France: January 21 International March for Life Expected to Draw 10,000 Participants
Free Resources Online
DeHenre Pleads Not Guilty to Murder, Rape
AL Nurse Practitioner Accused of Handing Out Abortion Drug
Miscarriage Linked to Out of Wedlock Pregnancies, Abortion, Artificial Procreation
Coroner Says Baby at FL Abortion Business Was Born Alive
Abortion Facility in Seattle, WA, Closing Down After 34 Years
British Data Shows Repeat Abortions Increasing at Alarming Rate
Disappointing Vote on Abortion-Fetal Pain Legislation
Pro-Life Democrat Will Push Congressional Bill to Reduce Abortions
Woman Tells on TV of Her Late-Term Abortion Experience
Judge Says AG Cannot Prosecute Tiller for Abortions…
France: January 21 International March for Life Expected to Draw 10,000 Participants. The Federation of Organizations in the Defense of Life is anticipating at least 10,000 participants for the 2007 March for Life scheduled for Paris January 21, with pro-life groups from several European countries expected to attend again this year. Pro-life delegations from Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy have been invited to participate–organizers have emphasized the need to build greater unity among branches of the pro-life movement. “Thousands of people participated in the great march for life in 2005 and 2006. This year, it’s going to be even more numerous!” organizers said in a press release yesterday.
“If you can come to Paris on that day, we will be delighted to meet you and introduce you to the crowd! We must unite and build a pro-life network here in Europe if we want to influence European decision making!”
As well, the organizers are asking pro-life supporters who are unable to attend to send written declarations of support. March organizers spoke out on the ever-increasing death toll of abortion in the nation, saying, “here in France, 220,000 children are murdered each year through abortion. And more than 7 million people have been killed since the legalization of abortion in the country.” Abortion in France “has consequences for demographic aging, the closing of maternity homes and schools and the problem of pensions for retirees,” the statement said, as well as leading to the breakdown of the family and the devaluing of the human person. This will be the third year the March for Life has been held in Paris, following previous marches held in 2005 and 2006. Ten thousand participants, among them large numbers of young people, joined the march last year. Youth from Spain, Belgium and Germany were well represented at the demonstration.
The march, which will coincide with the annual U.S. March for Life held in Washington on Jan. 22, has particular significance this year as France heads towards a presidential election in April . Life issues are expected to be a key playing point in candidates’ platforms, CNA reported yesterday.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
March for Life Fever Catching on in France
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06012407.html [By Gudrun Schultz
PARIS, France, January 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com]
FREE RESOURCES ONLINE: www.unchoice.info/resources.htm. You can download and print copies for your waiting/examination rooms: Coerced Abortion, Forced Abortion in America Special Report, Teen Abortion Risks Fact Sheet, Hard Cases, Research Summary, Key Facts About Abortion, plus ads and posters.
ABORTIONIST PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO KILLING HIS WIFE, RAPING PATIENT. A Mississippi abortion practitioner has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his wife 10 years ago and raped a patient five years before that. The charges are the latest problems associated with Malachy DeHenre, the 56 year-old man who lost his medical license because of botched abortions.
Six years ago a jury failed to convict DeHenre in the shooting death of his wife Dr. Nyasha DeHenre. A gunshot to the head while she was in the couple's home resulted in her death.
However, a jury in 1999 voted 11-1 to acquit him, resulting in a hung jury that allowed DeHenre to go free.
Local authorities have filed new indictments in the case saying they have more evidence to prove DeHenre's guilt. They also filed a second charge accusing the abortion practitioner of raping a patient in 1992.
Assistant District Attorney Ronald Parrish told the Hattiesburg American newspaper, "I don't want to discuss what evidence we have, but it resulted in these indictments."
According to the paper, on Thursday, Jones County Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum said DeHenre would be held in the Jones County Adult Detention Center without bail until a preliminary hearing on the new charges.
Parrish said he opposed bond for DeHenre because both charges carry life sentences and because he is not a citizen of the United States. He is from Nigeria but has applied for citizenship.
Defense attorney David Ratcliff said DeHenre is not a flight risk.
DeHenre's New Woman Medical Center abortion facility in Jackson closed last year and was required, in December 2005 to pay substantial damages to a woman who was injured in a failed abortion in 2003.
Circuit Judge Winston Kidd awarded Latosha Travis $500,000 in damages after the abortion center failed to respond to her lawsuit. Dehenre and the abortion business were defendants in the suit.
Dehenre closed the abortion business in August 2004 and, in March 2005, the Mississippi state medial board suspended his medical license over botched abortions.
In one case, a woman died 18 hours after having an abortion. The women involved in three other cases had to have hysterectomies to stop massive hemorrhaging from uterine perforations, including Travis.
Travis, who was 20 years old at the time and living in Jackson, paid Dehenre $680 for the abortion, the lawsuit said. She had at least one child already and though she planned to have more children in the future, she was devastated to have the hysterectomy because of the failed abortion.
In the case involving a death, Dehenre admitted he should have met the patient at the hospital or relayed medical information to the doctor who treated her. [Ertelt, LifeNews.com December 15, 2006, Laurel, MS]
NP ACCUSED OF HANDING OUT ABORTION DRUG: Woman could face jail term if convicted in Alabama prosecution. A nurse practitioner whose license was suspended by the state of Alabama earlier after she was accused of illegally giving medical abortions (RU486/Mifeprex & Misoprostol) without a doctor's supervision at Summit Medical Center in Birmingham, AL, now is facing the possibility of time in jail and fines if convicted on three specific counts. Janet F. Onthank King, 58, whose license was suspended along with that of abortionist Deborah Lyn Levich early in 2006, has been arrested by authorities in Jefferson County, Ala., on two counts of "knowingly or recklessly performing abortions as a non-physician." According to state Attorney General Troy King, the woman also faces one count of falsifying business records at Summit Medical Center by fabricating entries about the sterilization of medical "equipment." Authorities say she faces up to six months in jail and a fine of $1,000 on each count. The abortion business itself was shut down when its license was suspended by the state Department of Public Health in May, and closed permanently in June; bankruptcy court proceedings are underway, officials said. State prosecutors said they presented evidence to a Jefferson County grand jury on November 15, resulting in three indictments returned against the woman. The charges stem from the death last February of an unborn baby whose mother was given the abortion chemical RU-486 at the business.
State prosecutors launched their investigation after the state board released a report that found "egregious lapses in care, including non-physicians performing abortions, severely underestimating the gestational age of a fetus, failure to appropriately refer or treat a patient with a dangerously elevated blood pressure, and performing an abortion on a late-term pregnancy." The child, only a few weeks from birth, was delivered, dead, about a week after the mother was given the chemicals, authorities said. Reports say the woman went to the abortion business on Feb. 20, and was given an ultrasound by a non-physician in violation of state law. She was told she was six weeks pregnant, critics charged. "Non-physicians" then gave her the chemicals, and six days later the woman delivered a six-pound, four-ounce baby – dead. "We thank …the State of Alabama for taking meaningful steps to protect the public from this shoddy abortionist," said Troy Newman [president, Operation Rescue]. "All too often states cover up (these) crimes." "We know that unsafe conditions and an arrogant 'above the law' attitude are pervasive in the abortion industry, which cares more for the financial profits than for the welfare of the women they exploit," Newman said. "[Hopefully] other states would follow Alabama's example and launch honest investigations into abortionists and their 'chop shops' that are operating outside the law."
"In my 26 years of pro-life work in Birmingham, I know scores of injured women and four who died soon after receiving the services of area abortion clinics," said pro-life activist Jim Pinto. "This just goes to show that abortion mills will lie, falsify records, give abortions without doctors, botch abortions, and never think they will ever be held accountable, and unfortunately that is the case in many states," said Newman.
OR just recently argued that an abortion business in Huntsville, Ala., should be closed down after the state Health Department cited the location for violating 10 state laws. Officials reported the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives was found to have been forwarding after-hours medical emergencies to non-medical personnel, routinely failing to document the gestational age of the unborn baby, and releasing abortion patients without following the mandatory 20-minute recovery period, according to a statement from Operation Rescue. At this time, the Huntsville business is not on probation. Three of the nine remaining licensed Alabama abortion centers – one in Birmingham and two in Montgomery – are on probation. [12December06 WorldNetDaily.com]
MISCARRIAGE LINKED TO OUT OF WEDLOCK PREGNANCIES, ABORTION, ARTIFICIAL PROCREATION. A new study to be released in the upcoming January 2007 issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, but made available online in a pre-release on the journal website, shows that abortion, artificial procreation, and those achieved out of wedlock are linked to increased miscarriage rates.
Researcher Noreen Maconochie and her team from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found a 60% increased risk of miscarriage associated with previous abortion.
The study surveyed over 12,000 women. Researchers questioned 6,300 women aged 18-55 years whose most recent pregnancy had ended in first trimester miscarriage and compared them to 6116 women aged 18-55 years whose most recent pregnancy had progressed beyond 12 weeks.
Artificial procreation or "assisted conception", non-married status and changing sexual partners also were found to significantly increase the risk of miscarriage.
Nausea during early pregnancy appears to be beneficial in terms of avoiding miscarriage and the study also found that vitamin supplementation and eating fresh fruits and vegetables daily were associated with reduced risk.
The authors found the association of miscarriage with abortion "noteworthy" and recommended further work to confirm the finding.
Abstract: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-0528…
Related: Abortion Causes Mental Disorders: New Zealand Study
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/060210a.html
Sleep Disorder
s Increase After Abortion Says New Study
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/060210a.html
New Study Confirms Abortion Increases Risk of Future Premature Births
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/060210a.html
After Abortion the Mental Distress Lasts for Years says New Study
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121204.html
After Abortion Women's Suicide Rates Are Highest Says New Study
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121204.html
Abortion of Unintended Pregnancy Linked to Higher Substance Abuse: New Study
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121204.html
Major Study On Abortion Finds Risks Much Higher Than Expected
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121204.html [5Dec06, John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com]
Abortion Raises Risk of Miscarriage of Subsequent Pregnancy 60 Percent. A team of British doctors has released the results of a new study showing that women who have an abortion run a higher risk of having a miscarriage in a subsequent pregnancy. The study also showed that women using in-vitro fertilization have higher miscarriage risks as well.
The doctors, affiliated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the reasons behind the increased miscarriage risk were vague.
However, they confirmed that women who had had a previous abortion experienced a 60 percent higher risk of having a miscarriage in another pregnancy.
Women using the in-vitro technique had a 40 percent greater risk of suffering a miscarriage.
In the study, Dr. Noreen Maconochie examined data from 603 women between the ages of 18 and 55 who had experienced a miscarriage during the first 13 weeks of their pregnancy. They compared those results with 6,116 women whose pregnancies advanced beyond 13 weeks.
The team published their findings in the British Journal of Gynegology.
This isn't the first study to show that abortions adversely affect a woman's fertility as other research shows that abortion can lead to infertility by increasing the risk of miscarriages
A 1986 report in the medical journal Epidemiology reveals women with a history of abortion have a greater risk of fetal loss than women who had no previous abortions. Women with two prior pregnancies carried to term and no abortions had the lowest risk, while women with two prior abortions had the highest risk.
Meanwhile, a 1991 British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology article revealed that women with a history of abortion had a 1.5-1.7 times higher risk of ectopic pregnancy than women who had previously carried a pregnancy to term. [5Dec06 Ertelt LifeNews.com, DC, http://www.lifenews.com/nat2806.html]
CORONER SAYS BABY AT ABORTION BUSINESS WAS BORN ALIVE: Report also blames death of 'moving' infant on 'extreme prematurity'. An autopsy on the body of a baby girl found at a Hialeah, Fla., abortion business shows her arrival is being considered a birth, but it also notes that her cause of death was "extreme prematurity."
The autopsy was obtained by the front-line pro-life organization Operation Rescue, andposted online.
Police were called into the case back in July after an 18-year-old went for an abortion, but the baby was born while she waited, and she observed the little girl breathing before a business worker came and put the baby in a biohazard bag. An anonymous tipster told police about the situation, then later updated them that the body apparently had been stashed on the roof of the building to prevent officers from finding it, and returned to the building later.
The report done by Satish Chundru, an associated medical examiner of the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department, noted in the biological mother's history that the 18-year-old had had three pregnancies, "one abortion, one miscarriage and this birth." The report was dated Oct. 31.
But the report noted the manner of death was "natural" and the cause was "extreme prematurity."
The apparent conflict just typifies the unresolved issues of the abortion industry, Cheryl Sullenger, a spokeswoman for Operation Rescue, told WND.
"On one hand we want to protect and save innocent babies. One the other hand we're going to kill them at the same time," she said.
She also said her source in Florida confirmed that a birth certificate had been issued for the baby, but there's been no final determination on whether charges will be filed in the death.
"My feeling on it is this. If that baby was born alive and they deprived that child of a moment of that baby's life, that's murder. We don't know how long that baby could have survived," she said.
"We know no emergency care was given, in fact the opposite," she said. "Everything was done to make sure that baby was dead."
She said she would think a count of 2nd-degree murder would be within the bounds of reasonable in the case of the child first identified on the county documents as Baby Girl Williams, and later as Shanice Denise Osbourne.
On July 20, the 18-year-old reported to the A Gyn Diagnostics abortion business to complete an abortion in her 22nd week of pregnancy, officials said.
The autopsy report said the baby girl with black hair and
brown eyes apparently was healthy at the time of her birth. But the report noted that babies at 22 weeks have no historical chance of survival.
"It doesn’t matter if Shanice had a 100 percent or a zero percent chance of survival. Once she was born, she was deserving of the same protections under the law as the rest of us," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "At the minimum, she should have been given comfort care. Shoving her into a plastic bag and tossing her onto a roof to die is just unconscionable."
OR also reported that Belkis Gonzales, the abortion business owner who was identified in earlier reports as being the one to take the baby and dump her in a biohazard bag, has placed her house up for sale.
"If Gonzalez and her cohorts are to be charged, they better do it quickly," said Newman. "We have seen abortionists flee in the face of prosecution over less than this. Gonzalez and her associates should be considered flight risks."
A lead investigator in the police department earlier told WND he believes there will be charges in the case.
"My goal is to see that charges are filed," said Hialeah Deputy Chief Mark Overton. "The evidence reflects that this was a homicide. We're moving forward with that mindset. I believe our evidence has indicated (and) I think we have probable cause to bring charges."
A police search warrant in the case earlier confirmed the scenario. "The staff began screaming that the baby was alive; at which time Ms. Belkis Gonzales cut the umbilical cord, threw it into a red bag with black printing. Ms. Gonzales then swept the baby, with her hands, into the same red bag along with the gauze used during the procedure," the search warrant said.
Overton said the state of Florida has a law defining a live birth, and he's already contacted the local federal prosecutor about potential federal charges under the Born Alive Infants Protection Act of 2000 should the state not follow through.
At the time the body was found, a lawyer for the owner of the abortion business partly owned by Gonzalez issued a statement that no crime was committed, and an 18-year-old had had an abortion without complications.
[5Dec06, Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53236]
ABORTION FACILITY IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON CLOSING DOWN AFTER 34 YEARS. The Aradia Women's Health Center is closing because it mostly does abortions on low-income women and rising costs for rent and other expenses have made it difficult to operate.
The abortion center, located in First Hill, will shut down next month and lay off its 20 employees. Karen Besserman, vice president of Aradia's Board of Directors, said the abortion center has seen a 20 percent increase in lower-income women seeking abortions: "There's a decrease nationwide of women seeking abortions, except for low-income women". Since abortions make up about half of Aradia's income and with seventy percent of the women having abortions there requiring subsidized health care, the abortion business is losing money. Besserman said Arcadia is also seeing higher rent prices and increasing costs for medical malpractice insurance and supplies. Aradia has been the site of abortion training for medical students and more than 54,000 women have gone there since the abortion center opened, with most of them having abortions. Seattle is home to other abortion businesses such as the Seattle Medical and Wellness Clinic, Aurora Medical Services, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington. [Seattle Times; 13Dec06 Ertelt LifeNews.com]
BRITISH DATA SHOWS REPEAT ABORTIONS INCREASING AT ALARMING RATE. New statistics from the British Department of Health show that more than 100 teenage girls every month have a second abortion and some of those girls are having a multiple abortion. The statistics show some teenagers are using abortion as a method of birth control and may prompt calls for tighter regulations. According to the figures, 1,316 girls under the age of 18 had a second abortion during 2005 with 90 girls having a third abortion. Another 44 women had undergone eight or more abortions including 20 who were under the age of 30. A report in The Independent newspaper shows that 14 women under the age of 25 had their sixth abortion in 2005 and at least one of those women were under the age of 18. Among the over 30s, 482 women had their fifth abortion in 2005, 92 were on their sixth and 29 were admitted for their seventh abortion. The new data shows that repeat abortions for all age categories are up from the previous year. Despite the grisly figures, the Department of Health claims it's making progress in reducing teenage pregnancies with a combination of abstinence and sexual education involving the promotion of birth control. On its web site, the British health department claims "Between 1998 and 2004, the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 11.1 per cent and the under-16 rate by 15.2 per cent. Both rates are now at their lowest levels for 20 years." In total, there were 186,416 abortions in the UK in 2005 including more than 60,000 on women who had had a previous abortion. Among the 18 to 24-year-old group, 16,474 had a second abortion while 3,060 were on their third. [21Dec06, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, London]
DISAPPOINTING VOTE ON ABORTION-FETAL PAIN LEGISLATION. Leading pro-life organizations are disappointed that a measure requiring abortion practitioners to give women information on the pain their baby will feel during an abortion didn't get the two-thirds vote (276) necessary to send the bill to the Senate. The 250-162 vote was a strong bipartisan majority but it fell 26 short of the two-thirds vote required for approval under the suspension calendar rules.The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, H.R. 6099, would have told women considering an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy that the unborn child has the ability to feel severe and intense pain. It would have provided women who want an abortion with the opportunity to give the baby anesthesia to at least alleviate the pain the baby will feel during the procedure. "It is no small thing that 60 percent of the House endorsed requiring abortionists to inform women that late abortion may be very painful to the unborn child," National Right to Life legislative director Douglas Johnson said. "The other 40 percent will have to explain why they favo
r anti-pain laws for animals used for research or food, but not for unborn humans," Johnson added. [8Dec06, DC, LifeNews.com]
PRO-LIFE DEMOCRAT WILL PUSH CONGRESSIONAL BILL TO REDUCE ABORTIONS. When pro-abortion Democratic leaders gain control of Congress next year, pro-life organizations likely won't see any votes on key pro-life legislation that would reduce abortions. The pro-life community may look to a pro-life Democrat's bill as one of the few opportunities to put any measures on President Bush's desk. Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Tennessee Democrat, hopes to do what some consider impossible — get a pro-life bill approved while abortion advocates run the show. Davis plans to reintroduce legislation next year he crafted in consultation with Democrats for Life of America, the national group of pro-life Democrats. The bill takes a different tact to reducing abortions by providing more tangible support for pregnant women and minimizing the financial and practical concerns that research shows motivates most women to have an abortion. As data from the Alan Guttmacher Institute shows, women who have abortions do so not because they are victims of rape or incest or have a life-threatening medical situation. Instead, they cite financial, educational, and practical concerns. Davis' bill would provide additional funding and access to child care programs, health care, nutrition assistance, and help new mothers attend college. The lawmaker told the Tennessean newspaper that his bill could attract support from both pro-life and pro-abortion members as it "gives both sides a chance to join legislation that could reduce abortion." [8Dec06, DC LifeNews.com]
WOMAN TELLS ON TV ABOUT HORRIBLE LATE-TERM ABORTION EXPERIENCE at the Wichita, Kansas late-term abortion facility of George Tiller. Kelly Dickerson appeared on the Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor” on 12Dec06. Dickerson, who is now a spokeswoman for an organization that helps women who have had abortions, explained that she was taken to the abortion facility by her parents. She was 14 year-old and 20 weeks pregnant — too late in pregnancy for a legal abortion in her home state of Maryland. She said that she participated in a group counseling session with other women scheduled to have late-term abortions and that no one ever mentioned talking with Tiller or other staff at the abortion business about her own situation beforehand. Dickerson was told that the abortion would be a five-day process; Tiller's staff inserted laminaria to dilate her for the abortion. "On the third day, Tiller came in and injected into the amniotic sac saline solution which suffocated and burned my baby to death," Kelly said. She described an assembly-line abortion process in which, on the fifth day, women are herded into a room and told to lie down on beds. Tiller's staff would go down the line of women checking which ones are dilated enough to have the abortion and take them in to complete it. Dickerson told Fox News that the final part of the abortion process consisted of going into a bathroom and leaning on a nurse as she delivered her dead baby into the toilet. She said the only two times she ever saw Tiller were when he injected the saline solution and after she gave birth to her dead child.
"This is all very graphic but I think it's important that people know what's going on in our country," Dickerson told host Bill O'Reilly. Tiller is currently under criminal investigation by the Kansas Attorney General’s office for alleged illegal late-term abortions and the concealment of child rape. He escaped prosecution in the January 2005 death of 19-year old Christin Gilbert, a mentally disabled Texas girl whose parents took her there for an abortion. During the interview with Fox News, Dickerson indicated that no one at Tiller's abortion center ever told her about potential medical or emotional problems following the abortion. The abortion center did not provide any information about what would happen to Dickerson during the five-day abortion process. "No one ever said anything to me about what was going to happen to me ten years down the road," Dickerson said. Asked what happened to the body of her unborn child, Dickerson responded, "I have no idea, I left the body of my dead baby in the toilet." Ultimately, Dickerson said the late-term abortion process does nothing to affirm women or give them information or choices abortion advocates claim they support. "I'm disgusted that women are told they have a choice yet no one tell us what that choice is or what that choice is going to do to us or to the baby," Dickerson told the Fox News program. "Very few people, I think, know that this is what happens."
"Abortion is not just an easy solution, it's not an answer to a problem — it just creates other problems," she added. Regarding her own situation following the abortion, Dickerson said she experienced the kinds of mental health problems that plague at least 40 percent of women having abortions, studies show. "I was traumatized, I had lots of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder," she explained. "I had very low self esteem, was promiscuous, I used drugs, I had eating disorders — lots of horrible things." Ultimately, Dickerson told O'Reilly that "having my child would have been better than the depression and suicidal thoughts" after the abortion.
Related : View the tape of Kelly's interview (for a limited time) at http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html [13Dec06, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, DC]
JUDGE: AG CAN'T PROSECUTE TILLER FOR ABORTIONS – Kline says ruling may be appealed, and child rape cases developing. A special prosecutor is being appointed to take over the case against an influential abortionist in Wichita, according to state Attorney General Phill Kline, who also confirmed that documentation in support of more than two dozen cases of child rape is being turned over to various local prosecutors around the state. The announcement came just as a state judge ruled Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston refused to "acquiesce" to a case involving 30 criminal counts that was investigated and documented by Kline, so it must be dismissed.
Judge Paul W. Clark had dismissed charges against abortionist George Tiller, who specializes in late-term procedures, last week without hearing any arguments but those of Foulston, and then held a hearing yesterday on the issue of whether those counts even could be filed by the state. He said no, after listening to Foulston's opinion that she was the only person authorized to file counts in her judicial district. That despite arguments from Assistant Attorney General Steven Maxwell that Kansas law does allow the attorney general, the state's top law enforcement officer, to file counts in any county in the state.
"I control the prosecution of cases in this jurisdiction!" Foulston said in a voice witnesses described as loud and angry. 'The district attorney is being usurped by some out-of-towner on his way out as Attorney General."
Maxwell noted that wasn't Kansas law, and in fact, the state attorney general
had filed hundreds of cases in various Kansas judicial districts in recent years, including several cases with district attorneys as defendants, but never had been required to obtain permission from the DAs.
Cheryl Sullenger [Operation Rescue] said it appeared that Foulston was taking the case against Tiller as a personal affront to her. "It was very clear that Nola rules the roost in Sedgwick County and even the judges are afraid to oppose her," she said.
Foulston also asserted that the statute of limitations had expired on each of the 30 counts filed last week by Attorney General Phill Kline, but Maxwell corrected her, noting the legislature had extended that limit from three to five years.
Maxwell also told the judge Kline is appointing Wichita attorney Don McKinney as special prosecutor in the Tiller case, and the office was reserving the right to appeal Clark's conclusion.
Kline, who wasn't in the hearing but came to the courthouse later, announced on his website that two independent judges had found probable cause to believe crimes had been committed in the case, and the latest review "resulted in a finding of probable cause to believe that Mr. Tiller committed those crimes."
"Furthermore, the Kansas Supreme Court reviewed this investigation for over one year and has now twice ruled that the investigation may go forward," Kline noted.
"I was stunned that the District Attorney, after meeting with me prior to the filing of charges and pledging not to stand in the way, later reversed course and without any effort to notify myself or my office went to a different judge who had not reviewed the evidence and obtained a dismissal ex parte contrary to law and contrary to the facts," Kline said. He told reporters at the hearing Foulston also cited no relevant case law in support of her position.
Clark's decision was delivered immediately from the bench, and apparently was based on the "he said-she said" dispute over whether Foulston agreed to the case.
"This case is far from over," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We strongly believe that once an appeals court hears the arguments, the charges will be reinstated."
"KSA 22-3103 states '(i)f the testimony taken at an inquisition discloses probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed … the attorney general … may file such testimony, together with his complaint … against the person or persons alleged to have committed the crime … and a warrant shall there upon be issued for the arrest of such person…as in other criminal cases,'" said Kline. "Also, the Kansas Supreme Court has stated that once the Attorney General commences a prosecution, the Attorney General may not be removed from the case but for cause."
The case against Tiller resulted from an investigation of more than two years, as Tiller and another abortion provider in Kansas, Planned Parenthood, battled unsuccessfully all the way through the state Supreme Court against providing any medical documentation to the state's chief law enforcement officer.
The counts cite a number of abortions, such as the July 22, 2003, abortion on a 14-year-old child, patient "072203LM," where Tiller "wrongfully relied on a diagnosis of Anxiety Disorder … or Adjustment Disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood to determine that a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman when such diagnoses do not establish that a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman, in violation of [Kansas law.]"
The local prosecutor's earlier filing in support of dismissing the counts had cited two state laws "which require the Attorney General to initiate actions in certain circumstances," Kline said. However, they "do not contain a prohibition from filing actions."
Kline, who lost his re-election bid on the strength of strong pro-abortion support for his opponent, Democrat Paul Morrison, will be moving into a post as a district attorney in Kansas after he leaves state office, and still will have the authority to continue investigating some allegations of abortion business misconduct.
The charges include claims that Tiller provided abortions to the mothers after the statutory age limit of 22 weeks for the unborn babies. There also are allegations that the "medical reasons" listed in the abortion businesses' documents for the abortions were insufficient.
Kline said the 30 counts relate to 15 different abortions, provided to mothers ranging in age from 10-22, with the babies aged 25-31 weeks. They allege that Tiller "induced or performed an illegal late term abortion contrary to Kansas statute 30-6537-03" and that he "failed to report the reason and basis for performing that abortion on a viable child as required by that statute."
Operation Rescue officials, who earlier shut down one Wichita abortion business by purchasing the building it was in, said they weren't surprised much. "Foulston has come under criticism by pro-life supporters for refusing to prosecute accusations against Tiller because of her personal friendship with him. It is alleged that she adopted her only son through Tiller, who has stated publicly that he has arranged adoptions in return for political favors," a statement on the organization's website said.
Morrison had promised to begin a domestic violence unit, without any additional expense to the state. "Some of the money that's been used on misplaced priorities could easily fund" the plans, he had told the Lawrence Journal-World. He cited Kline's investigation of the abortion businesses run by Tiller in Wichita and Planned Parenthood as an example.
Morrison also got a huge boost in his campaign when a non-profit organization that the newspaper linked to Tiller mailed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of mailings critical of Kline.
The mailings called Kline "Snoop Dog" and were mailed by Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection, said the newspaper, which noted that group had the same office address as ProKanDo, a political action committee Tiller started and is funding to elect pro-abortion candidates.
Kline also earlier had raised the issue of state statistics that showed in 2003, for example, there were 78 abortions provided to underage girls, including some as young as 10, without a single case of child rape being reported. He said there now are 25 cases pending, and his work on those cases is continuing. [28Dec06, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53538, World Net Daily, B. Unruh]