After six months and many tax dollars, and legal wrangling that went all the way to the Kansas Supreme Court and back, the grand jury investigating Wichita abortion provider George Tiller dissolved Wednesday having found insufficient evidence to bring so much as a single indictment. Zip. Nada.
The grand jury, which had been forced to convene by citizen petition, said that the Tiller medical records it reviewed revealed some “questionable late-term abortions” with regard to whether they meet the state law’s requirement that continuing the pregnancy would cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. But as the panel determined correctly, “the woman’s condition is the subject for a medical judgment, not a legal one”; if two independent physicians say the late-term abortion is necessary, the abortion is lawful, period.
So contrary to all the claims and rhetoric of pro-life activists, Tiller is following the law (provided the doctors are independent, which is the subject of another case), and there is no conspiracy by the Sedgwick County district attorney or Kansas attorney general keeping him “above the law.”
A Rasmussen Reports poll earlier this month gauged how Kansans felt about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius having hosted a 2007 reception bought at auction by Wichita abortion provider George Tiller. The results should give Sebelius and the nonprofit group Friends of Cedar Crest something to talk about: 44 percent said Sebelius shouldn’t have allowed the event at the governor’s mansion, and 51 percent said receptions at Cedar Crest should not be offered as fundraisers for groups such as the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus.
Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson appreciated abortion opponents’ efforts to get the word out about the Cedar Crest reception purchased at auction by George Tiller and hosted by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. But they overdid it, Anderson wrote, by calling it a “lavish secret party” for Tiller and “photographic evidence that there is an extremely close relationship” between the governor and the Wichita abortion doctor: “You half expected the anti-abortion crowd to suggest Sebelius and Tiller spent the evening sticking pins in Phill Kline voodoo dolls and cracking beers around a bonfire fed by abortion records.”
So Wichita abortion provider George Tiller attended a reception in April 2007 at the governor’s mansion and posed for pictures with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has long supported abortion rights. So what? At least so far, the facts contradict anti-abortion activists’ description of the event as a “lavish secret party” honoring Tiller.
As we said in our editorial today, “Of more concern is that Sebelius was willing to auction off party time in the Kansas governor’s mansion to benefit not a charity but a political group such as the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus, which supports pro-choice women candidates. Sebelius’ involvement with such causes is to be expected, but such use of the governor’s mansion isn’t.
“That does not mean, however, that Kansas needs a new law dictating how governors can use Cedar Crest.
“If there’s one issue that epitomizes the culture wars that have so deeply divided American politics over the last eight years, it’s abortion. That’s why those who benefited most from those wars are desperate to revive abortion’s single-issue virulence in this presidential cycle,” Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote in response to Robert Novak’s recent column claiming that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is a “pro-choice poster girl.” Rutten called Novak a “redoubtable right-wing hit man” who gets his dubious allegations from the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. But, Rutten argued, the public is rejecting this divisive agenda. “One of the salutary characteristics of this election cycle,” he wrote, “is the way in which voters concerned with war and a failing economy have rejected single-issue appeals for the traditional American ‘politics of remedy.’”
In a column headlined “A Vice President for Abortion,” Robert Novak discusses the Kansas City, Kan., archbishop’s recent rebuke of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in light of the talk that Barack Obama might pick her as his running mate, also mentioning Sebelius’ vetoes of abortion bills. “Kansas is the fiercest state battleground for abortion wars, making Kathleen Sebelius the national pro-choice poster girl,” he wrote.
The Kansas Supreme Court made a balanced ruling Tuesday that a Wichita grand jury investigation of abortion doctor George Tiller is constitutional but that it needs oversight by a local judge. The court said that while the grand jury can issue subpoenas seeking abortion records, Judge Paul Buchanan needs to make sure that those subpoenas meet relevance thresholds, don’t create an undue burden and aren’t issued out of malice with an intent to harass. Buchanan also needs to make sure the privacy of the patients is protected.
Kansas is one of only six states that allow citizen-petitioned, taxpayer-financed grand juries. The previously little-used process has been a favorite of late by anti-abortion activists. A Johnson County grand jury, upset about wasting three months on an anti-abortion crusade, recommended in March that the state increase the standards for impaneling grand juries. But until that happens, local judges need to make sure this process isn’t abused.
Not only did a Johnson County grand jury decline to indict Planned Parenthood, it called for a review of the law used by anti-abortion activists to impanel it. Kansas is one of only six states that allows citizens to force the creation of taxpayer-financed grand juries simply by collecting signatures on a petition. No evidence of a crime is required, only an allegation. “It is the feeling of this grand jury that the current statute that addresses the formation of a grand jury be evaluated as to evidence required to call the grand jury,†the jurors said in a one-page statement released Wednesday.
Plus, “the grand jury also feels that the statute also be re-evaluated as to the percentage of the population required to convene a grand jury.†In the Johnson County grand jury’s case, that was 3,739 signatures — at least 2 percent of the number of people who voted in the last governor’s race, plus 100.
Good advice, but will the Legislature take it?
In the end Monday, the Johnson County grand jury created by anti-abortion activists declined to indict Planned Parenthood and also withdrew its subpoena to obtain additional medical records. What looks like a conclusion really isn’t, though, because Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline’s 107-count criminal complaint against Planned Parenthood is pending, activists can just collect more signatures and force another grand jury, and Kline is not one to take “no†for an answer when it comes to probing abortion clinics. Meanwhile in Wichita, Sedgwick County’s grand jury continues to investigate George Tiller.
Nice line from an analysis by the Associated Press’ John Hanna about abortion politics in Kansas: “The Legislature’s annual hearings and votes on the issue have become the political equivalent of shows from touring companies for ‘Cats’ or ‘Oklahoma!’ However differently they’re staged, the ending remains the same — a veto by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.†Anti-abortion activists are relentless about the need for more laws and enforcement, but as Hanna notes, the reviews are in and reflect well on their efforts: “In its 2008 assessment of states, Americans United for Life ranked Kansas as the fifth-best anti-abortion state in the nation. Meanwhile, NARAL Pro-Choice America’s latest report card gave Kansas a grade of D minus.â€
The divide on the debate about access to abortion records was on display on Thursday’s Opinion pages.
On one side, Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue, noting that all patient-identifying information is redacted from the records, argued: “The stall tactic of filing with the Supreme Court on privacy issues that is being employed by Tiller’s lawyers, and now by the attorney general, is only meant to manipulate and scare the public with falsehoods, while attempting to block important evidence from a legally convened grand jury that could prove Tiller has been doing illegal abortions for years.â€
On the other side, Vickie Sandell Stangl said that the court must decide whether patients “deserve to have their personal medical information rifled through by strangers, always with the threat that anti-abortion extremists could also get their hands on this information.†And as to whether these concerns are phony, she said: “Last time a grand jury investigated Tiller, details of the evidence were leaked to Operation Rescue, one of the groups behind this latest grand jury investigation. Furthermore, during former Attorney General Phill Kline’s investigation, details of women’s abortions ended up being discussed on the Fox News program ‘The O’Reilly Factor.’â€
Former Attorney General Phill Kline subpoenaed the La Quinta Inn on East Kellogg in 2005 for the names, address and telephone numbers of guests “who received a medical discount.†The subpoena also demanded information on guests who stayed in rooms reserved by George Tiller’s abortion clinic, and records of telephone calls placed to and from those rooms.
Kline’s office then matched this guest information with dates and details in abortion records, according to a document presented in Sedgwick County District Court last week by one of Tiller’s attorney.
Anti-abortion activists say not to worry about the privacy of abortion records because the patient names are blacked out. And not to worry that they have taken photos of women who visit the clinic, because they fuzz up the faces before posting the pictures online.
But given the lengths that Kline and some activists have gone to in pursuing their agenda, there are plenty of reasons for concern.
UPDATE: Brian Burgess, spokesman for Kline, said in an e-mail that the La Quinta records were part of Kline’s effort to identify possible victims of child rape and that Kline “never sought the identities of adult women during his investigation.†He said that “Tiller’s attorneys have attempted to twist the facts and portray the La Quinta investigation as though it happened side by side with the clinic records in hand.”
As the legal fight continues over whether a Sedgwick County grand jury can have access to 2,000 patient records of abortion provider George Tiller, some may view such a handover as justifiable because they’ve decided Tiller is breaking the state’s late-term abortion law.
But as we say in today’s editorial, people go to the doctor expecting privacy, and “there’s something chilling about the idea of 15 strangers on a grand jury poring over someone’s patient records and discussing and second-guessing her medical and sexual history and mental health — even if she is nameless.†And as this latest petition-mandated grand jury probe of Tiller proceeds, we can’t help but wonder how many more are still to come.
Thirty-five years after Roe v. Wade, it’s rare to find a Republican willing to point out the apparent contradiction in Republicans opposing abortion rights yet favoring small government and privacy rights. “They turn away from those principles. I wonder if they can see the inconsistency in their position?†Senate Vice President John Vratil (in photo), R-Leawood, said this week. He also called abortion an “issue that government has no reason to get involved in.â€
Meanwhile, Eagle columnist Brent Castillo argues on today’s Opinion pages that science has made the case for the pro-life movement.
On this 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that made a woman’s right to abortion the law of the land, the issue remains a deeply emotional one for the general public and a deeply personal one for the women who seek abortions. That Operation Rescue would see fit to photograph patients going into George Tiller’s Women’s Health Services clinic and post those images on the Internet, even with faces obscured, only furthers the group’s status as a fringe outfit. The group should immediately stop violating these women’s privacy. If more responsible pro-life groups disagree with such tactics, they should say so. Meanwhile, there should be unanimity on one point: that it’s welcome news that abortions nationally are at their lowest level since 1974.
Opponents of Roe v. Wade usually argue that the Constitution’s privacy rights don’t include abortion, and that regulating abortion is a state responsibility. But Mike Huckabee doesn’t want abortion returned to the states. “If morality is the point here, and if it’s right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can’t have 50 different versions of what’s right and what’s wrong,†he said, likening the issue to slavery. In contrast, Fred Thompson takes a traditional federalism approach, arguing against Roe v. Wade but also against a pro-life constitutional amendment.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
News of the death last week of 78-year-old former federal Judge Patrick Kelly would have brought to mind Wichita’s abortion battles — if they’d ever really left local headlines since the 1991 protests and arrests that pushed Kelly into an unwanted national spotlight.
Few judges face the kind of pressure Kelly did during those tense weeks of Summer of Mercy demonstrations, including death threats and calls for impeachment. And fewer still would have shown as much courage as Kelly did, as his determination not to let protesters deny access to Wichita’s abortion clinics put him at odds with the protesters, local elected leaders, the Justice Department and seemingly his Roman Catholic beliefs.
“You know with all this going on, you just have to be disciplined, draw on your roots, stay firm and follow the law,†Kelly told the New York Times, just days after a controversial appearance on ABC’s “Nightline.†Abortion warriors may still see Kelly as part of the problem, but his view should resonate for many today: “I have a duty to carry out the law, and Roe is the law.â€
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline’s crusade against Planned Parenthood, reports conservative columnist Robert Novak, has inspired national anti-abortion leaders to "open a new front in the endless abortion wars," with Planned Parenthood as the target.
They are pressing Congress to withhold more than $300 million in federal funds from Planned Parenthood — about one-third of its operating budget — until the results are known of Kline’s recent 107-count indictment against the organization.
But as we argued in an editorialSaturday, the campaign targets federal funds that Planned Parenthood legally can use only for family planning services other than abortion. And it should worry those who value impartial justice that Kline’s legal war is linked to a national strategy that, in Novak’s words, "attempts to expand a Kansas criminal prosecution into a nationwide assault."
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., met with Rudy Giuliani Thursday on abortion and emerged saying he was "much more comfortable" with Giuliani’s stance. That likely will boost the former New York City mayor’s efforts to court religious conservatives spooked by his pro-choice past.
"Justices are key," Brownback said. "He’s stated publicly many times about his support for strict constructionists like, I believe he said Roberts. John Roberts is a personal friend."
Giuliani is labeled pro-choice, but he could appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It’s not too surprising that Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, who has defined himself largely as an anti-abortion crusader, Wednesday charged a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park with 107 counts of lawbreaking, including performing late-term abortions.
Planned Parenthood denies doing any late-term abortions. “We always provide high-quality care in full accord with state and federal law,” said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
Kline’s move comes a few months after Attorney General Paul Morrison found no evidence of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in another Kline-initiated investigation.
Given Kline’s record, here’s the first question most Kansans will have about this latest flurry of charges: Will any of them hold up in court?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Those who think overturning Roe v. Wade will stop most abortions should consider research published Friday. A study of abortion trends from 1995 to 2003 by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization found that women are just as likely to get an abortion in countries where it is outlawed as they are in countries where it is legal, the Associated Press reported. “The legal status of abortion has never dissuaded women and couples, who, for whatever reason, seek to end pregnancy,” said Beth Fredrick of the International Women’s Health Coalition.
Of particular concern of the study was that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, nearly 97 percent of which occurred in poor countries.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In a New York Times commentary, self-described “fervent pro-lifer” Eric Johnston makes an interesting argument that pro-choice, nonreligious Rudy Giuliani could be the means to a U.S. Supreme Court that will overturn Roe v. Wade: “Only a constitutionalist who supports abortion rights can create an anti-Roe majority by explaining that the end of Roe means letting the people decide, state by state, about abortion.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens seems a safer choice to oversee the case against abortion provider George Tiller. Owens, a former two-term Sedgwick County district attorney and a Republican up for re-election next year, was assigned the job Tuesday by Chief Judge Michael Corrigan, after Judge Anthony Powell recused himself over past statements he’d made critical of Tiller.
A veteran of many high-profile criminal trials, Owens has never drawn an opponent since his appointment to the bench in late 1990 by then-Gov. Mike Hayden — one measure of his job performance, at least as judged by the legal community.
Like all Republicans, though, Owens has taken a position on abortion in his long political life. A former county Republican chairman, he was quoted in The Eagle two decades ago as saying “my personal beliefs are pro-life” and that “it’s time for the state to regulate third-trimester abortions.” Tiller is accused of violating just such regulations, in his case by allegedly being financially tied to a doctor who signed off on late-term abortions at his clinic.
Maybe it’s too much to wish for a judge without an abortion-related paper trail, just as it’s too much to wish Sedgwick County did not seat its judges via partisan campaigns and elections.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The pro-life community has been abuzz with speculation about why Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller’s clinic was closed for three weeks. David Gittrich, state development director of Kansans for Life, wrote in a letter to The Eagle that his group suspected the clinic was closed because Tiller (in photo) couldn’t find another Kansas physician willing to “rubber-stamp bogus diagnoses for late-term abortions.” Tiller is facing misdemeanor charges alleging that a physician he used for second opinions wasn’t legally and financial independent from him, as required by Kansas law.
But Julie Burkhart, executive director of ProKanDo, a pro-choice political action committee, said that the clinic was closed because of vandalism, and that it reopened Monday. On July 4, two masked vandals drilled a hole in the roof of the clinic, inserted a garden hose, then glued the water spigot open, flooding a room in the clinic, according to the Wichita Police Department, which hasn’t yet made an arrest in the case.
Burkhart said the clinic thought it had cleaned up all the damage but then discovered mold in the walls. “It was a bit of a problem,” she said. Tiller’s attorneys said in a statement that the clinic was temporarily closed “to make absolutely certain that these acts of sabotage have not created any physical or medical risks to his patients.”
Meanwhile, Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue said on the anti-abortion group’s Web site that it was “thanking God” for the closure and would not “stop praying and working until Tiller’s abortion business is permanently closed.”
Is the group also praying that the vandals will be arrested?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In recusing himself from presiding over the case against abortion provider George Tiller, Sedgwick County District Judge Tony Powell acted in the best interests of the case. As we said in our Tuesday editorial, not only did Powell, as an anti-abortion state legislator, help write the law aimed at Tiller, under which he now is being charged with 19 misdemeanor counts. Before becoming a judge, Powell also made statements critical of Tiller, creating serious doubt now about his impartiality — essential both for any judge and justice. Powell’s recusal safeguards the integrity of the case, which concerns Tiller’s alleged financial ties to a doctor who signed off on late-term abortions at his clinic.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
After six months and many tax dollars, and legal wrangling that went all the way to the Kansas Supreme Court and back, the grand jury investigating Wichita abortion provider George Tiller dissolved Wednesday having found insufficient evidence to bring so much as a single indictment. Zip. Nada.
