Abortion Death Subjects Kansas Governor Sebelius to Intense Criticism

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 28, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion Death Subjects Kansas Governor Sebelius to Intense Criticism

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 28, 2005

Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — The January death of a woman at a late-term abortion business in Wichita is opening up Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to intense criticism. Pro-life groups say a bill she vetoed in 2003 could have put regulations in place that would possibly have prevented the woman’s death.

On January 13, a woman died after having an abortion at the Wichita Women’s Health Center, run by infamous late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller.

In 2003, the Kansas legislature passed HB 2176, a bill that would have regulated abortion facilities and subjected them to more stringent standards that legitimate surgical medical facilities must meet.

However, Sebelius vetoed the bill and, at the time, claimed "Kansans experience and appreciate some of the highest standards for medical care in the country."

Mary Kay Culp of Kansans for Life contends the bill could have prevented the woman’s death.

"[W]e believe the Abortion Clinic Licensing bill could have mitigated or prevented the recent death of a woman in a Wichita abortion clinic," Culp said.

Culp indicated the bill would have required Tiller to report numerous cases of transporting women from his abortion business to a local hospital over the last year, including the January death and an apparent second death of a woman earlier this month.

Sebelius appears to acknowledge that the legislation could have made an impact.

She has asked the Kansas Board of Healing Arts to investigate the January abortion death. In a memo to the agency, she asked for the BOHA’s "determination of whether H.B. 2176, passed by the 2003 legislature would have in any way mitigated or prevented the patient’s death."

Culp says Sebelius’ concern about women’s health and safety at Kansas abortion facilities is too late in coming.

"Governor Sebelius’ veto ignored the legislature’s informed recognition of the desperate need for effective regulation of Kansas abortion clinics, and for that she should be held accountable," Culp explained.

Part of Sebelius’ reason for vetoing the bill may have had to do with politics.

Culp’s group points out that Tiller’s Pro Kan Do Political Action Committee and his abortion business donated more than $20,000 to her campaigns between 1994 and 2002. In 2003, Tiller lobbied strongly against passage of the abortion facility regulation bill.

"Kathleen Sebelius is protecting the abortion industry and her donors, not women," Culp concluded.

Related web sites:
Kansans for Life – https://www.kfl.org