Judge Delays Ruling in Late-Term Abortionist Case
A county judge heard arguments Friday, but delayed a decision, over whether charges against abortion practitioner George Tiller for performing illegal late-term abortions should be dismissed.
Attorney General Paul Morrison had filed misdemeanor criminal charges against the Kansas abortion practitioner in June for violating a state law that requires an independent second physician to sign off the late-term abortions as medically necessary.
Tiller allegedly broke the law by having a financial relationship with the doctor handling his late-term abortion referrals. Concerns were also raised because the physician also works out of Tiller's office.
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Lee Thompson, Tiller's attorney, has asked Sedgwick County District Judge Clark V. Owens to dismiss the charges.
He argued that the Kansas law requiring abortion practitioners to get an independent second opinion from a doctor within the state before performing late-term abortions is unconstitutional because it puts an "undue burden" on women who want to seek abortion.
"There is no rational connection to the medical care issues and it restricts rights and privileges," Thompson told the judge.
"You can have a referral from the world's foremost expert, but when you come to Kansas, it doesn't count," he added.
Thompson said the laws "serve no logical purpose except to keep a woman from exercising her constitutional right to seek an abortion."
Jared Maag, an assistant Kansas attorney general, countered Thompson argument, saying that Tiller wouldn't be able to perform any abortions if the law infringed upon a woman's right to seek an abortion.
"The number of abortions done belie his arguments," Maag said. "He performs thousands."
The prosecutor simplified the central issue in the case is whether "the defendant had a financial and legal affiliation" with the physician he used to certify late-term abortions in Wichita.
"We have evidence of that," said Maag. "And that's something a jury should decide."
The jury trial for the separate grand jury probe into Tiller's clinic, initiated through a petition submitted by pro-life group Kansans for Life, is set for March 10.
Tiller's lawyers have also asked the judge to grant him a panel of 12 jurors instead of the six jurors, the number usually assigned to investigate misdemeanor cases.
Judge Owens said he would need several weeks to rule on the constitutional issue and would likely decide the number of jurors at that time.
