Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info.operationrescue@yahoo.com
WICHITA, Kansas, Dec. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- A grand jury investigation into suspected criminal wrong-doing by late-term abortionist George R. Tiller has been scheduled to convene in Sedgwick County on January 8. Retired District Court Judge Paul Buchanan will oversee the investigation.
The grand jury, which was called via the citizen's petition process, was originally set to convene on October 30, but was stayed by order of Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland. Operation Rescue filed a motion to intervene in the case.
On November 29, Justice McFarland lifted the stay and ordered the grand jury to convene.
"We are thankful that the laws regarding the rights of the people to seek justice through the grand jury petition process are being respected. It is a true victory for the rule of law," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We look forward to a full investigation and pray for justice to be served."
Registered voters, over three times the number required by law, are asking the grand jury to investigate illegal abortions that may have been committed by Tiller over the past four years.
Tiller was charged in June with 19 criminal counts of committing illegal late-term abortions over a narrow time-span in 2003, without an independent physician's signature. The state contends that Tiller and abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus were legally and financially associated, in violation of the Kansas ban on post-viability abortions. Because that business relationship continued into 2007, there is the likelihood that Tiller is responsible for hundreds of illegal abortions.
The grand jury will also be asked determine if Tiller committed abortions past viability to trivial reasons in violation of the law. Dr. Paul McHugh, a nationally renowned expert in psychiatry who examined Tiller medical records last year at the request of former Attorney General Phill Kline, came forward in June and stated in an interview posted on YouTube.com and the Operation Rescue web site that he believed Tiller was misusing psychiatry to justify abortions in violation of the law.
View full interview with Dr. McHugh
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
