Kansas Pro-Life Group Wants to Intervene in Grand Jury Abortion Case 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 19, 2007
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) — A Kansas pro-life group has filed a motion to intervene with the Kansas Supreme Court in the case involving late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. Operation Rescue is hoping to prevent Tiller’s lawyers from derailing a citizen-called grand jury investigation of him and potentially illegal abortions he’s done.
Tiller has asked the Kansas Supreme Court to order two district judges to refrain from impaneling the grand jury.
Chief Justice Kay McFarland ordered an indefinite stay of the grand jury, even though the law requires the convening of a grand jury within 60 days of submission of the petition. That deadline came on November 6.
"Nothing less than the rule of law is at stake here," Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com about his group’s filing.
"Tiller is demanding that he be treated differently than any other subject of a grand jury investigation in Kansas history. He wants the law set aside just for him," Newman added.
Newman said he is concerned about false statements in Tiller’s legal papers and wants the district court judges to know they are incorrect.
"A decision that threatens to scrap a cherished right afforded the people should not be made based on outright falsehoods, ad hominem attacks, and scare tactics," he said.
"Our motion is meant to protect the integrity of the proceedings as well as the rights of the people to seek justice through this legal process," Newman added.
Earlier this month, a county judge delayed a final decision on whether to dismiss charges Attorney General Paul Morrison filed against Tiller.
Morrison says Tiller has violated state law requiring a second physician to sign off on their validity.
Sedgwick County District Judge Clark V. Owens indicated he would rule within a few weeks on whether or not to grant a request from Tiller’s lawyers to dismiss the 19 charges.
