On April 28, the heroic abortion provider, Dr. LeRoy “Lee” Carhart, one of only a few doctors who performed abortions for women late in pregnancy in the U.S., died at age 81 of liver cancer. Dr. Carhart was an outspoken, defiant and brave defender of women’s ability to control their lives. Until the last weeks of his life, he continued providing abortions at his CARE Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence in Bellevue, Nebraska, and Bethesda, Maryland.

In medical school, Dr. Carhart saw what it meant when women didn’t have access to safe and legal abortion, on demand. In a radio interview with Sunsara Taylor in 2011, Dr. Carhart explained: “I started out in a world where abortion was not legal. When I went to medical school in Philadelphia, it was before Roe v. Wade… I can remember as a general surgery resident, and as a medical student, working in the emergency departments... where I trained, and seeing the countless number of young women that were able to survive long enough to get to the emergency room and get admitted. I went to the wards where women at best had lost their fertility and much of their ability to be normal, with colostomies, and urine bags, and I know how desperate and important choice is to a woman. And I know where we will end up if abortion becomes illegal again.”

In 1985, Dr. Carhart opened an emergency drop-in medical clinic in Nebraska. When a nurse, who was also a patient, asked him to help out doing abortions, he took advanced training, and added them as part of his practice—doing abortions part time. In 1991, on the same day Nebraska passed a law requiring parents to be informed when a minor sought an abortion, buildings on his farm were burned, killing 17 horses, his cat and dog, and destroying the family home. He received a letter claiming this was because he provided abortions.

In the face of this violent and dangerous assault, Dr. Carhart doubled down in his resolve. He later said with defiance and humor, “They wanted me to quit doing it part time, then the only obvious answer was that I should do it full time.”

In 2000, he told Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times, “I just thought, if I let this get to me, they’re going to know what it takes to get to me, and I’m not going to let that happen. Women’s health became my life.” He went on to train hundreds of doctors in abortion practice.

Dr. Carhart faced hordes of anti-abortion protesters and death threats but never backed down. In the late 1990s, he began assisting his close friend and colleague Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, in providing late term abortions for women with life-threatening pregnancy complications and fetal abnormalities incompatible with life. After Dr. Tiller was murdered in 2009, Dr. Carhart went back after just a week of mourning—determined to provide this vital service to women.

He recognized the medical necessity of abortion and was unapologetic about what this meant for women’s lives. When the anti-abortion forces called him “an abortionist” as a form of attack, he embraced it. He said, “I have no trouble being called an abortionist. I’m proud of it. It should be a recognized medical specialty. We’ve allowed ourselves to be marginalized for too long.”

About the name of his clinic having the word “abortion” in it boldly, he said, “I named the clinic because abortion is a word, and it's not a four-letter word. I'm not trying to be abrasive, but a third of all women in America will have abortions during their lifetimes, and there’s no reason not to say the word.” (The actual figure is 1 in 4, but his point stands!)

In 2013, the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride made a stop at Dr. Carhart’s clinic in Bellevue, Nebraska. The Abortion Rights Freedom Ride was a tour organized by Stop Patriarchy, travelling to states in the South and West where abortion was most under attack, to stand up and defend the right to Abortion On Demand and Without Apology. Hanging on his clinic wall was a banner declaring “Dr. Carhart Is a Hero.” The banner was signed by people who became involved in Stop Patriarchy who were part of defending his clinic against a siege of anti-abortion fanatics in 2011.

Dr. Carhart was clear about what the stakes are over the fight for abortion. In his 2011 interview with Sunsara Taylor, he said, “Nobody other than the woman who has been in this very desperate situation can understand the importance of this decision...” Speaking about why the national anti-abortion forces are so determined to take away the right to abortion, he said: “The males want to control the fertility of the women and women know how important their life is to them. I think women today don’t want to be a second-class citizen. They want to enjoy all the rights and privileges that the world has to offer. The thrust of the ‘anti’s’ is to deny women those very rights. [Denial of] abortion is a vehicle they’re using to do much greater damage.”

Sunsara Taylor, co-host of The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, has been a longtime fighter for abortion rights and women’s liberation. Since the mid-’90s, she has been sounding the alarm about the abortion rights emergency and organizing mass protest to defend it. In reflecting on Dr. Carhart’s life, she said:

“Dr. Lee Carhart was a hero. He knew women needed access to abortion to live full and healthy lives. And he understood viscerally that the assault on abortion rights was driven by a desire to control and subordinate women. That he was willing to risk his life to provide abortions is a testament to his courage and conscience. That he had to face this risk is a condemnation of the patriarchal society we live in and the dangerous Christian fascism that is rising. The reversal of women's right to abortion last year by the fascist-packed Supreme Court makes it all the more urgent that people learn from and emulate Lee's legacy of bravery and selflessness.”