Published 30 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1329
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1329

News

Kansas doctor who performed late term abortions is acquitted

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who is one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late abortions, has been acquitted on 19 counts of criminal misdemeanour. The jury of three men and three women in Wichita took less than an hour to reach its decision.

The case may play a part in hearings beginning on 31 March on the nomination of the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Ms Sebelius, a Catholic, has said she opposes abortion, but she vetoed a law that would have placed further restrictions on abortion in Kansas. However, on 27 March she signed a bill that requires abortion clinics to show women an ultrasound image of the fetus and to let them listen to its heartbeat (www.washingtontimes.com, 28 Mar, "Sebelius signs bill on abortions").

The criminal charges against Dr Tiller . . . [Full text of this article]


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