Lubna Hussein : Heroine or criminal?

To thousands of women in Africa and the Middle East, Lubna Hussein has become a heroine, someone defying religious authorities and fighting for women’s rights.

To the men who try to impose those rules (in this case the Public Order police in Sudan) she is an enemy of public morals, to be denounced in the letters pages of newspapers and in mosques.

On air: Should women be giving thanks for this man’s bravery?

Dr George Tiller was one of the few US doctors who would perform late-term abortions. Because of that he is dead, shot by someone who apparently objected to his work. It wasn’t the first attempt to kill him. (Late-term abortions end pregnancies where the foetus is viable, but two doctors decide the mother-to-be’s life will be seriously threatened if the pregnancy continues.) So should his willingness to continue under such threats make him a hero of the women’s rights movement? Should people who support abortion be more vocal in their support of people like Dr Tiller?