Kansas Pro-Life Advocate Sues Abortion Practitioner for Auto Attack 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 9, 2007
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) — A local pro-life advocate has filed a lawsuit against infamous abortion practitioner George Tiller. Mark Gietzen is seeking $4,000 in damages resulting from an April 2006 incident in which Tiller allegedly hit Gietzen with his vehicle as he was leaving his central Kansas abortion center.
Gietzen, the director of the Kansas Coalition For Life, filed the lawsuit in small claims court on Thursday and is seeking $4,000 in damages.
Gietzen says that as he and another man were measuring the driveway to Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services abortion center to comply with a law keeping pro-life advocates at a certain distance from it.
According to eyewitnesses, Tiller accelerated his Jeep Grand Cherokee directly at them, even turning to continue to aim at them as they began to move out of the way. Tiller’s Jeep struck Gietzen as he attempted to move, bruising his arm and leg, and causing pain for several months.
Gietzen says he filed the lawsuit to protect other people who pray outside the abortion center or offer help to women considering abortions.
Gietzen’s lawsuit caught the attention of the producers of two television programs, Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown. He has received letters from both programs to arbitrate the case before them and he says he is considering the offers.
The case is already slated for a hearing in small claims court on November 28.
Tiller’s attorney Lee Thompson told the Associated Press that he hasn’t seen the case but said anything Gietzen does isn’t worth commenting on — implying he is too radical for a response.
The case adds to Tiller’s growing legal problems as he currently faces 19 counts from the state attorney general for doing illegal abortions and a grand jury probe into other potentially illegal late-term abortions.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman told LifeNews.com that his group "supports Mark’s efforts to seek a monetary judgment against Tiller in small claims court in compensation for his injuries."
“This case should have been pursued in criminal court, but since it was rejected by the District Attorney, Mark must take whatever legal recourse is left him," Newman added.
