George Tiller, the most infamous late-term abortionist in Kansas and the United States, will finally face 19 misdemeanor charges for illegally using a physician financed by him to authorize his late-term abortions.
Attorney General Paul Morrison made the announcement yesterday after sending mixed signals earlier in the week about what his office intended to do with Tiller "the baby killer", who was under investigation by former AG Phill Kline for performing illegal late-term abortions.
Morrison first announced Wednesday that he would drop 15 of the 30 misdemeanor charges that Kline filed against Tiller calling them flawed and "ridiculous." Morrison claimed he could not charge Tiller with criminal intent because Tiller's forms reporting late-term abortions — even though they included reasons for the abortions such as tummy-tucks and the inability to attend rock concerts — were filled out the way that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment required them to be filled out.
Morrison then threw out all 30 of Kline's charges and announced Thursday he would file his own 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller for "technical violations" of Kansas' 1998 abortion law that requires an independent physician to approve late-term abortions. These charges have not yet been made available to the public.
Tiller's "independent" physician, Ann Kristin Neuhaus, operates out of Tiller's office and uses equipment that she would otherwise have to rent to carry on her practice. According to Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue, which has brought attention to Tiller's illegal practices for years, Tiller and Neuhaus have a necessary "symbiotic relationship" which helps keep both in business.
"She comes down once a week to evaluate the late term abortion patients, she signs off on them, she gets a check from the patients and she goes back to Lawrence," Sullenger told LifeSiteNews.com. Although Tiller does not give Neuhaus a check (his patients do), there is enough of a financial relationship to justify the charges, Sullenger said, especially in light of evidence that Sullenger's transportation may be financed by Tiller.
Neuhaus used to have her own abortion practice, but her abysmal treatment of her patients led to the closure of her two abortion clinics in Lawrence and Wichita by 2002. She has not had a clean disciplinary record since 1996, and in 2000 the Kansas Board of Healing Arts issued an emergency order calling her "a danger to the public" and an "immediate threat." Neuhaus was charged with failing to follow the standards of care for non-anesthesiologists when giving sedation. In one such incident she performed an abortion without sedating the woman. Another incident involved a woman who was forcibly sedated by Neuhaus for the abortion after withdrawing her consent.
Sullenger said that while Operation Rescue was hopeful about the 19 charges finally laid against Tiller, it may simply provide Tiller another opportunity to readjust the way he does business. Operation Rescue has insisted that AG Morrison examine not only the records from 2003, but subpoena the records from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 in light of the relationship between Neuhaus and Tiller.
"While we are happy that charges are being filed against Tiller, we are guarded about this because we believe that these charges are the weakest against Tiller," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "There is a pattern of abuses and illegal activity that is going on at Tiller's mill. This is just the tip of the iceberg."
