Kansas Late term abortion doc trial set to begin.

[Howler]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401607.html


WICHITA, March 14 -- For abortion opponents, the trial of one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers has been a long time coming, a chance for a little bit of justice after years of seeing their efforts thwarted.

To abortion-rights supporters, George Tiller's trial, set to begin Monday, will be the culmination of repeated harassment, a witch hunt in which his foes have been willing to do anything to gain a conviction.

Tiller and his Wichita clinic have been regular targets of antiabortion demonstrations, including the 45-day "Summer of Mercy" event staged by Operation Rescue in 1991. His clinic was damaged by a pipe bomb in 1986, and in 1993 a protester shot him in both arms.

Abortion opponents contend Tiller illegally aborts fetuses that could survive outside the womb. Kansas law allows late-term abortions if two doctors agree that it is necessary to save a woman's life or prevent "substantial and irreversible" harm to "a major bodily function," a phrase that has been interpreted to include mental health.