'Tiller the killer' abortion charges coming to head

'Tiller the killer' abortion charges coming to head
Under pressure from pro-life groups, state moves toward ruling on charges
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Posted: June 14, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The results of yet another investigation into allegations a notorious Kansas doctor performs illegal late-term abortions will be released within a few weeks, officials have announced.

Just six months ago the first investigation was finished, and it resulted in then-Attorney General Phill Kline filing 30 criminal charges against George Tiller.

The state, which is under pressure from pro-life activists to move on the charges, will complete its second investigation into the charges against Tiller "by the end of June," according to a statement from Ashley Anstadt, a spokeswoman for current Attorney General Paul Morrison.

However, she told WND she could not release the details of the "ongoing investigation."

The pressure on the state has been mounting, because Kline, who was replaced in January by Morrison, had completed his investigation of Tiller. After having two judges approve the case, Kline had filed the 30 criminal counts against Tiller for performing illegal late-term procedures as well as failing to document the reasons for those abortions.

A series of moves by officials, including a prosecutor and a judge, resulted in those charges being dismissed almost immediately.

But producers for Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who has aired several updates on the situation, were in Wichita recently to confront Tiller on a trip to a gas station about the allegations.

The segment aired Tuesday, showing Tiller commenting about the weather when asked about the late-term abortions he performs.

The segment on O'Reilly also discussed a videotaped statement from Paul McHugh, a nationally noted psychiatrist who was hired by Kline to examine redacted medical records obtained by the state from Tiller and deliver an expert opinion about the validity of the psychiatric diagnoses used by Tiller to justify post-viability abortions.

As WND columnist Jack Cashill has documented, those evaluations produced no credible evidence that there was a reasonable basis for the abortions.

The issue at hand is the late-term abortions Tiller performs. State law bans abortions after 21 weeks unless the mother's life is in danger or the pregnancy will produce "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function," which has been interpreted to include mental health factors.

In the interview, arranged by Women Influencing the Nation, McHugh said the reasons cited by Tiller were "social," not "psychiatric."

"Some of them [the reasons] would be construed as trivial," he said. "A trivial one would be not being able to go to a rock concert."

None of the anonymous case files included a full psychiatric profile, he said. "There's a life at stake here. Much more serious issues need to be brought up, especially if you want to obey the Kansas law."

He said other reasons offered for terminating the life of the unborn child were that the mother was worried the offspring would not thrive, that the woman would have her future redirected, that she wouldn't get a good education after she had a child, that they would always feel guilty…

"These are not psychiatric ideas, they're social," he said. "There was nothing to back these things up."

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