Vol. 73/No. 14      April 13, 2009

Women’s Health Care Services, which Tiller runs, is one of only three clinics in the United States that perform late-term abortions, according to the New York Times. Hundreds of women, who have no access to abortion services in their home states, travel to Wichita to obtain abortions. Antichoice groups have been trying for decades to shut down the clinic.

The clinic has been a target of violent attacks by antiabortion groups. In 1986 a bomb exploded on the clinic’s roof. In 1991, the clinic was the target of summer-long protests. In 1993 Tiller was shot in both arms by an antiabortion assailant. Protests continue there almost daily. Antiabortion protesters attended the four-day trial, demonstrated outside the courthouse, and drove a truck around the block displaying large photos of aborted fetuses and signs reading, “Tiller the Killer.”

Tiller was accused of having an improper financial relationship with Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who in 2003 provided the second opinion in 19 cases. If convicted he could have faced one year in prison and a fine of $2,500 for each count.

Minutes after the acquittal, the state’s Board of Healing Arts, which licenses and regulates physicians, announced it was considering a complaint concerning 11 of the same abortions that had been addressed during the trial. The board could fine Tiller or suspend or revoke his license. No hearing dates were set.

“The antichoice forces are not going to go away easily, but this will end—and will end in our favor,” said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.  
 
 
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