O'Reilly on Tiller: 60,000 Abortions
On the 6/1/2009 "O'Reilly Report" on FoxNews, Bill O'Reilly repeated the claim that recently-murdered Dr. George Tiller had performed 60,000 abortions in his career. But is that possible?
Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, so if Dr. Tiller's abortions were all legal, they would have been performed in the last 36 years. Sixty thousand divided by 36 is about 1,667 per year. If Dr. Tiller took 4 weeks of vacation, sick leave, or other non-working days each year, that means he performed about 35 abortions a week, or about one an hour (assuming a 9-to-5 day with an hour off for lunch).
Performing an abortion an hour every working day for 36 years is a pace that would have taxed Lou Gehrig. I don't believe it happened.
Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, so if Dr. Tiller's abortions were all legal, they would have been performed in the last 36 years. Sixty thousand divided by 36 is about 1,667 per year. If Dr. Tiller took 4 weeks of vacation, sick leave, or other non-working days each year, that means he performed about 35 abortions a week, or about one an hour (assuming a 9-to-5 day with an hour off for lunch).
Performing an abortion an hour every working day for 36 years is a pace that would have taxed Lou Gehrig. I don't believe it happened.
