An ambulance carrying a patient of Women's Health Care Services (WHCS), the infamous late-term abortion mill owned by George Tiller, arrived silently and without fanfare at the Wesley Medical Center Emergency Room at 11:21 a.m. February 17, just five weeks after one of Tiller's patients reportedly died after a similar trip. Operation Rescue staffers photographed the scene as emergency workers unloaded a woman completely shrouded in a blanket. The woman's body was strapped to the gurney at the ankles, hips and shoulders.
Witnesses detected no movement from the woman nor did they observe the usual IV bags and other medical paraphernalia that is commonly seen attached to women who have been transported to the Emergency Room from WHCS, an unlicensed and unregulated facility classified as a “doctor's office” where dangerous second- and third-trimester abortions are performed, according to Operation Rescue. LifeSiteNews.com has also reported that provincial governments in Canada have sent Canadian women to Tiller’s Kansas clinic for late-term abortions.
Departing from routine, Tiller employee Edna Roach, driving a minivan registered to Tiller, sped past the emergency room parking lot where she normally arrives, and parked instead at the hospital's main entrance, according to Operation Rescue. Roach transported a passenger in the minivan who may have been another Tiller employee, late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who was scheduled for duty at WHCS according to a calendar posted on Tiller's website. There was no sign of Tiller.
About an hour later, Operation Rescue staffer Adam McArthur was escorted by two men from the Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Office after Director Diane Gage denied his Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request for the 911 audio file and CAD transcript.
“We are aware that these are public records,” said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman. “It is against the law to hide these public records and not release them when legal request has been made, as Adam did. These records are not part of any criminal investigation and do not contain the name of the patient. Why risk breaking the law by refusing to release them unless there is something to hide? Operation Rescue will file a civil suit against the county to obtain those records, if necessary. The truth must come out about the numbers of women injured and killed by George Tiller and his cohorts, so that other women do not suffer the same tragic fate.”
“We don't know if this woman is alive or dead,” said witness Cheryl Sullenger. “Again, for the second time in five weeks, we demand the suspension of Tiller and Carhart's licenses pending investigation. How many more women must be injured or even die before something is done to safeguard women from the Butchers of Bleckley?”
Abortion at Kansas Clinic Led to Woman’s Death Leaked Governor’s Memo Admits
Abortion clinic activists with Operation Rescue in Wichita have videotaped five ambulance transports from George Tiller's Wichita Women's Health Care late-term abortion clinic to Wesley Medical Center in the past 13 months. One took place last week (Feb. 17) and one occurred on January 13, involving a woman who, as they were later informed, had died. To date, there has been little media inquiry and little coverage, probably because of a lack of official recognition of the death.
That same abortion clinic is paid by provincial governments in Canada to perform late-term abortions on Canadian women.
Kansans for Life recently obtained a copy of a February 2 memo from Governor Kathleen Sebelius to Larry Buening, Executive Director of the Kansas Board of Healing Arts (BOHA). In the Feb. 2 memo, Governor Sebelius asked the BOHA to investigate “the circumstances of the death of a patient at the Wichita Women's Health Center on or about January 13, 2005.”
Kansans for Life is taking that as an official indication that the woman in the January 13 incident indeed died.
LifeSiteNews.com confirmed that the memo is genuine. Nicole Corcoran, press secretary for Governor Sebelius told LifeSiteNews.com said of the memo, “Yes, it is a memo that the Governor sent to the Board of Healing Arts.”
The findings around the death could have serious political ramifications for Governor Sebelius. The memo asks for “the Board's determination of whether H.B. 2176, passed by the 2003 legislature, would have in any way mitigated or prevented the patient's death.” HB 2176 (the Abortion Clinic Licensing bill) was vetoed by Sebelius in 2003. In her veto message she asserted that: “Kansans experience and appreciate some of the highest standards for medical care in the country.”
Kansans for Life Executive Director Mary Kay Culp said that having the BOHA investigate the situation was not adequate, especially given the relationship between the board and the Governor’s office. Kansas for Life revealed and the Governor’s office has confirmed that BOHA Executive Director Larry Buening is married to a top Sebelius staffer.
Governor Sebelius’ office is now attempting to suggest that the wording on the memo was not exact and should have asked for an investigation into a “potential” death rather than a “death” as the memo reads. Corcoran told LifeSiteNews.com, “Governor Sebelius learned from some media reports that there was a potential death at a Wichita clinic so she asked the Board of Healing Arts to conduct an investigation.”
Corcoran said that once findings are reported they will be made public. “We have not heard, gotten a report or any results from the Board of Healing Arts at this time, but we are expecting one, and once we have it the governor said she would share that,” she said.
Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline’s office has also announced it is investigating the case.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)