The killing fields of Kansas

I live in Kansas, which is reputed to be a more conservative and Christian state than many, and so I have always found it curious -- and stomach-turning -- that George Tiller, a late-term abortion profiteer, can have such a lucrative practice in Wichita. Even when the state's legislature and governor's office were held by professing Christian Republicans, and the same could be said of the Wichita mayor's office, Tiller expanded his practice with ease. Not only did prominent officials not speak out against Tiller, they failed to enforce already lenient abortion laws, as an investigation by a former Kansas Attorney General, Phill Kline, has begun to make clear.

An excellent article in National Review reveals the trouble Kline got for his efforts. He's currently the target of lawsuits that have cost him $200,000 to date, and is facing a string of creative maneuvers by Kansas officials who wish he would just go away for good.

George Tiller, meanwhile, has been feted by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a fact unveiled not by the state's newspapers, but by Operation Rescue, in a series of pictures that must be embarrassing to Barack Obama's potential vice-presidential candidate.

This topsy-turvy spectacle is something we might expect from Lewis Carroll, or perhaps more aptly, Franz Kafka. The man who has revealed evidence of illegalities finds himself on trial, while the man who specializes in executing healthy infants is a guest of honor.

And the worst part is that most of us stand idly by. I used to walk in front of Tiller's killing grounds, and on some days you could see ash drifting up from a pipe in the roof of his compound, because he incinerates the corpses on site. It caught in the wind to be carried where it may, onto your doorstep, perhaps, or my windows. When I think about that ash covering the city of Wichita, it becomes real for me, how the very rocks cry out, calling for redemption of an earth that has swallowed too much of man's blood.

"For my father and my mother have forsaken me," goes the Psalm, "but the Lord will take me up." How many has He taken up, just in the city of Wichita alone? How many in your city? In this country?

The rocks are crying out, because man's eyes have gone dry. I have a good friend in this fight, and recently I asked him what the rest of us can do. "Pray," he said. "And make noise spreading the word. Lots of noise."