Points to Ponder

 

In October of 2007, after failing in two lower courts, George Tiller’s attorneys challenged the legality of a Grand Jury at the Kansas Supreme Court. They lost that attempt, but filed a similar action that the Court accepted in February 2008.
Here are some commonsense rebuttals to their first arguments.

 

Summary of arguments made by Tiller’s attorneys to the Kansas Supreme Court concerning the Grand Jury

 

Tiller’s attorneys said:

1. The [grand jury] petition poses an undue burden on the rights of women to obtain an abortion.

We say:  It only poses an undue burden on abortions that are against the law. Late-term, post-viable abortions are illegal and no woman has a “right” to obtain an illegal abortion. Abraham Lincoln once said about slavery, “No one has the right to do something wrong.”

 

2. The law requires that all the district court judges must approve the petition.

 

We say: Actually, the law says “judge or judges” must approve the petition.  This does not mean ALL the judges.  If the petition was in the proper form, then a Grand Jury MUST be impaneled.

 

3. Tiller’s attorneys say our action, “is the product of illegal conduct, bad faith and harassment and thus violates …due process of law…”

We say: Every act involved in empaneling a grand jury by Kansans For Life and thousands of pro-lifers in the Wichita area was prescribed in the law. Surely every criminal feels harassed by the law and those who want the law enforced.  The Grand Jury is just one form of due process available to the citizens of Kansas.

 

4. The Grand Jury is “the product of illegal conduct involving unlawful distribution and review of private medical records…”

 

We say:  This argument is ridiculous.  No one at Kansans For Life has ever seen ANY medical record obtained under Phill Kline – and we don’t want to.  Additionally, those abortion medical records  were redacted under a District Court Judge in the manner dictated by the Kansas Supreme Court.

 

The definition of “redacted” means that certain statutorily- privileged information from an original document is “blacked out” before the document is released to other agents or to the public.  In the case of these abortion records, certain personally identifiable information, not needed to deduce if crimes are occurring, was removed. This means, no one will ever know the name of the patient – their privacy is protected!  If Tiller was really concerned about not revealing his patients’ identities, why did he fund raise off their names for his political action committee, ProKanDo?  All political donors’ names and addresses are made public by the Kansas Secretary of State’s office.

 

5. Former Attorney General Phill Kline tried to bring charges against Tiller and failed to do so, therefore, Tiller has already been investigated.

 

We say: Yes, and if he would have remained in office, Tiller would be facing a multitude of criminal charges today.  Only the actions of District Attorney Nola Foulston prevented criminal charges being filed against Tiller.

 

6. The other Grand Jury did not indict Tiller so he’s already been investigated.

 

We say: The 2006 Grand Jury was investigating the death of Christin Gilbert.  This Grand Jury will be investigating hundreds, possibly thousands, of illegal late-term abortions. Those are two different tasks for two different Grand Juries.

 

7. Attorney General Paul Morrison, after looking at the evidence, only found the 19 misdemeanor charges which only addressed reporting issues.

 

We say: These 19 current criminal charges still await Tiller.  However, Morrison dropped the more serious criminal charges Kline had sought, based on a dishonest and skewed interpretation of our state ban on post-viable abortions, K.S.A. 65-6703.

 

That law is there to protect women from unscrupulous abortionists who would take advantage of them for monetary gain.  If, as the law says, a late-term abortion may only be performed because a woman is suffering from a substantial and irreversible injury to a major bodily function, then other physicians must be consulted to ensure proper diagnosis and (hopefully) long-term treatment of the malady.

 

For the past 5 years, physician referrals for Tiller’s post-viability abortions have come from another abortionist whose sole source of income is these “referrals” and who was twice declared “a danger to the public” by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.  The women of Kansas deserve better. 

 

However, it is important to mention, that District Attorney Nola Foulston, and Attorney General Paul Morrison support abortion on demand.  That’s one of the main reasons we asked for a Grand Jury because we want an impartial investigation into these violations of the law.

 

8. Tiller’s attorneys say, “The action is the product of a bad faith vigilante effort by groups having a financial interest in the outcome for the purpose of harassment”

We say: This is where we are referred to as vigilantes—a term Tiller’s attorneys have been using frequently in the media.  Did you know there are at least 8,000 vigilantes in the Wichita area? Informed citizens who are registered voters in Sedgwick County are not vigilantes.  This is just a classic example of how Tiller’s attorneys are using the media to divert attention from what is actually taking place in the abortion clinic.

 

9. “By obtaining private medical records…, Kansans for Life makes a mockery of the law by relying on such purloined information as putative justification for the Sedgwick County Grand Jury and by submitting the same fruits of their poisonous conduct for consideration by the Sedgwick County Grand Jury.”

 

We say: What?  What they are saying is that the medical records (which we have never seen) were stolen [purloined] by us, but which were actually obtained by subpoena from a District Court Judge. Then we used these medical records (which we have never seen) as justification for a Grand Jury and our conduct has been “poisonous”.  WOW!  And all this time, we thought killing big, healthy babies was poisonous conduct!

 

AND FINALLY,

10. …Kansans for Life alleged corruption by Kansas officials and sought the donation of money to combat “the abortion industry [which] has millions of blood- and tear-stained dollars”; to underwrite the costs of the Grand Jury; and for the sale of bumper stickers stating “Charge Tiller: It’s the law.”

We say:  Unlike George Tiller who has made many millions on just the late-term abortions he performs, Kansans For Life is a non-profit group. We exist on a shoe-string budget, relying on the donations of good-hearted individuals. We had to take out a loan to get this "grand jury justice" effort underway and we are just now paying it back along with some of our other debts. Our educational materials and bumper stickers have always been free.

 

Kansans For Life initiated the Grand Jury petition because no one was enforcing the law which prohibits post-viable abortions except under rare conditions.  It was and is the right thing to do – no matter how much it cost.