'Roe' pleads for Kansans to charge Tiller

'Roe' pleads for Kansans to charge Tiller
1-time abortion industry poster child calls for punishment

The longtime poster child for America's abortion industry, Jane Roe of the precedent-creating Roe v. Wade lawsuit in 1973, is pleading with Kansas lawmakers to enforce their own state law and prosecute a late-term abortionist accused of failing to follow state law.

"As the woman who helped make abortion 'legal' in America, I urge you to do everything in your power to stop one of the worst abortionists in America. George Tiller MUST be punished for the crimes he has committed – and you can help make that happen," said the letter this week to Kansas lawmakers.

It is from Norma McCorvey, who has run the "Roe No More" ministry, now called "Crossing Over Ministry," since she abandoned the abortion industry to become a Christian a decade ago.

Tiller was the subject of a multi-year investigation by former Kansas state Attorney General Phill Kline, who filed 30 criminal counts against him in late 2006. However, those charges were dismissed by a judge with connections to Tiller's lawyers on the request of a prosecutor who also had connections to the other players in the case.

Efforts by a special prosecutor subsequently to pursue the case were defeated when the state's new attorney general, Paul Morrison, fired him and asked that his requests to the state Supreme Court be dismissed.

The actual allegations, which never have been evaluated in a courtroom, were reviewed in advance by two separate judges and approved, and accused Tiller of performing illegal late-term abortions in Kansas and failing to provide the documentation the state requires for late-term procedures.

Now Resolution 6018 in the state House of Representatives would direct Morrison to refile the charges and pursue them to a just conclusion.

The resolution was approved by the Federal and State Affairs Committee earlier this week, but Morrison has informed the Legislature that he alone will decide whether charges will be filed against Tiller.

"Any further charges will be based on my professional judgment, not legislative action or political calculations," he wrote.

McCorvey's pleas went directly to lawmakers.

"Hello, my name is Norma McCorvey. Perhaps you've heard of me. It was my Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, that sentenced tens of millions of innocent babies to die by abortion. (I have repented and given my life to the Lord.)

"Now I work to tell people that abortion is a horrible crime against humanity – at ANY stage in a woman's pregnancy. But the most abhorrent abortions of all are LATE-TERM abortions, such as those performed by Dr. George R. Tiller of Wichita.

"Dr. Tiller performs abortions on babies up to 37 weeks – past the point when most babies are born. And, to justify his crimes, he claims the women are 'depressed' or have 'anxiety disorders' – two conditions that are not valid reasons to have late-term abortions, according to Kansas law 65-6703," she wrote.

Kansas law actually considers those conditions as reasons for substantiating an abortion, but only if they also cause "substantial and irreversible" impacts on a "major bodily function."

"We cannot allow justice to be subverted by backroom, under-the-table deals between dishonorable politicians and Tiller's pocketbook," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which has documented Tiller's financial support for the pro-abortion political agenda in Kansas.

"We stand with Norma McCorvey in continuing to call for the House to do everything in its power to reinstate Kansas v. Tiller, and let justice be decided in a court of law," Newman said.

McCorvey's letter says Tiller's "political connections" triggered the "improper" dismissal of the counts.

"You and your colleagues in the Kansas Legislature have the legal authority to force Attorney General Paul Morrison to prosecute Dr. Tiller on those 30 criminal counts," she wrote. "Please vote to enforce KSA 75-702, which requires the Attorney General to appear on behalf of the state and 'prosecute or defend, in any other court or before any officer, in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which this state may be a party or interested.'"

Just about a week earlier, a Kansas state lawmaker filed a formal complaint against the district judge for refusing to disclose his financial ties to the attorney for Tiller and others while ruling in Tiller's favor in that criminal case.

State Sen. Tim Huelskamp has submitted the complaint against District Judge Paul W. Clark, which was co-signed by several leaders of national pro-life organizations, to the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications.

At issue are Clark's repeated rulings that prevented Kline from pursuing a case while he still was in office involving the criminal counts against Tiller.