Jury clears doctor in abortion case

March 28, 2009|Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. - One of the nation's few late-term abortion providers was acquitted yesterday of misdemeanor charges stemming from procedures he performed, but moments after the verdict was announced the state's medical board announced it was investigating similar allegations against him.

Prosecutors had alleged that in 2003 Dr. George Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not from an independent source as state law requires, but a jury took only about an hour to find him not guilty of all 19 counts.

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.

Tiller, 67, has claimed that the prosecution was politically motivated. An attorney general who opposes 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.

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 board, which regulates doctors, could revoke, suspend or limit Tiller's medical license, or fine him.

Kansas 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," which has been interpreted to include mental health.