Shortly thereafter, he held a medical internship with the United States Navy, and served as flight surgeon in Camp Pendleton, California, in 1969 and 1970.

[13][14] Tiller's late-term abortion practice frequently made him the a focal point for anti-abortion groups, resulting in nonviolent protests but also violent acts directed against him.

"[15] The group known as Operation Rescue held an event called "The Summer of Mercy" in July and August 1991, focusing on Tiller's clinic but also protesting other abortion providers in Wichita.

In 1999, a branch that split from the main Operation Rescue group moved from California to Kansas specifically to focus on Tiller.

[29] Tiller was discussed in 28 episodes of the Fox News talk show The O'Reilly Factor in the years leading up to his death, focusing national attention on his practice.

Although he later denied it, show host Bill O'Reilly sometimes described him as "Tiller the Baby Killer,"[30][31] a nickname that Congressman Bob Dornan had used on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

[32] O'Reilly characterized Tiller as "a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly," and accused him of "operating a death mill," and of protecting the rapists of children.

[34] O'Reilly's campaign against Tiller included the on-air disclosure of confidential patient information provided by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

WorldNetDaily columnist Jack Cashill compared the trial to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals,[39] while Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Professor Jacob Appel described Tiller as "a genuine hero who ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pantheon of defenders of human liberty.

Cheryl Sullenger, at the time vice president of the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue West, was in prolonged communication with Roeder before he assassinated Tiller.

David N. O'Steen, director of the National Right to Life Committee, said the group "unequivocally condemns any such acts of violence regardless of motivation".

Anti-abortion extremist Randall Terry described Tiller as a mass murderer and said of other abortion providers, "We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches",[56] and Southern Baptist minister and radio host Wiley Drake said, "I am glad that he is dead.

[61] In 2019, during the successful 23–14 vote confirmation of David Toland as Kansas Secretary of Commerce, objections were raised to his nomination because he had led the Thrive Allen County non-profit, which had obtained $20,000 in grants from the Fund in 2015 and 2018, to help low-income pregnant women to stop smoking and to help prevent their unintended pregnancies.

[62] Trust Women Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, purchased and re-opened the clinic that Tiller operated and continues to perform abortions and other medical services.