Ground zero in abortion war

The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle: Nobody asked Wichitans whether they wanted their community to become ground zero for the abortion issue — or the “bull’s-eye of the abortion industry,” as one local anti-abortion activist regrettably puts it in the film documentary “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”

But the city and the controversial medical procedure became entangled, because Wichita was George Tiller’s home and he was one of a shrinking number of physicians in the United States willing to perform abortions and especially late-term abortions.

Civil communication

Is it too much to hope that people now might learn something from Tiller’s death and act accordingly? Any chance we can communicate about abortion civilly and productively, in ways that both promote life and respect women? ...

If a fight is what we want, how about getting up in arms about the 300-plus infants who die annually before reaching their first birthdays in Kansas? Or the 22.7 percent of women who receive inadequate prenatal care? Or the 58 girls younger than 15 in Kansas who were in a position to have abortions last year?