Abortion Death Investigation Continues, Texas Woman Died in Kansas

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 24, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion Death Investigation Continues, Texas Woman Died in Kansas Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 24, 2005

Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — An investigation into one of two deaths at a late-term abortion facility in Kansas is continuing and Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline on Tuesday confirmed that a mentally disabled Texas woman died after having a late-term abortion at George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Clinic abortion business.

Meanwhile, the Texas attorney general is looking into possible criminal charges in Texas related to events that happened there, but won’t provide specifics.

Spokesman Ben Taylor told the Kansas City Star newspaper that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was conducting an investigation that "centers on events that may have happened in Texas. We are not investigating the woman’s death."

Taylor said the office had receive information from Kline about the case and was acting on it.

“That’s why we initiated the investigation,” he said. “You can infer what we are doing happened because of the information they (the Kansas attorney general) provided us.”

Kline said that Abbott has issued a subpoena of Tiller, but he told the Star that it doesn’t mean Tiller is a subject in the investigation.

“Do not infer from that in any fashion that Mr. Tiller himself is under criminal investigation,” Kline said. “That would be an improper inference.”

Kline indicated the 19 year-old woman who died in the January 13 abortion was developmentally disabled, but did not indicate where in Texas she resided. Another woman died after a botched abortion at Tiller’s facility earlier this month.

Daniel Monnat, a Wichita attorney representing Tiller, issued a statement that Tiller "received a routine subpoena from the state of Texas for the examination of medical records and items related to an investigation in Texas which is not directed at [Tiller]."

"Other medical facilities in Wichita have received similar subpoenas from the state of Texas in this investigation," Monnat said.

The statement did not address either abortion death.

Kline has not yet launched his own investigation into the woman’s death, but Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has directed the state Board of Healing Arts, which regulates doctors in the state, to look into the matter.

Both Sebelius and the BOHA have come under fire for lax policies on abortion standards and safety.

On the Net:

Kansas attorney general’s office: https://www.accesskansas.org/ksag
Texas attorney general’s office: https://www.oag.state.tx.us/index.shtml