Dr. William F. Harrison

  • Dr. William F. Harrison

Dr. William F. Harrison, 75, the Fayetteville obstetrician and gynecologist, died this morning, friends report. He’d become a central figure in the debate over abortion rights. He continued to perform abortions in Fayettevile despite organized protests and threats of violence. Diagnosed with leukemia, he closed his women’s clinic earlier this summer. Doug Smith editorialized about Harrison then. Dozens of women who’d been his patients gathered to pay him tribute.

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Harrison wrote on occasion for the Times. That work included a cover story he wrote last year after attending the Wichita funeral of his friend Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who was murdered in church by an anti-abortionist.

A memorial service is planned for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

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