2001-07-09

2001-07-10
Abortion Foes Return to Kansas
(APW_ENG_20010710.0602)
1) Much has changed in the 10 years since abortion opponents besieged this heartland city with 45 days of protests.
2) Anti-abortion activists targeting Wichita for a weeklong renewal of the Summer of Mercy beginning Sunday will find tough new local and federal laws governing abortion protests. And they will see Wichita's abortion-rights supporters _ caught off guard by the 1991 uprising _ better organized.
3) Abortion foes are vowing passionate protests and prayer, but they say they will try to avoid a repeat of the thousands of arrests a decade ago.
4) ``I cannot answer for everybody that is coming here,'' but illegal protesting ``is not what this is about,'' said Donna Lippoldt, director of Operation Save America-Wichita, which is spearheading this summer's campaign.
5) In 1991, Operation Save America was known as Operation Rescue and led by Randall Terry, the firebrand who advocated that abortion doctors be prosecuted and given the death penalty.
6) Abortion opponents have since distanced themselves from Terry and chaotic protests, and Terry _ who was censured by his church last year after being accused of extramarital affairs _ is not expected in Wichita this time.
7) Operation Save America is now led by the Rev. Flip Benham, who was also at the 1991 demonstrations and was arrested leading a march on a clinic operated by Dr. George Tiller. Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1985 and he was shot and wounded two years after the first Summer of Mercy. He is being targeted again this summer.
8) Protesters have noted with pride that Tiller's clinic, one of the few in the nation that still perform late-term abortions, is the only Wichita facility that still performs abortions _ down from three in 1991.
9) Also, in 1999, the anti-abortion side opened a medical clinic next door to Tiller's where expectant mothers are shown three-dimensional sonograms designed to encourage them to bond with their fetuses.
10) Still, in the past decade, abortions performed in Kansas have increased 22 percent _ from 10,141 in 1991 to 12,323 last year. At the same time, abortions nationwide have fallen to their lowest point in 20 years.
11) Abortion foes say Tiller's clinic is largely responsible for the state's increase in abortions. Nearly half the patients who obtained abortions in Kansas last year came from out of state.
12) In 1991, the Summer of Mercy ended with 2,700 arrests on charges ranging from loitering and trespassing to assaulting law officers. Protesters blocked entrances to clinics and forced their way inside one of them. At one anti-abortion rally, police estimated the crowd at 30,000 people.
13) But if early housing requests are any indication, this summer's renewal will be much smaller. ``We are looking in the hundreds, not the thousands,'' Lippoldt said.
14) After the first Summer of Mercy, city officials passed an ordinance imposing $2,000 bail on people who block access to local businesses. In 1991, most arrested protesters were released on their own recognizance.
15) In 1994, Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which bans the use of force, threats or blockades.
16) The protesters this time must also contend with abortion-rights supporters. In 1991, abortion-rights supporters thought that if they just let the abortion opponents protest peacefully for one week as promised, they would go away.
17) ``I think the city is better prepared this time. The last time, we didn't have the knowledge,'' said Susan Collison, 55, a Wichita optometric technician who helped escort women into the clinics during the 1991 protests.
18) Abortion-rights activists have put together training sessions for their demonstrators and have scheduled their own rallies.



2001-07-15

2001-07-16
Abortion Opponents Target Wichita
(APW_ENG_20010716.0109)
1) Abortion opponents marched at five Wichita churches Sunday, confronting worshippers with large signs showing aborted fetuses and spreading their message with bullhorns.
2) As part of the weeklong Summer of Mercy Renewal, nearly 30 demonstrators went to Reformation Lutheran Church, which is attended by Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the country who still performs late-term abortions.
3) Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1985 and he was shot and wounded two years after the first Summer of Mercy was staged in Wichita 10 years ago. Demonstrations also are planned at his clinic this week.
4) ``He is told what he is doing is righteous. He is told he is going to heaven,'' said Troy Newman, director of Los Angeles-based Operation Rescue West. ``Tiller has a guilty conscience _ that is why he runs to churches.''
5) By the end of the day, about 1,000 abortion opponents gathered at the Word of Life Church across town for a worship service.
6) ``I don't think we need to have a civil war over this,'' said Wes Wolken, associate pastor of Word of Life Church.
7) But he added, ``I think there will be a lot of patience tried before this is over with _ city police, us, them.''
8) Tiller was not at Reformation Lutheran during the demonstrations, which upset church members, particularly children who saw the bloody photographs.
9) Keith Martin said children in his Sunday School class were ``crying like crazy'' after passing the demonstrators to get to church. ``I don't think any First Amendment idea is being conveyed to them,'' he said.
10) ``I think what they would like us to do is ask the Tiller family to leave our church _ that is hardly Christian,'' said church member David Johnson. ``To put those signs out there is to frighten God's children.''
11) Newman said it was not the demonstrators' intention to upset children. ``Every one of these children understand abortion is murder _ that is why they are upset,'' he said.
12) Demonstrator Megan Cloud, 16, of St. Louis, held pictures of fetuses. She said the pictures bother her, too, and she hates to look at them.
13) ``But these kids are growing up, and their parents are allowing them to see this as an all-right thing,'' she said.
14) Protesters also went to nearby Chapel Hill Fellowship, where Mayor Bob Knight attended the service. Knight declined to talk to a reporter: ``I am not here to do interviews, I am here to go to church.''
15) Knight has said he would hold leaders of Operation Save America, organizer of the Summer of Mercy Renewal, responsible for any disturbances during the week of protests.
16) Demonstrators also targeted Metropolitan Church because of its support of homosexuals, and marched at two churches that have supported abortion rights, United Methodist Church and Congregational Church.


Abortion Opponents Protest in Kan.
(APW_ENG_20010716.0953)
1) Demonstrators demanding an end to abortions marched through downtown Monday, reading Bible verses over a loudspeaker mounted on a truck.
2) The activists, in town for the weeklong Summer of Mercy Renewal marking a decade since large protests here, also had started a court fight against the city's refusal to let them parade outside an abortion clinic.
3) Anti-abortion demonstrators _ men, women and children _ marched several blocks with a police escort past City Hall and the federal courthouse.
4) Many of the demonstrators also carried banners that read ``Life Yes, Abortion No'' and ``The unborn child should be set free to live life in America.''
5) Organizers said there were about 1,000 marchers; police put the number between 500 and 1,000 and said there were no problems during the march. Afterward, marchers returned to a park along the Arkansas River to preach and pray.
6) Earlier in the day, about 200 demonstrators, most of them abortion rights activists, had gathered at the clinic of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the country who still performs late-term abortions.
7) Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1985 and he was shot and wounded in 1993, two years after the first Summer of Mercy was staged in Wichita.
8) The protesters had wanted to parade past Tiller's clinic twice daily during the week, but city officials denied the request.
9) Operation Save America filed a lawsuit against the city and a hearing was set Monday afternoon in federal court. The group also was challenging the constitutionality of stiffer bail bonds that target arrests of out-of-town residents at the clinic this week.
10) ``I don't think we need to have a civil war over this,'' said Wes Wolken, associate pastor of Word of Life Church, where some 1,000 abortion opponents gathered Sunday.
11) But he added: ``I think there will be a lot of patience tried before this is over with _ city police, us, them.''
12) In 1991, the Summer of Mercy ended with 2,700 arrested after more than 45 days of protests.
13) On Sunday, abortion opponents marched outside the church Tiller attends, Reformation Lutheran, using bullhorns and carrying photographs of bloody fetuses.
14) Tiller was not at the church, but other parishioners were upset.
15) ``I think what they would like us to do is ask the Tiller family to leave our church _ that is hardly Christian,'' said church member David Johnson.
16) At the Sunday night service at Word of Life, the mood was more about conciliation than confrontation.
17) ``Our mission hasn't changed. Our strategy has,'' the Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America, told reporters.
18) Asked if protesters planned to block the clinic, Benham said: ``That's not a planned strategy. Ours is wider in scope and we are winning the battle.''
19) Demonstrators also targeted Metropolitan Church on Sunday because of its support of homosexuals, and marched at two churches that have supported abortion rights.


Abortion Opponents Protest in Kan.
(APW_ENG_20010716.0993)
1) Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets Monday to demand an end to abortions, reading Bible verses over a loudspeaker as they marched through downtown with a police escort.
2) The activists, in town for a renewal of the Summer of Mercy anti-abortion protests that crippled Wichita a decade ago, also started a court fight against the city's refusal to let them parade outside an abortion clinic.
3) Police put the number of marchers at between 500 and 1,000.
4) Organizers of the protests filed a federal lawsuit alleging the city improperly denied them a permit for marches near the clinic of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the country to perform late-term abortions. The clinic was bombed in 1985 and Tiller was shot and wounded in 1993, two years after the first Summer of Mercy in Wichita.
5) The group also challenged the constitutionality of a municipal court order imposing stiffer bail for any nonresidents arrested at the clinic this week.
6) City officials have said that the parade permit was denied for safety reasons, and that the higher bail should not matter to a group that has proclaimed it planned peaceful protests.
7) In 1991, the first Summer of Mercy _ led by firebrand Randall Terry and Operation Rescue _ ended with 2,700 people arrested in more than 45 days of protests. The group has since distanced itself from Terry and calls itself Operation Save America.



2001-07-18
2 Arrested Outside Abortion Clinic
(APW_ENG_20010718.0846)
1) Two people were arrested on Wednesday as tensions rose between abortion opponents and supporters of abortion rights outside a clinic that is the focus of a week of protests.
2) The arrests, the first during the anti-abortion Summer of Mercy renewal campaign, were made after separate shoving incidents between the two sides.
3) Both people arrested were abortion-rights supporters, police said. They faced misdemeanor battery charges.
4) Demonstrators had started lining up before sunrise outside the clinic operated by Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who perform late-term abortions. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot and wounded outside the clinic in 1993.
5) Jennifer Stark, an intern for the Los Angeles-based Feminist Majority Foundation, was at Tiller's clinic before 5 a.m.
6) ``We wanted to get here early to make sure we got our people out there,'' she said.
7) This week's campaign is a a renewal of anti-abortion protests that paralyzed Wichita in 1991, when 2,700 people were arrested in 45 days of demonstrations.
8) On Tuesday, heat and humidity did what city officials couldn't _ limit the abortion opponents' marches in front of Tiller's clinic. The temperature rose above 100 degrees.
9) Operation Save America, which is sponsoring the protests, said morning and afternoon parades would continue every day through Saturday, but with a slight change in the afternoon because of the heat.
10) ``It's going to be a driving parade. If the heat is too much for you, come in your car and turn on your air conditioning,'' said Troy Newman of the Los Angeles-based Operation Rescue West, a parade organizer.
11) On Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Marten ruled that the city's denial of a parade permit violated Operation Save America's First Amendment rights. The judge said the demonstrators could march near the clinic each day for an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon.



2006-04-06
Abortion foes petition to convene grand jury in Kansas abortion death
(APW_ENG_20060406.0041)
1) Abortion foes are invoking a seldom-used Kansas law to try to force a grand jury to investigate the case of a mentally retarded woman who died after receiving a late-term abortion.
2) The case represents the latest skirmish over abortion in Kansas, which has become a major battleground, in part because it is where Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the U.S. to perform abortions late in pregnancy, has his practice.
3) Tiller has been the target of protests for years. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and he was shot by a protester in 1993.
4) On Friday, abortion opponents plan to present Sedgwick County with a petition signed by nearly 7,000 local residents asking a grand jury to look at the circumstances surrounding the death of Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman whose family brought her to Tiller's clinic in Wichita for an abortion in January 2005.
5) Abortion foes want to see Tiller charged with such offenses as involuntary manslaughter, mistreatment of a dependent adult, and failure to report abuse of a child. They contend the woman did not have the mental capacity to consent to either the sex or the abortion.
6) A 1970 Kansas law allows citizens to call for a grand jury investigation when they feel local law enforcement agencies have failed to act. Kansas is one of the few states with such a law.
7) "The deeper we looked into this case, the more we realized there was a lack of justice _ a travesty that has been committed," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue in Wichita.
8) Tiller declined to comment. Attorney Lee Thompson _ who represents Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services _ said in a statement that a grand jury would be "a waste of public resources."
9) "The clinic respects the privacy of its patients, and continues to express condolences to the family," Thompson said. "It is unfortunate that some have chosen to exploit this matter of personal grief for political purposes."
10) Last year, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, which regulates doctors, cleared Tiller in Gilbert's death. While an autopsy listed complications from the abortion as the cause of death, the board concluded neither Tiller nor his staff was responsible.
11) Anti-abortion groups questioned whether the investigation was thorough because Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed many of the board's members and has received campaign contributions from Tiller and other abortion rights supporters.
12) "We trust the Board of Healing Arts conducted a thorough investigation in this matter and we have no further comment," Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said.
13) Kansas has also become a battleground in recent years because of Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, a staunch abortion opponent elected in 2002. He is waging a legal battle to look at patient records from two abortion clinics for evidence of misconduct by the clinics as well as child abuse or child rape.
14) Also, Kline is in the middle of a dispute in federal court for interpreting a Kansas law as requiring doctors, teachers and others to report suspected sexual activity between consenting minors under 16.
15) Gilbert, who had Down Syndrome, was 28 weeks pregnant when her parents took her to the Wichita clinic. She died three days later from an infection. Activists contend proper medical monitoring of the woman's condition should have found the infection and her worsening condition.
16) Under state law, a grand jury may be summoned within 60 days after a petition is presented bearing the signatures of slightly more than 2 percent of a county's registered voters. If the signatures are found to be valid, a judge determines the petition is in proper form, a grand jury can be convened to decide whether to bring criminal charges.
17) Pornography opponents used the law in Wichita last year to get an indictment against a store selling adult sexual materials.
18) "It is a great tool," Newman said. "It gives the ability to citizens to deliver justice when officials aren't doing their job."



2006-12-22
Kansas attorney general files criminal charges against abortion provider, attorney says
(APW_ENG_20061222.1082)
1) Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, has filed criminal charges against Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, the doctor's attorney said Friday.
2) Attorney Dan Monnat did not identify the charges, and officials in Attorney General Phill Kline's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
3) Tiller's clinic, known for being one of the few in the U.S. to do late-term procedures, has been a high-profile target of anti-abortion protesters for decades. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993.
4) Kline, who lost his re-election bid in November and leaves office in three weeks, has been investigating whether Tiller and other abortion providers performed illegal late-term abortions in Kansas or failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.
5) He waged a two-year legal battle before finally this year obtaining the records of 90 patients from Tiller's Wichita clinic and a clinic operated in Overland Park by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
6) Since the election, abortion rights activists have expected him to move against Tiller and perhaps Planned Parenthood, as well.
7) Tiller and Planned Parenthood have repeatedly said they have committed no wrongdoing and that the patient records Kline obtained contained no evidence of crimes by either the clinics or their doctors.
8) "We also intend to explore any and all means of holding Kline personally responsible for his malicious actions," Monnat said.
9) "The filing of criminal charges by Phill Kline is the last gasp of a defeated and discredited politician," the attorney said. "Rather than executing his duty as a prosecutor to see that justice is done, he has chosen to engage in a malicious and spiteful prosecution on the eve of Christmas."
10) The incoming attorney general, Democrat Paul Morrison, has criticized Kline for seeking the records, describing it as an invasion of the patients' privacy, but he would not say if he would drop any investigation Kline started against the clinics.
11) Mark Simpson, a spokesman for Morrison, said neither he nor his aides had any information about the charges and could not comment. He said they would issue a statement once they learned the details.
12) The court clerk's office in Sedgwick County also said it did not have any information that it could discuss.



2006-12-23

2006-12-26

2006-12-27

2006-12-28
Kansas attorney general blocked in efforts to prosecute well-known abortion provider
(APW_ENG_20061228.0610)
1) Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, might leave office frustrated in his attempts to prosecute the state's most visible abortion provider.
2) Attorney General Phill Kline suffered another setback Wednesday when a judge refused to reinstate 30 misdemeanor charges Kline had filed against Dr. George Tiller, alleging he performed illegal late-term abortions.
3) The same judge dismissed the charges last week.
4) Kline, a Republican who leaves office in less than two weeks, responded by naming a special prosecutor to pursue Tiller's case.
5) But he acknowledged that Paul Morrison, the abortion rights Democrat who ousted him from office in the November election, could abolish the special prosecutor's job after he becomes attorney general on Jan. 8.
6) And Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said the special prosecutor will have no authority to file charges against Tiller in that county. She successfully argued twice in six days that Kline could not file charges because she did not consent to it. If Tiller is prosecuted, she said, her office will do it.
7) "Our power and authority is to prosecute all of the crimes that occur within this county," Foulston told reporters. "You just can't walk in and make those filings without having gone through the regular hoops."
8) Kline filed his charges Dec. 21, accusing Tiller of illegally using the mental health concerns of patients, aged 10 to 22, to justify late-term abortions. He also alleged that Tiller failed to properly report details of his late-term procedures to state health officials.
9) District Judge Paul W. Clark dismissed the charges the next day at Foulston's request, citing the jurisdiction issue. Kline asked the judge to reconsider and Clark held a hearing Wednesday but ruled against Kline.
10) Tiller is among the few doctors in the U.S. who perform late-term abortions, which has made his clinic a target of protesters. Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1985, and a protester shot him in both arms eight years later.
11) Wichita attorney Don McKinney, who Kline named as the special prosecutor, did not return a telephone message after the hearing.



2007-01-08

2007-10-24
Abortion doctor wants inquiry started by anti-abortion groups stopped
(APW_ENG_20071024.1502)
1) One of the United States' few late-term abortion providers is asking Kansas' highest court to block a grand jury investigation of him and his clinic that was initiated by anti-abortion groups.
2) Anti-abortion groups collected nearly 7,900 signatures, more than three times the number required, to force the creation of a grand jury to consider whether Dr. George Tiller violated a 1998 state law restricting late-term abortions.
3) Kansas is one of the few states where citizens can petition to create a grand jury.
4) The abortion issues remains sensitive in the U.S., even decades after the nation's highest court established a constitutional right to the procedure.
5) Tiller denies the allegations and wants the Kansas Supreme Court to prevent the panel from meeting Tuesday.
6) "This is a proceeding brought for harassment and in bad faith by the petition gatherers," Tiller attorney Lee Thompson said Wednesday. "You approach the level of vigilantism, and I think we see that happening in this instance."
7) Tiller's attorneys filed a petition Friday with the high court, which has not scheduled a hearing.
8) Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, the state's largest anti-abortion group, said abortion opponents sought a grand jury because of Tiller's influence in state politics and because potential violations of the law have been ignored for years.
9) "Nothing Dr. Tiller or any of his lawyers do surprises me -- nothing," Culp said. "It makes have to wonder just what it is they're so afraid of."
10) This is the second time in 18 months abortion foes have petitioned for a grand jury to investigate Tiller. Last year, a grand jury reviewed the death of a Texas woman who had had an abortion at Tiller's clinic but issued no indictments.



2008-01-17

2009-02-25
Judge refuses to throw out Kansas abortion case
(APW_ENG_20090225.1420)
1) A judge has refused to toss out the criminal case against a doctor accused of violating Kansas' late-term abortion law.
2) Sedgwick County Judge Clark Owens on Wednesday denied a defense request to dismiss charges against Dr. George Tiller of Wichita or throw out evidence because of the conduct of former prosecutor Phill Kline.
3) Owens found that Kline's conduct during the investigation of Tiller did not warrant such action.
4) Tiller is scheduled to go to trial on March 16 on 19 misdemeanor charges alleging he failed to obtain a second opinion for some late-term abortions from an independent physician, as required by Kansas law.
5) Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, began investigating clinics when he served as Kansas' attorney general from 2003 to 2007.



2009-03-14
US late-term abortion provider faces trial
(APW_ENG_20090314.0839)
1) For abortion opponents, the trial of one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers has been a long time coming, a chance for a little bit of justice after years of seeing their efforts thwarted.
2) To abortion-rights supporters, Dr. George Tiller's trial set to begin Monday is the culmination of repeated harassment, a witch hunt in which his foes have been willing to do anything and everything to gain a conviction.
3) Tiller and his Kansas clinic have been regular targets of anti-abortion demonstrations, including the 45-day "Summer of Mercy" event staged by Operation Rescue in 1991. His clinic was damaged by a pipe bomb in 1986, and in 1993 a protester shot him in both arms.
4) Abortion opponents contend Tiller illegally aborts fetuses that could survive outside the womb. Kansas law allows late-term abortions if two doctors agree that it is necessary to save a women's life or prevent "substantial and irreversible" harm to "a major bodily function," a phrase that's been interpreted to include mental health.
5) Tiller is charged with 19 misdemeanors alleging he failed to obtain the required second opinion from an independent physician that a late-term abortion is necessary. If convicted, the physician could face a year in the county jail or a fine of $2,500 for each charge.
6) Judge Clark Owens set aside three days, beginning Monday, for jury selection. Opening arguments and trial testimony are set to begin March 23.
7) Defense attorney Dan Monnat said he could not comment on specific evidence. "But we can say this: Dr. Tiller is innocent," Monnat added. "We expect the prosecution's evidence and any defense evidence to make that very, very clear."
8) Prosecutors contend Tiller had a financial relationship with the doctor he relied upon for his second opinion that an abortion is necessary, in violation of Kansas law. They expect to present their case in one day, and could call that physician, Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who has been granted immunity from prosecution.
9) "We are treating this case just like any other criminal case," said Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for Attorney General Steve Six, a Democrat who supports abortion rights.
10) Abortion opponents and abortion-rights activists plan to be out in full force for the trial.
11) Trucks emblazoned with graphic images of aborted fetuses are set to arrive at the courthouse an hour before jury selection starts. Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said the activists are not trying to influence jurors. Instead, he said, "We are hoping God will influence them."
12) Abortion-rights supporters plan to counter with their own demonstrations.
13) "This is just a continuation of the dog-and-pony show in trying to shut down (Tiller's) Women's Health Care Services (clinic) and trying to make women's reproductive health care inaccessible," said Julie Burkhart, a lobbyist with ProKanDo, a political action committee Tiller formed in 2002.
14) Opponents twice tried unsuccessfully to get grand juries to indict Tiller. Kansas is one of only six states that allow citizens to petition to create a grand jury.
15) They also watched as another case -- brought by a former state prosecutor -- was tossed out on jurisdictional grounds. Although that case was different than the current one, the medical records gathered by former Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican, formed the basis of both prosecutions.
16) The current case has survived numerous legal challenges, mainly over the way in which Kline handled his investigation, which Tiller's attorneys contended was unconstitutionally selective and relied on evidence gathered illegally.
17) Even as Tiller's trial begins, abortion foes are pushing two bills in the Legislature.
18) One would require the State Board of Healing Arts, which regulates Kansas doctors, to revoke a medical license for just one misdemeanor conviction of the late-term abortion law, unless two thirds of the board decides otherwise. Under current law, the board may revoke a license after just one conviction, but it does not have to.
19) While Burkhart said the bill "was written specifically" for Tiller, Kathy Ostrowski, state legislative director of Kansans for Life, said it would not affect this case because the charges were filed under the current law.
20) "As it stands today, the board can use even one misdemeanor conviction to investigate revocation of his license," she said.



2009-03-18

2009-03-27
Jury finds US doctor not guilty in abortion case
(APW_ENG_20090327.1185)
1) Jurors have acquitted one of the few U.S. late-term abortion providers of violating Kansas law requiring an independent second opinion for the procedure.
2) Dr. George Tiller was found not guilty Friday of 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003. Prosecutors had alleged that a doctor he used for second opinions was essentially an employee of his and not independent as state law requires.
3) If convicted, Tiller had faced a year in jail or a fine of $2,500 for each misdemeanor charge. The medical board could have used even one misdemeanor conviction to investigate revocation of his license.


Jury finds US doctor not guilty in abortion case
(APW_ENG_20090327.1389)
1) One of the nation's few late-term abortion providers was acquitted Friday of misdemeanor charges stemming from procedures he performed, but moments after the verdict the state's medical board said it was investigating similar allegations against him.
2) Prosecutors alleged that Dr. George Tiller had in 2003 gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires. But a jury took only about an hour to find him not guilty of all 19 counts.
3) Tiller, who could have faced a year in jail for even one conviction, stared straight ahead as the verdicts were read, with one of his attorneys patting his shoulder after the decision on the final count was declared. His wife, seated across the courtroom, fought back tears and nodded. The couple declined to speak to reporters afterward.
4) Tiller, 67, has claimed that the prosecution was politically motivated. An attorney general who opposed abortion rights began the investigation into Tiller's clinic more than four years ago, but both his successor, who filed the criminal charges, and the current attorney general support abortion rights.
5) Soon after the verdict was announced, the state's Board of Healing Arts made public a complaint against Tiller on allegations similar to those at issue in the criminal case. The complaint was filed in December but not released until Friday.
6) The board, which regulates doctors, could revoke, suspend or limit Tiller's medical license, or fine him.
7) Tiller has been a favored target of anti-abortion protesters, and he testified that he and his family have suffered years of harassment and threats. His clinic was the site of the 1991 "Summer of Mercy" protests marked by mass demonstrations and arrests. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and an abortion opponent shot him in both arms in 1993.
8) Kansas law allows abortions after a fetus can survive outside the womb only if two independent doctors agree that it is necessary to save a women's life or prevent "substantial and irreversible" harm to "a major bodily function," a phrase that has been interpreted to include mental health.
9) Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus provided second opinions on late-term abortions before Tiller performed them.
10) According to trial testimony, Tiller's patients paid Neuhaus $250 to $300 in cash for providing the consultation, and the only way patients could see her was to make an appointment with Tiller's office.
11) Tiller testified that he used Neuhaus based on advice from his lawyers and from Larry Buening, who was then executive director of the Board of Healing Arts.
12) Tiller also testified that in about five cases each year, Neuhaus would disagree with him about the necessity of a late-term abortion. When she declined to concur, the abortion was not done, he said.
13) Tiller estimated that he performed 250 to 300 late-term abortions in 2003, each costing an average of $6,000.
14) Tiller said he is one of three doctors in the U.S. who currently perform late-term abortions. The others are in Boulder, Colorado, and Los Angeles, he said.



2009-05-31
Wichita police: Slaying at abortion doc ' s church
(APW_ENG_20090531.0562)
1) A city official has confirmed that late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was shot and killed at his church in Wichita, Kansas.
2) A City Hall official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case told The Associated Press that the 67-year-old doctor was killed Sunday morning at Reformation Lutheran Church.
3) Police spokesman Gordon Bassham would not confirm the victim's identity pending notification of relatives. He says the shooting occurred at 10:03 a.m. and the gunman fled the scene in a 1993 powder blue Ford Taurus registered in another part of the state.
4) Bassham says no suspects are in custody.
5) Tiller has been among the few U.S. physicians performing late-term abortions. His clinic has repeatedly been the site of protests and he was shot and wounded by a protester in 1993.


Source: Suspect in custody in abortion doc slaying
(APW_ENG_20090531.0645)
1) A Wichita city official says a suspect is in custody in the shooting death of late-term abortion provider George Tiller.
2) The city official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. The official did not provide additional details.
3) An attorney for Tiller, Dan Monnat, says the doctor was shot Sunday as he served as an usher during morning services at Reformation Lutheran Church. Monnat said Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time of the shooting.


Obama says he ' s shocked, saddened by Tiller death
(APW_ENG_20090531.0805)
1) President Barack Obama says he is shocked and outraged over the killing of an abortion provider at a Kansas church.
2) Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed Sunday morning while he was serving as an usher at a church in Wichita, Kansas. The White House released a statement from the president Sunday evening.
3) Obama says violence is not the answer to resolve differing opinions on abortion and said the shooting is a murder. Tiller was one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions. He was the object of decades of protests and attacks.



2009-06-01
Suspect jailed in Kansas abortion doctor ' s killing
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1) A man suspected of fatally shooting abortion doctor George Tiller in church was in jail Monday while investigators sought to learn more about his background, including his possible connections to anti-abortion groups.
2) Tiller, 67, was serving as an usher during morning services Sunday when he was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, police said. The gunman fired one shot at Tiller and threatened two other people who tried to stop him.
3) The suspect, identified by one law enforcement agency as Scott Roeder, was taken into custody some 170 miles (274 kilometers) away in a Kansas City suburb about three hours after the shooting.
4) Tiller had been a lightning rod for abortion opponents for decades. The women's clinic he ran is one of three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy, when the fetus is considered viable, and has been the site of repeated protests for about two decades. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985.
5) Roeder, 51, was returned to Wichita and was being held without bond on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Formal charges were expected to be filed on Monday.
6) In Washington, the U.S. Marshals Service said that as a result of Tiller's shooting, Attorney General Eric Holder had ordered it to "increase security for a number of individuals and facilities" in the country. Jeff Carter, U.S. Marshals spokesman, said he could not disclose details.
7) A man with the same name as the suspect has a criminal record and a background of anti-abortion postings on sympathetic Web sites. In one post written in 2007 on the Web site for Operation Rescue, a group that closely followed Tiller's work and legal troubles in recent years, a man identifying himself as Scott Roeder asked if anyone had thought of attending Tiller's church to ask the doctor and other worshippers about his work.
8) But police said Sunday that all early indications showed the shooter acted alone. Operation Rescue condemned the killing as vigilantism and "a cowardly act." The president of the group told The New York Times that Roeder was "not a friend, not a contributor, not a volunteer."
9) In 1996, a 38-year-old man named Scott Roeder was charged in Topeka with criminal use of explosives for having bomb components in his car trunk and sentenced to 24 months of probation. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal the next year after a higher court said evidence against Roeder was seized by law enforcement officers during an illegal search of his car.
10) At the time, police said the FBI had identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, an organization that kept the FBI at bay in Jordan, Montana, for almost three months in 1995-96. Authorities on Sunday night would not immediately confirm if their suspect was the same man.
11) Morris Wilson, a commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia in the mid-1990s, told The Kansas City Star he knew Roeder fairly well.
12) "I'd say he's a good ol' boy, except he was just so fanatic about abortion," Wilson said. "He was always talking about how awful abortion was. But there's a lot of people who think abortion is awful."
13) In May 2007, someone posting to the Web site of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue used the name "Scott Roeder" in response to a scheduled vigil to "pray for an end to George R. Tiller's late-term abortion business."
14) "Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp," the posting read. "Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn't seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller."
15) The slaying quickly brought condemnation from both anti-abortion and pro-choice groups, as well as President Barack Obama.
16) "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," Obama said in a statement.



2009-06-02
US doctor refused to quit: ' I know they need me '
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1) To some he was an unflinching hero, to others a remorseless villain. As a late-term abortion doctor, George Tiller knew he had chosen a dangerous career, one that made him a lightning rod. His clinic was a fortress, his days marred by threats, but he refused to give up what he saw as his life's mission.
2) "He never wavered," says Susie Gilligan, who knew Tiller as part of her work in the Feminist Majority Foundation. "He never backed away. He had incredible strength. When you spoke to him, he was a soft-spoken man, a very gentle man. He said, 'This is what I have to do. Women need me. I know they need me.'"
3) Tiller, 67, whose Wichita, Kansas, clinic had been the target of anti-abortion protests for more than two decades, was fatally shot Sunday while serving as an usher at his church. The suspect, identified by police as Scott Roeder, was taken into custody three hours later. He was booked without bail on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
4) As one of a few doctors across the nation to perform third-trimester abortions, Tiller had survived an earlier shooting, his clinic was bombed, his home picketed. He hired a Brink's armored truck to take him to work for several weeks, he had federal marshals protecting him for 30 months. He built a new surgical center without windows and he was known to wear a bulletproof vest, sometimes even to church.
5) Through it all, he stood defiant.
6) When a pipe bomb heavily damaged his clinic in the mid 1980s, he hung a sign outside the rubble saying: "Hell, No. We Won't Go!" He offered a $10,000 award -- which was never collected.
7) When thousands of protesters gathered at the Women's Health Care Services clinic in 1991 for the 45-day "Summer of Mercy" demonstration staged by Operation Rescue, he was again unbowed.
8) "I am a willing participant in this conflict," he said at the time. "I choose to be here because I feel that it is the moral, it is the ethical thing to do."
9) He told The Wichita Eagle newspaper in 1991 that prayer and meditation helped him through hard times. "If I'm OK on the inside," he said, "what people say on the outside does not make much difference."
10) When a woman passing out anti-abortion literature shot him in both arms outside the clinic two years later, he briefly pursued her by car, recalls Peggy Bowman, his former spokeswoman. "He didn't even know he was shot and all of a sudden he saw this blood (and figured), 'I probably shouldn't spend my time chasing this woman,'" she says.
11) Tiller suffered minor wounds -- and was back at the clinic the next day. (That's when he hired the armored truck.)
12) This spring, Tiller was acquitted of misdemeanor charges of violating Kansas restrictions on late-term abortions. Shortly after, the state's medical board announced it was investigating allegations against him that were nearly identical to those a jury had rejected.
13) Tiller's outspokenness rankled his critics, who decried as a publicity stunt his offer several years ago to provide free abortions on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. He said at the time at least 32 low-income women signed up for the free first-trimester abortions.
14) Abortion opponents also claimed Tiller's large financial involvement in Kansas politics thwarted prosecutions against him. They routinely blamed Tiller's "corrupt influences in the government" whenever legislation strengthening state abortion laws failed to pass the Legislature or was vetoed by the governor.
15) While anti-abortion activists have condemned Tiller's death, Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue -- who also said the gunman was wrong -- told the National Press Club on Monday the doctor was "a mass murderer and, horrifically, he reaped what he sowed."
16) Tiller, a former Navy flight surgeon, hadn't planned to be an abortion doctor. He hoped to become a dermatologist.
17) But when his father, also a doctor, died in a plane crash (his mother, sister and brother-in-law also were killed), he took over the family practice. He soon learned the elder Tiller had performed abortions.
18) "In reading through some of his records, he realized his father had done abortions when they were illegal," says Bowman, his former spokeswoman. "At first, he was really shocked. Then in going through those charts, he totally began to understand the importance of this service."
19) Friends and colleagues say Tiller, a father of four and grandfather of 10, was a strong-willed, unassuming man who was quick with a hug or a joke. He decorated his office with family photos. He cherished rituals; he raised American flags in his clinic parking lot after the 1991 protests were over and later gave them to volunteers.
20) "He was never riled, he was always calm and cool," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "He was a very serious man, but a very good-natured one."
21) In a 2008 speech to a young women's leadership conference sponsored by the foundation, he said he was on a hit list in 1994, leading to federal protection. His wife was stalked, he said, and the names of his vendors were made public on the Internet.
22) "But the good news," he said, "is we still live in the United States of America" and Roe vs. Wade allows women the opportunity to terminate pregnancies.
23) Dr. Susan Robinson, a California obstetrician-gynecologist who calls Tiller her mentor, recalls one day when she asked him: "How can you stand it being in a pressure cooker?' He said, 'If it it's none of my business, I don't get involved. If it doesn't matter, I don't get involved. If there's nothing I can do about it, I don't get involved.' "
24) But it was clear his work had taken a toll. Willow Eby, who worked as a volunteer escort at the clinic, remembers a conference she attended last year for abortion providers where he talked about his work.
25) "He explained that this would take your youth, it would take your energy, it would wear you down," she recalls. "But he said he would not let down the women who needed him badly."
26) Tiller once said his "gifts of understanding" helped him bring a service to women that aided them in fulfilling their dreams of a happy, healthy family. It was important, he said, that women have a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.
27) "Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud," he declared.
28) Colleagues said Tiller's office walls were lined with letters from patients expressing their thanks.
29) One woman who turned to him was Miriam Kleiman, of northern Virginia. Nine years ago, a routine sonogram revealed her 29-week-old fetus had major brain abnormalities that prevented the baby's heart and lungs from functioning properly.
30) Doctors told her the baby would die in utero or soon after of birth. Kleiman's doctors told her a third trimester abortion was not possible.
31) Kleiman says she could not bear a two-month death watch. "There was a baby dying inside of me, and it wasn't if, but when," she says.
32) After desperate pleas, she says, a doctor scribbled Tiller's name on a scrap of paper. She and her husband flew to Wichita and drove through a gauntlet of protesters to the fortress-like clinic.
33) She remembers Tiller and his staff as kind and compassionate. She had the abortion and brought home her baby to be buried.
34) Kleiman, who now has two sons, says she cried when she heard of Tiller's death while watching her son's soccer game.
35) "I fear," she says, "that other people might not have this option in the future -- to have a medical option that was safe, that was legal and allowed us to say goodbye with dignity."



2009-06-03
Doctor wants to carry on Tiller ' s mission
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1) Physician LeRoy Carhart wants to continue providing late-term abortions after the brazen slaying of his friend and colleague, but the Nebraska doctor doesn't have anywhere to perform them -- and he's one of only a handful of providers that will.
2) Dr. George Tiller's Wichita, Kansas, clinic was shuttered Sunday after the 67-year-old physician was gunned down at his church. His family said Tuesday that they were unsure when it would reopen, posing a problem for Carhart, who wants to carry on his friend's mission.
3) Carhart, 67, is one of a handful of remaining doctors in the United States who perform third-trimester abortions, and it is uncertain if a new generation of providers will take over the cause. Schools and universities don't offer many programs to train physicians on how to perform the procedure, and Carhart said younger doctors who might be interested in stepping forward are afraid they or their families will be harmed.
4) Tiller's slaying underlined that fear. On Tuesday, Kansas authorities charged 51-year-old Scott Roeder, a staunch abortion opponent, with first-degree murder in Tiller's death.
5) "Dr. Tiller and I and all our friends know that tomorrow is never a given," Carhart told The Associated Press. "I think what we have to do is not let this loss of his life affect our goals in life, No. 1, and we need to do things so he's never forgotten."
6) Carhart twice has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge bans on so-called partial-birth abortions. In 2000, the high court ruled for Carhart in striking down a Nebraska law because it lacked an exception to preserve a woman's health and encompassed a more common abortion method.
7) Carhart, a vocal abortion rights advocate who has for years been at the epicenter of the debate on what abortion foes call partial-birth abortions, first met Tiller more than 20 years ago and began working at the Wichita clinic a decade ago. He said he regularly traveled to Kansas for a few days every third week. He only performs third-term abortions in Kansas at Tiller's clinic.
8) The former Air Force surgeon also operates his own clinic, Abortion & Contraception Clinic of Nebraska, in a nondescript two-story building in a working-class neighborhood of Bellevue, an Omaha suburb. But he said he does not perform abortions past the 22nd week of pregnancy there because of his state's legal restrictions on abortions.
9) "Nebraska state law is based on viability. Nobody has defined that," he told the AP. "It's much cheaper to go build a new clinic in Kansas than to try to define what viability means in Nebraska."
10) The type of late-term abortions performed by Tiller, Carhart and the handful of others are rare. More than 820,000 abortions were performed in the United States in 2005, according to the most recent available data from the Centers for Disease Control.
11) Less than 2 percent of abortions occur at 21 weeks of pregnancy or later, according to Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank. It is unknown how many are done specifically in the third trimester, but Carhart said 75 to 100 of the "several thousand" abortions he performs annually are in the third trimester.
12) Abortion rights advocates also worry the group of physicians who can provide the service is dwindling.
13) "There are very, very few abortions that happen at that time," said Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who said she worries about a "severe shortage" of physicians who can perform the procedure. "People who need those services need caring and compassionate and qualified doctors like Dr. Tiller who are able to provide those services."
14) With Tiller's death, there are fewer than 10 doctors who perform third-trimester abortions in the U.S., Carhart estimated, and though he has worked with younger physicians before, he hasn't trained any abortion providers in third-trimester techniques for at least five years.
15) Carhart, with his wife Mary by his side at a news conference Tuesday, said he'd be willing to train younger doctors but few want to put themselves or their families at risk.
16) "Young people starting families aren't going to want to go into abortion practice," Mary Carhart said. "If you were young with little kids, would you want abortion opponents outside your house?"
17) A day after Tiller was shot, Carhart vowed to reopen his friend's Kansas clinic and continue Tiller's mission. But on Tuesday, Tiller's family said there were no plans to reopen the bunker-like clinic's doors. Carhart said he remains hopeful that Tiller's family will change their minds, but if not, he hopes another abortion provider will open a clinic in Kansas where he can work part-time.
18) For Carhart, the dispute over abortion has long been personal. In 1991, his family's rural home and belongings burned in a fire apparently started by an abortion foe.
19) But the Nebraska doctor said he's determined to continue doing what he does -- despite any risks.
20) "As long as you have a terrorist who is willing to walk into a church and kill one person, as long as that element is in society, this is the risk we take," he said. "You can't live your life based on fear. You have to live by your principles."



2009-06-04
Tiller death re-ignites clinic security concerns
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1) Four layers of bulletproof glass serve as windows at the clinic where Dr. Warren Hern performs abortions, a testament to the small fortune he's spent to protect himself and his staff against threats in the two decades since someone fired five shots into the building.
2) But the killing of longtime friend and colleague Dr. George Tiller in Kansas, and new threats received by Hern since Sunday's shooting, remind the Boulder, Colorado, doctor and abortion providers nationwide that only so much can be done to discourage violent opponents.
3) "They do write to me and say, 'Don't bother to wear a vest. We're going to go for a head shot,'" Hern said Wednesday, declining to say whether he owns a bulletproof vest or discuss further security details for fear of aiding would-be attackers.
4) Many clinic officials share Hern's reluctance but have acknowledged contacting law enforcement and re-evaluating security measures since Tiller was shot to death. Tiller was shot not at his clinic, but while serving as an usher during a Sunday church service in Wichita. Scott Roeder, 51, whose last known address was Kansas City, Missouri, has been charged with first-degree murder.
5) "As we see what happened with Dr. Tiller, you can have all the security in the world and still not be safe," said Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota.
6) Still, U.S Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered federal marshals to increase security for "a number of individuals and facilities." Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said marshals are protecting Hern's clinic and police have added patrols.
7) "I can think of all kinds of things I could do last week that I can't do now," said Hern, without elaborating.
8) Violence against abortion providers in the 1980s and 1990s prompted many to hire guards, install metal detectors, fortify clinics and even drive reinforced vehicles. Some trained to deal with shootings and firebombings. Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1986; he was shot and wounded in both arms outside the facility in 1993.
9) Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said violence subsided after the 1990s with increased security and the 2000 election of President George W. Bush, an abortion opponent.
10) But she fears Tiller's death could be a harbinger now that Barack Obama is president. Obama has expressed support for the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, opposed restrictions sought by anti-abortion groups and quickly reversed a policy that kept federal funds from going to international groups performing abortions.
11) "Historically, when those who oppose a woman's right to decide are frustrated politically, they get more violent," Michelman said. "I have been thinking about this ever since the election."
12) Tiller was among a handful U.S. physicians with a clinic specializing in third-trimester abortions, as is Hern, leading to greater scrutiny and protests by anti-abortion groups. Group leaders have distanced themselves from violent tactics and denounced Tiller's shooting.
13) With its Roe v. Wade ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws banning abortion. Still, various states have passed legislation to limit procedures, especially in the final months of pregnancy.
14) "We're equally shocked and horrified, and we are taking this week to grieve," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue.
15) At Buffalo Womenservices in Buffalo, New York, Tiller's death is a difficult reminder of the 1998 slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian, who worked at the clinic and was fatally shot in his suburban home. The building has security cameras and requires everyone entering to show identification, but spokeswoman Susan Ward said the staff is reviewing security measures again.
16) "It just brings back all the memories that we had when Dr. Slepian was murdered here," Ward said.
17) Officials elsewhere acknowledged vigilance.
18) "I wasn't scared and I'm not scared, but there is a need for heightened awareness," said Pat Sandin, executive director of the Midwest Health Center for Women in Minneapolis.
19) Michelman said she believes clinics are safe but doctors will remain ill at ease.
20) "In the end, as this horrific incident demonstrates, if someone is out to get you and they are determined -- and have a chorus encouraging them and drawing a bulls-eye on Dr. Tiller's back -- there's not much you can do to stop them," she said.



2009-06-06
Hundreds attend funeral for slain abortion doctor
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1) Hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral honoring slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas.
2) About 700 mourners filled the sanctuary of the College Hill United Methodist Church on Saturday and about 200 others watched a closed-circuit television broadcast in another room.
3) The funeral also drew small groups of abortion protesters and counter-protesters.
4) Tiller's Wichita clinic drew regular protests because it was among the few in the U.S. performing third-trimester abortions.
5) Also arriving at the church were about 50 motorcyclists from the American Legion Riders, honoring Tiller's service in the Navy.
6) A large portrait of Tiller hung at the front of the church and a wreath of flowers bore the words "TRUST WOMEN."



2009-06-07
Slain abortion doctor eulogized as generous
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1) Hundreds of people gathered Saturday to honor slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, eulogized by a longtime friend as a passionate and generous man who repeatedly overcame difficult challenges.
2) Tiller's funeral at College Hill United Methodist Church also drew small groups of protesters. Police and federal marshals provided heavy security.
3) Tiller, one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions, was killed by a gunshot last Sunday in the foyer of his own church, Reformation Lutheran, while he was serving as an usher and his wife was singing in the choir. His family had the funeral at the Methodist church to accommodate the large number of mourners.
4) His son, Maury, said the manner of his father's death resulted in an unimaginable outpouring of love and support for the family.
5) But he added: "I struggle with the manner he was welcomed into heaven."
6) Others recalled personal quirks that made him human.
7) Tiller's daughter, Rebecca, recalled how her father loved "Star Trek," and gave her a framed poster of Trekkie sayings for her apartment, which he promised her would bring her success if she read them each day before going out. Among his favorites were: "Live long and prosper," and, "When you go out to the universe remember, boldly go where no man has gone before."
8) He also was remembered for his generosity and sense of humor.
9) "Dear God, get heaven ready, because Mr. Enthusiasm is coming," said Larry Borcherding, of Overland Park, who first met Tiller a half-century ago when both were students at the University of Kansas. "Heaven will never be the same. It will be a better, better place with George in it."
10) About 700 people filled the church sanctuary and some 200 others watched a closed-circuit television broadcast in another room.
11) A large portrait of Tiller hung at the front of the sanctuary, and nearby was a wreath of flowers with the words "TRUST WOMEN." Some mourners wore buttons that said "Attitude is Everything."
12) Tiller's clinic in Wichita was among a few in the U.S. performing third-trimester abortions, and that made it a target of regular protests. Most were peaceful, but his clinic was bombed in 1986, and he was shot in both arms in 1993.
13) Borcherding recalled that immediately after that 1993 shooting, Tiller kept in close contact with him because Borcherding had lost his job.
14) "Who had a more boisterous, heartfelt laugh than George Tiller?" Borcherding said. "There are so many stories. I have many, many, many. Let's be sure to share them later."
15) Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old abortion opponent, was arrested a few hours after the shooting just outside Kansas City. He was charged two days later with the attack at the church, where he had occasionally attended services two months earlier.
16) About 30 abortion rights supporters lined a sidewalk outside the church Saturday, each holding a white carnation and one with a sign declaring Tiller, his family and his staff as "civil rights heroes." Many wore green or blue T-shirts commemorating Tiller's life, with the National Organization for Women's logo.
17) Most anti-abortion groups avoided the funeral, having denounced Tiller's shooting. But 17 demonstrators showed up from Westboro Baptist Church, known for picketing soldiers' funerals to present its message that their deaths are God's punishment for Americans' tolerance of homosexuality.
18) They held signs such as "God sent the shooter" and "Abortion is bloody murder."
19) Police kept them about 500 feet (150 meters) away from the church, mostly out of sight of people arriving for the funeral, although their shouts and singing could be heard from blocks away.
20) The Westboro Baptist demonstration drew about a dozen counter-demonstrators, and the two groups shouted insults at each other before the service and tried to drown each other out with singing.
21) "This has nothing to do with abortion," said Mark Voyles, an Army veteran from Derby who said he was upset about Westboro Baptist's attacks on soldiers.
22) The service also drew 50 motorcyclists from the American Legion Riders, who honored Tiller's service in the Navy. Their leader, Cregg Hansen, also from Derby, said Tiller's family asked them to be there.
23) "We don't get involved in politics," Hansen said. "We're here 120 percent for the veterans."


Suspect in US doctor ' s death warns of violence
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1) A man charged in the shooting death of a Kansas abortion provider claims more violence is possible.
2) Scott Roeder called The Associated Press on Sunday from the Sedgwick County jail where he's being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the death of Dr. George Tiller.
3) Tiller was killed last Sunday while serving as an usher at the Lutheran church he attended in Wichita.
4) Roeder told the AP he know of "similar events planned around the country" as long as abortion is legal.
5) He would not elaborate.
6) A funeral was held Saturday for Tiller, whose clinic in Wichita was among only a few in the U.S. performing third-trimester abortions.



2009-06-09
Slain US abortion provider ' s clinic to close
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1) The family of slain abortion provider George Tiller says clinic will be "permanently closed."
2) The Tiller family says in a statement released by his attorneys on Tuesday that it is ceasing operation of the clinic and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic.
3) The family said it is proud of the "service and courage shown by our husband and father" and know that women's health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service.
4) Tiller was shot to death May 31 while serving as an usher at the Lutheran church in Wichita that he regularly attended.



2009-06-10
Abortion foes interested in buying Kansas clinic
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1) The leader of an anti-abortion group says the organization is interested in buying the now-closed clinic of slain abortion provider George Tiller.
2) Tiller's family announced Tuesday that his clinic in Wichita, Kansas, was shutting down permanently. The doctor was fatally shot on May 31.
3) Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said he would love to make an offer for the property and that his group had discussed the idea.
4) Newman's group bought another former abortion clinic in Wichita in 2006 for its headquarters. Newman said Operation Rescue could use more space.
5) Asked about Newman's comments, Tiller attorney Dan Monnat called them an "irreverent publicity stunt."



2009-06-20
Anti-abortion vigils moved from closed US clinic
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1) Abortion opponents have moved their planned memorial service away from the now-shuttered Kansas clinic run by slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.
2) Operation Rescue planned an afternoon gathering and prayer vigil Saturday in Wichita at Tiller's former clinic, one of the few in the U.S. where third-trimester abortions were available.
3) Tiller was gunned down May 31 at his church. Murder and aggravated assault charges were filed against Scott Roeder.
4) The National Organization for Women said Friday that dozens of abortion rights supporters planned to confront Operation Rescue supporters at the clinic.
5) On Saturday, abortion opponents said that instead of holding their service at the clinic they would place 1,500 flowers at a local hospital and a location near their own national headquarters.



2009-07-28
Suspect in abortion doc ' s death pleads not guilty
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1) The man accused of killing Kansas late-term abortion provider George Tiller has pleaded not guilty.
2) Authorities say anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder also threatened two ushers who tried to stop him during the May 31 shooting in the doctor's church in Wichita. Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the slaying.
3) He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday after witnesses gave chilling testimony at a preliminary hearing. A judge ordered Roeder held on $20 million bond and set a trial date for Sept. 21.
4) Tiller was the target of protests at his Wichita clinic. He practiced as one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions and was shot in both arms by an anti-abortion activist in 1993.



2009-07-29

2009-11-09
Man confesses to shooting US abortion provider
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1) The man accused of shooting a Kansas abortion provider has confessed to the killing to The Associated Press, saying he has no regrets.
2) In a telephone call from jail Monday, Scott Roeder told the AP: "Because of the fact pre-born children's lives were in imminent danger, this was the action I chose."
3) The 51-year-old Kansas City man is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the May 31 shooting of Dr. George Tiller at the abortion provider's Wichita church.
4) Tiller had been the target of protests for most of the 36 years that he performed abortions at his Wichita clinic, where he practiced as one of few U.S. providers of late-term abortions.



2010-01-22
Opening statements set in abortion slaying trial
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1) Dr. George Tiller gathered with supporters in a tent outside his clinic on the morning of Jan. 22 eight years ago to tell them abortion rights remained "fragile" in America, even as they celebrated the anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized the procedure.
2) Defying protesters outside the clinic gates, the embattled Kansas doctor marked the event by giving low-income women free abortions. Some 38 were scheduled.
3) "We are sort of a huddled mass here together, a few of us arrayed against a vast enemy," Tiller told about 65 supporters gathered that day. "But what are we armed with? We are armed with our attitude and our conviction that men and women are reproductively equal."
4) On Friday, the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, opening statements are set to begin in the trial of the man who has publicly confessed to killing Tiller. The Wichita clinic, one of the few in the United States that specialized in late-term abortions, closed after Tiller's death.
5) Scott Roeder, 51, faces a charge of premeditated, first-degree murder for the May 31 shooting of Tiller as the doctor was serving as an usher at his church. The Kansas City, Missouri, man s also charged with two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers who tried to stop him from fleeing.
6) District Judge Warren Wilbert has repeatedly said the trial will not turn into a debate over abortion, warning Roeder's lawyers that he intends to keep the case as a "criminal, first-degree murder trial."
7) But the judge galvanized both sides of the abortion battle when he refused, on the eve of jury selection, to block the defense from trying to build a case for a conviction on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
8) They want to argue that Roeder believed Tiller's killing was necessary to save unborn children. In Kansas, voluntary manslaughter is defined as "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force."
9) If convicted of first-degree murder, Roeder faces a life sentence. Under state sentencing guidelines, a conviction for voluntary manslaughter for someone with as little criminal history as Roeder would bring a sentence closer to five years.
10) The jury selection process that ultimately whittled the panel down to eight men and six women took six days and occurred for the most part behind closed doors. The two alternate jurors will be designated later.
11) After six days of secret questioning of potential jurors, the court finally opened jury selection to the media on Thursday while turning away public spectators. Wilbert had initially closed all of the jury process until four news outlets, including The Associated Press, appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court. Only the final hour and a half of jury questioning was open to the media, and then only to those four news outlets.
12) Tiller championed abortion rights even after being shot in both arms by an activist in 1993. His clinic, heavily fortified after a bombing in 1986, was the target of both peaceful and violent protests. In 1991, a 45-day "Summer of Mercy" campaign organized by anti-abortion group Operation Rescue drew thousands of protesters to Wichita for demonstrations and saw mass arrests.
13) In more recent years, anti-abortion activists had focused their attacks against Tiller within the legal system and political arena. Thousands of abortion opponents signed petitions forcing Sedgwick County to convene grand juries in 2006 and 2008 to investigate him, but both refused to indict him.
14) Two state attorneys general also tried in vain to prosecute him. Just two months before his death, a jury acquitted Tiller of misdemeanor charges accusing him of failing to get an independent second opinion for late abortions. The state's medical board was investigating similar allegations at the time of his killing.



2010-01-23

2010-01-25
Church usher testifies he saw US doctor ' s slaying
(APW_ENG_20100125.0815)
1) A church usher has testified that he watched the fatal shooting of prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller by a man who has confessed publicly to the killing.
2) Gary Hoepner, an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, testified Monday that he saw 51-year-old Scott Roeder walk into the church May 31, put the gun "point blank" to Tiller's head and pull the trigger.
3) Hoepner says he ran after Roeder but stopped after Roeder threatened to shoot him and another usher.
4) Roeder has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the slaying of Tiller, one of the few providers of late-term abortions in the U.S. Roeder has said publicly that he killed Tiller to save unborn children.



2010-01-28

2010-01-29
Man convicted of murdering US abortion provider
(APW_ENG_20100129.1027)
1) A man who says he killed a prominent abortion provider to protect unborn children has been convicted of murdering the doctor.
2) A jury deliberated for 37 minutes Friday before finding Scott Roeder guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder. The 51-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, man faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
3) Roeder testified that he shot Dr. George Tiller in the head May 31 in the foyer of Tiller's church in Wichita because he believed the doctor posed an "immediate danger" to unborn children.
4) His attorneys were hoping to get a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter for Roeder, but the judge ruled that the jury could not consider such a verdict.
5) Tiller was one of the few doctors in the U.S. to provide late-term abortions.



2010-04-01
Killer of US abortion doctor faces life in prison
(APW_ENG_20100401.0002)
1) The man who gunned down one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions could be sent to prison Thursday for the rest of his life, but he may have gotten what he wanted all along: It is markedly harder in Kansas to get an abortion.
2) Dr. George Tiller's clinic is closed, leaving the state with no facility where women can have the procedure after the 21st week of pregnancy. An early vow by one of Tiller's contemporaries to fill the gap hasn't materialized, and state lawmakers are moving to enact tough new rules to dissuade other physicians from taking Tiller's place.
3) "The national anti-abortion movement has a tremendous victory here," said Dr. Warren Hern, a longtime friend of Tiller who performs late-term abortions in Colorado. "They accomplished exactly what they wanted, and they continue to accomplish it."
4) But even as Scott Roeder faces a mandatory life sentence for killing Tiller, many ponder the conflicting legacies of his actions. Outside Kansas, abortion rights supporters say there's been a surge in late-term abortion practices by doctors emboldened to pick up where Tiller left off.
5) "What he really did was murder a doctor in church, and the effect on abortion is negligible," said Dr. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska doctor who worked part-time for Tiller.
6) Carhart said Wednesday he had not given up on opening a practice in Kansas where women can have a late-term procedure, even though he admitted his plans were in a state of flux given the rules passed late Tuesday night by the Kansas Legislature.
7) Some people on the other side of the abortion debate aren't taking comfort in the fate of Roeder, 52, who was convicted in January of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Tiller last May as the doctor served as an usher in his Wichita church. The only question remaining Thursday is whether Roeder's imprisonment will include a mandatory minimum of 25 or 50 years behind bars.
8) "Mr. Roeder was a setback to the pro-life movement -- and to give him any sort of credit for reducing or stopping abortion is well beyond reason," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue.
9) Roeder's militant sympathizers disagree.
10) "He went ahead and laid down his life to save unborn children and to me that is the definition of a hero -- he gave up his life to save someone else," said the Rev. Don Spitz, of Virginia, who runs the Army of God Web site supporting violence against abortion providers.
11) In Kansas, Tiller's killing has practically erased late-term procedures and forced women to Albuquerque, New Mexico and Boulder, Colorado, among other places, to have them.
12) Just three clinics in the state -- all located in or near the Kansas City metro area -- offer limited abortion services for women up to their 21st week of pregnancy.
13) "People were coming from all over the world to have abortions in Kansas," said Kari Ann Rinker, a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women's Kansas chapter. "Now they don't come here because Dr. Tiller has been killed."
14) Beyond the state, however, abortion rights advocates say doctors are increasingly offering the procedure to ensure women have access.
15) "Dr. Tiller's death was a devastating loss to the provider community and his family, but he was so admired and respected that his death has inspired medical students and providers to recommit themselves to providing women with the abortion care that they need," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.
16) Among them is Megan Evans, a third-year medical student at George Washington University who said she hopes to include abortion services as part of a larger obstetrics and gynecology practice.
17) "After he was killed, for me it assured me this was the right field to go into," she said.
18) In the wake of Tiller's murder, Dr. Curtis Boyd of Albuquerque decided to provide third-trimester abortions on a case-by-case basis and hired two physicians who had worked at Tiller's clinic.
19) Wichita-based Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group that followed Boyd's announcement by declaring it would open a satellite operation in Albuquerque, contends its movement has been winning for the past 15 years as abortion clinics close as a result of legislative efforts coupled with political and social pressures.
20) Saporta contends there are now more doctors across the nation providing late abortions than there were before Tiller was killed, but she refuses to say how many or identify them for fear of making them instant targets.
21) Kansas law permits an abortion on a viable fetus after the 21st week of pregnancy to save a mother's life or to prevent "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."
22) State lawmakers who oppose abortion want to further restrict the law. They passed a bill that would require doctors' reports to the state include the exact medical diagnosis justifying a late-term abortion. It also would allow a doctor to be sued if the mother or her family had evidence that a late-term abortion violated Kansas law. But the Republican-controlled Legislature doesn't yet have the two-thirds majorities it needs to override a potential veto by Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson, an abortion rights supporter.
23) "There's no reason not to do the right thing just because Tiller's clinic is closed," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. "The possibility exists that someone else could come into this state and run his business in the same way."
24) The state Department of Health and Environment reported last week that the number of late-term abortions of viable fetuses dropped dramatically last year, from 192 in 2008 to 67 in 2009. The total number of abortions declined 11 percent, from about 10,600 in 2008 to about 9,500 in 2009.
25) Abortion opponents argue that decline can be linked to an increase in crisis pregnancy centers and a new law requiring doctors to give women the option of seeing an ultrasound of their fetus before an abortion.
26) But Rinker, the NOW lobbyist, said Roeder accomplished what the state's conservative lawmakers could not.
27) "We need more abortion clinics," she said. "We need more physicians who aren't afraid to practice abortion procedures because of fear of legal repercussions."



2010-10-09
AP source: Grand jury probing anti-abortion murder
(APW_ENG_20101009.0053)
1) A federal grand jury is investigating whether last year's murder of a Kansas abortion doctor was connected to a broader case involving radical anti-abortion activists, a federal law enforcement official familiar with the case said Friday.
2) The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. The official said several federal civil rights prosecutors were holding grand jury proceedings in Kansas City, looking into whether a broader case surrounded the May 2009 death of Dr. George Tiller.
3) Tiller was among the few late-term abortion providers in the U.S. before he was fatally shot in his Wichita church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder.
4) "Yes, there is a grand jury investigation. I can tell you that there are several attorneys from Washington, D.C., looking into this matter and are looking into the broader case than just the actual incident that occurred in Wichita," the official said.
5) A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas declined comment Friday.
6) Roeder, who admitted to the shooting, said during his trial in January that he believed the killing was justified to save the lives of unborn children. Roeder, of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced to life in prison.
7) At least one Justice Department civil rights prosecutor attended Roeder's trial, along with agents from the FBI. Shortly after Tiller's death, the Justice Department increased security around women's health facilities and opened an ongoing investigation.
8) In recent days, talk of a sitting grand jury in Kansas City began swirling among some anti-abortion activists who have kept in contact with Roeder, including Jennifer McCoy.
9) "It won't change things for Scott, and that is what makes me think the problem is the rest of us," said McCoy, who was sentenced in 1997 to 2 1/2 years in prison for arsons at two Virginia abortion clinics. "They have gone in trying to prove some conspiracy that doesn't exist."
10) McCoy, who said she has not been subpoenaed, now lives in Wichita and befriended Roeder after his arrest in Tiller's death. She said she learned about the grand jury investigation from Roeder.
11) Tiller's clinic in Wichita has been closed since the doctor's death. The building is for sale.