Abortion Doc Tries To Block Grand Jury
In an unusual case emerging out of Kansas, a late-term abortion provider has petitioned the state supreme court to block a grand jury investigation into his clinic practices.
Anti-abortion groups took the rare step of petitioning for Sedgwick County to convene a grand jury to probe the Wichita clinic run by Dr. George Tiller. The grand jury is set to convene Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Abortion opponents say Tiller is in violation of a 1998 state law restricting late-term abortions, an allegation Tiller and his lawyers have repeatedly denied.
Tiller’s lawyer, Lee Thompson, is quoted as saying that the grand jury summons amounts to harassment.
But Mary Kay Culp, the executive director of Kansans for Life, the anti-abortion group that has led the push for the grand jury, says her group chose this route because Tiller is influential in state politics and because their complaints have been ignored for years. The group collected 7,900 petition signatures, more than three times the number required to convene a grand jury, the AP reports.
Another charge against Tiller by the state group that regulates physicians is detailed by the Kansas City Star.
