I promised myself I wouldn’t get furious with or annoyed by the media’s treatment of his death and his life, but enough is enough.  Since I’ve been back with my parents, the O’Reilly Factor has become a part of my nightly routine yet again.  And I wonder, each day—after every single time I’m tempted to write good old Bill an angry email—and most of the time I do end up writing him emails—but I still wonder—how does that man sleep at night?

After hearing all he had to say about Dr. Tiller—how he called him a “murderer”, how he repeatedly states that he is guilty of killing thousands of babies…I’ve got a few things to say to O’Reilly and to all other pro-lifers who hold a similar opinion.

Dr. Tiller was a long-term abortionist—not a baby killer,  not a murderer, but a doctor.  The work he did may seem controversial to some people, but at the end of the day, he acted in accordance with laws and regulations of the state he lived in.  He is dead now—has been murdered by a pro-life extremist.  Please give him and his family respect they deserve because calling him a murderer and a baby killer has not done and will not do any good to him and his family.  So, please stop.

Instead, I call on you to take a step back and reflect on the weight your words have and the effect they may have on someone who is emotionally unstable and who is ready to pull the trigger at any given time.

Another thing I want to bring up—please stop calling us “pro-abortionists”.  We respectfully call you pro-lifers, so please humor us and call us “pro-choice”.  No one is “pro-abortion”.  I don’t march down the street screaming –“Abortion!  Woot Woot!” No, instead I hope that there will be a time when no woman would have to go through that procedure and would have that emotionally and physically draining experience.  And I also hope to see the day when all pro-lifers realize that and unite with the pro-choicers in their support for comprehensive sex ed in schools and the availability of all services and resources for young people—especially young women.  I hope to see the day when the stigma around having healthy, sexually active relationship based on honesty and respect will be gone and no one will be embarrassed or afraid to talk about the forbidden 3-letter word.  

I hope to see the day when everyone realizes that sexuality is part of our nature and there is nothing dirty or embarrassing about it.

I hope to see the day when every single pregnancy will be wanted and planned.  I hope to see the day when medicine will be able to take care of all diseases so that the need for abortions due to medical reasons will be gone.

I hope to see the day when our society will be free of sexual violence and abuse—when every single sexual act will be legal, welcomed, and wanted.

Maybe I am a big idealist and a dreamer.  So what? “Dream big”, right—or so I hear.  But my point is that instead of hating each other and calling each other names—let’s be mature about this and focus on our similarities instead of our differences.  Our approaches may be different, but our end goal is the same.  

So there is no need in labeling Dr. tiller as murderer, for such strong words will only further ignite resentfulness and may encourage violence.  Instead, how about we stop focusing on our emotions and become a little more practical about this.

Let’s stop marching down the street with pictures of fully grown fetuses and think for a minute about different situations, different things that can happen to anyone.  How about considering all the different factors before jumping to conclusions and making judgments that involve such dreadful words as “murderer” and “killer”.

What bothers me the most about the pro-life movement is the fact that thousands of people gather for protests with pictures of fetuses or grown babies screaming “murder” without the slightest consideration of how personal this issue may be for someone, without any consideration for different circumstances in life of thousands of women.  How dare they take something so personal and intimate and something that is a woman’s choice and turn it into a publicity stunt with no regard to the fact that they may be even further traumatizing thousands of women.  

I don’t understand it.  Maybe that is why I am pro-choice, or maybe I’m just against violence and murder—for when was the last time you’ve heard of a pro-choicer sending death threats or better yet murdering someone who is pro-life?

So how about this.  How about looking at this issue from a human rights perspective: if you are so strongly pro-life, then don’t get an abortion—for it is your right as a citizen of this society. However, it is not your or anyone's right to make that decision for millions of other women.