A prominent and controversial provider of abortions was shot to death on Sunday during a services at a church in Wichita, a city in U.S. State of Kansas, according to local reports.

The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was detained some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Tom Stolz, deputy police chief of Wichita, was quoted as saying.

The victim was Dr. George Tiller, who ran a clinic named Women's Health Care Services, one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy. The clinic had been the scene of frequent abortion protests and had served as the national focal point of antiabortion activists during the past two decades.

Tiller was shot in both arms in 1993 by abortion protester Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon, who remains in prison for the crime. Tiller received protection from federal marshals for a time. The clinic was heavily fortified and Tiller often traveled with a bodyguard, but Stolz said there was no indication of security at the church Sunday.

The slaying of the 67-year-old doctor is "an unspeakable tragedy," his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement. "This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."

The family said its loss "is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence."

President Barack Obama said he was "shocked and outraged" by the murder. "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," he said.

Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.

The killing brought renewed attention to the abortion issue, which has been in the spotlight recently. Activists on both sides of the issue denounced the murder.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2009)