Kansas doctor who performed late term abortions is acquitted

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 related to abortions carried out at his clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, in 2003. He could have faced a year in jail and a fine of $2500 (£1750; €1880) for each charge if convicted.

Immediately after his acquittal in the criminal case, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, which licenses medical professionals, announced that it was moving forward with a disciplinary petition it had filed against him in December.

The 11 count disciplinary action includes alleged violations similar to those in the criminal case. They include “performing an abortion on a fetus that was viable without having a documented referral from a physician not legally or financially affiliated with him; unprofessional or dishonorable conduct or professional incompetency; and commitment of acts likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public.”

No date was set for further action, and Dr Tiller has a currently valid Kansas medical licence, the board said.

Both the criminal case and the health board’s charges relate to a Kansas law that prohibits abortions after 22 weeks unless two Kansas doctors determine that the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman or that continuing the pregnancy will cause “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman,” which includes the woman’s mental health.

Many of Dr Tiller’s patients came from other states, so he needed to find a Kansas doctor to see the patients seeking a late term abortion and to provide a referral to him. The prosecutors charged that he had legal and financial ties to Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who provided referrals for the 19 patients involved.

Dr Neuhaus did not have her own practice at the time and saw patients at his clinic, and the referrals were her only source of income in 2003.

However, press reports say that she testified that she maintained her independence from Dr Tiller.

He testified that she had no financial or legal interest in his clinic and saw patients there for convenience and safety. He also said that she disagreed with him on about five cases a year and that he did not then perform these abortions (www.latimes.com, 23 Mar, “Abortion provider’s trial opens in Kansas”; www.kansascity.com, 23 Mar, “Testimony begins in trial of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller”; www.kansas.com/news/v-print/story/748198.html, 26 Mar, “George Tiller says he acted on advice of lawyers, state official”).

One of his patients was only 10 years old, and several were 15.

Dr Tiller’s clinic was bombed in 1991, he was shot in both arms in 1993, and protesters often appeared outside his clinic—as they did outside the courthouse.