The U.S. Marshals Service will begin protecting some abortion clinics and doctors after the murder of Kansas doctor George Tiller yesteray, the Washington Post reports. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Obama administration will take “appropriate steps to help prevent any related acts of violence from occurring.” One group likely to receive protection is Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, which provides abortions and reproductive health services in the three states.
Tiller, the nation’s most prominent provider of late-term abortions, was killed as he distributed bulletins in church Sunday morning. Scott Roeder, who was taken into custody and identified as a suspect, is known in anti-abortion circles as a man who believes that killing an abortion doctor is justifiable.