately somber, but we were left with a sense of purpose, of history, and of determination.
--Robin J.
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