LeRoy Carhart Plans to Continue Late-term Abortions in Kansas After Tiller Death
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 11, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Nebraska-based late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart, a colleague of slain late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller, says he plans to do such abortions in Kansas. With the Tiller family announcing that it will permanently close his abortion center, Carhart may open up his own business.
Carhart indicated he would do late-term abortions but would not say whether he would do them from an existing facility or would open his own abortion center somewhere in the state.
He insisted in an interview with the Associated Press that "there will be a place in Kansas for the later second- and the medically indicated third-trimester patients very soon," although there is never any medical reason for abortions so late in pregnancy.
"I just think that until everything is in place, it’s something that doesn’t need to be talked about" in detail, Carhart added.
Carhart was a Tiller colleague and routinely participated in late-term abortions at Tiller’s abortion center in Wichita since Nebraska law provides more protection for human life. He has run his own abortion center outside Omaha since 1985.
He has never trained his staff to do late-term abortions and told AP that it may be necessary to begin doing them in Kansas.
"If I have to train the staff and if I have to do them, then that’s certainly an option for a fetus that would not survive outside the womb, he said.
Carhart also indicated his Bellevue abortion center has seen more requests for abortions since Tiller was killed in his church recently.
Carhart’s comments came on a day when Operation Rescue officials said they are considering purchasing Tiller’s abortion center now that it has closed down.
"I would love to make an offer on that abortion clinic, and that’s some of the discussion that we’re having," Newman told the Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. We need a bigger office."
Operation Rescue purchased another building that had housed an abortion facility in 2006 and converted it into its national headquarters, but Newman said the group has outgrown it and could use additional space.
"We would love to see that place established as a center for life, one that nurtures and cares for babies, rather than taking their lives," Newman added.
The Tiller family’s decision to close his abortion center, they explained, is effective immediately.
It means that other late-term abortion practitioners like Nebraska-based LeRoy Carhart will not take over Tiller’s Kansas-based abortion center and continue it following his death.
The statement also indicated that Tiller’s family will not have any involvement in any other abortion centers. That means the Tiller name will no longer be connected with the performance of abortions on babies who may be able to live on their own outside their mother’s womb.
Tiller was allegedly shot by Scott Roeder, a militia activist with no affiliations with any pro-life organizations. Roeder’s family has also indicated that he battled with mental illness over the years.
Hundreds of pro-life groups have since issued statements condemning the shooting and saying it doesn’t represent the views of the majority of Americans who are pro-life on abortion and seek legal and peaceful means to protect human life.
However, that hasn’t stopped pro-abortion groups from attacking the majority of Americans who take a pro-life position on abortion and referring to them as terrorists.
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