Willie Parker
Willie James Parker (born October 18, 1962 in Birmingham) is an obstetrician/gynecologist and reproductive rights advocate. He was briefly the medical director for the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa.
Parker grew up in Birmingham as the son of a single mother and graduated from Ensley High School in 1981. He earned his bachelor's degree at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky and his M.D. in homeopathic medicine from the University of Iowa and completed medical residencies at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.
He also has master's degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Michigan. He taught as an assistant professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. While there, he experienced a crisis of conscience and made a spiritual decision that performing abortions was a way to help people in need. He was led to that conclusion by hearing Martin Luther King Jr's sermon on the Good Samaritan as someone who put the needs of others ahead of his own comfort and thus exemplified Christian love.
Parker has since served as medical director of Planned Parenthood in Washington D.C. and associate medical director of Family Planning Associates in Chicago, Illinois. Even before relocating to Tuscaloosa, he traveled to Alabama and Mississippi to help fill the need for abortion providers in the South.
Publications
- Parker, Willie (2017) Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice. 37 Ink. ISBN 9781501151125
References
- Richardson, John H. (July 30, 2014) "The Abortion Ministry of Dr. Willie Parker." Esquire
- Gray, Jeremy (November 18, 2015) "Alabama abortionist motivated by the words of MLK." The Birmingham News
External links
- Willie Parker website