Programs: George R. Tiller, MD

PRCH board member LeRoy Carhart, MD, presents
Dr. Tiller (right) with the 2007 Rashbaum Award.

Winner of the 2007 Rashbaum Award, George R. Tiller, MD, served on PRCH’s Board of Directors from 2002 to 2006.  He was the medical director of Women’s Health Care Services PA, in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Tiller had been board certified in family medicine since 1973 and was past president of the medical staff of HCA Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.  He was a clinical instructor in the Family Medicine Residency at Wesley Medical Center for more than 30 years and a clinical instructor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine for more than 25 years. He was killed by an anti-abortion protestor in 2009.

Dr. Tiller was one of very few physicians in the United States who perform later term abortions. He was shot in both arms; his clinic was bombed; and for more than two years, he lived under the eye of a federal marshal. Yet Dr. Tiller continued to provide later-term abortions.  He also lectured throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe on the policies, procedures, and protocol of later abortions.

Dr. Tiller pioneered the use of sonogram imaging during surgery, as well as other procedures that have become standards of care worldwide. He was the founder of two political action committees, Pro-Choice Action League and ProKanDo, which have helped keep abortion legal and available in the United States.

Dr. Tiller is featured in Voices of Choice, PRCH’s short film that documents the experiences of physicians involved in abortion care and reform prior to Roe v. Wade.