Grand Jury Decides Not To Indict Kansas Abortion Provider Tiller

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Medical Malpractice / Litigation
Article Date: 08 Jul 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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A Kansas grand jury on Wednesday decided not to indict abortion provider George Tiller on charges that he violated state abortion laws, the Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star reports.

The grand jury -- which was convened in January through the use of an 1887 state law allowing citizens to petition for grand jury investigations -- said, "After six months of conducting an investigation that included hearing extensive witness testimony, reviewing volumes of documents and medical records of patients of Women's Health Care Services (Tiller's Wichita clinic), this grand jury has not found sufficient evidence to bring an indictment on any crime related to the abortion laws" (Sylvester, Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star, 7/2).

The grand jury was investigating whether Tiller violated Kansas law, which limits abortions after 21 weeks' gestation. The grand jury served Tiller's clinic with a subpoena asking the clinic to provide 2,000 medical records of women who sought or obtained abortions after their 21st week of pregnancy (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/5). Lee Thompson, one of Tiller's attorneys, said the grand jury received 160 records from the clinic before it adjourned (Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star, 7/2).

According to the AP/ABC News, the grand jury believed that the state Legislature made an attempt to limit abortions after 21 weeks' gestation by only allowing abortions at this stage if two doctors certify that continuing the pregnancy could kill the woman or cause "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function." In a statement, the grand jury wrote, "Our perception is that these words were used to insure that only the gravest of circumstances would allow the abortion of a viable fetus." The statement adds, "However, the medical records reviewed by this jury revealed a number of questionable late-term abortions with regard to the diagnosis of 'substantial and irreversible impairment.'"

But the grand jury said, "Unless, and until the state Legislature is willing to amend the present statutes and provide clearer and more definitive guidelines regarding 'substantial and irreversible impairment' or impose new or additional statutory limitations on the ability of a woman to obtain an abortion of a viable fetus, we doubt that any investigation into the practices and procedures of Dr. Tiller and the Women's Health Care Services will yield an outcome that will provide any basis for indictment."

The grand jury's decision is unlikely to end the controversy surrounding Tiller, the AP/ABC News. The Kansas attorney general's office has also filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller on grounds that he did not obtain a second opinion for some patients who obtained abortions after their 21st week of pregnancy. A trial, which has been repeatedly postponed, is scheduled to begin July 28 (AP/ABC News, 7/2).

Reaction

Tiller's lawyer Lee Thompson said the decision reflects his client's observance of state law. "Tiller complies with the law and the scurrilous attempts by extremists to suggest otherwise should now be put to rest and disregarded in the future," Tiller's attorneys said in a statement, adding, "Now that the grand jury has reviewed files from the past five years, Dr. Tiller hopes that these continuous politically motivated witch hunts will end and that women can seek reproductive health care in the privacy that is constitutionally mandated" (Hegeman, AP/ABC News, 7/2).

Following the ruling, the antiabortion group Kansans for Life said the Legislature has not been aggressive enough in limiting Tiller's practice (Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star, 7/2). Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said abortion-rights opponents were disappointed the grand jury did not indict Tiller. "Once again, we are suspicious that corrupt influences in the government, which have been influenced by Tiller's large financial involvement in Kansas politics, may have thwarted justice once again," Newman said (AP/ABC News, 7/2).

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