Stand with Truth

The following is an abbreviated timeline of events in Kansas.  This details some of the struggles in the effort to ensure that Kansas laws protecting children and preventing late-term abortion on viable children are enforced.

The Kansas Battle Timeline - abbreviated

2002 and before: Dr. George Tiller of Wichita performs thousands of late-term abortions justifying them under the “severe fetal anomaly” exception in Kansas law. Dr. Tiller claims down’s syndrome, cleft pallet and even healthy twins may be aborted late-term under the exception. Prosecutors do nothing.

2003: As Attorney General Phill Kline launches an investigation into illegal late-term abortion and failure to report child rape. Kansas has a mandatory reporting law requiring medical providers to report sexual abuse of children.

2003- mid 2004: Now public records show that more than 100 children under the age of 14 had abortions in Kansas, yet SRS records reflect only 4 or 5 reports of sexual abuse of minors who had an abortion.

September 2004: Kline’s office presents substantial evidence and Judge Richard Anderson finds probable cause to believe that records at Planned Parenthood and Dr. Tiller’s clinics contain evidence of crimes. Anderson issues a subpoena for the records. Working with Anderson, Kline did not seek the names of the adult patients in the records.

October 2004: The abortion clinics sue Judge Anderson and Kline seeking to have the subpoenas quashed. The Kansas Supreme Court accepts the extraordinary and unusual lawsuit and stays the execution of the subpoenas until January 2006. By this time, the statute of limitations had run on many of the crimes Kline was investigating.

February 25, 2005: After the Kansas Supreme Court ordered the investigation to be public through the public filing of briefs; the clinics hold a news conference and claim that Kline is demanding the personal and private and most intimate records of 90 women and children. The Kansas media piles on with the Kansas City Star leading the way, at one time depicting Kline in a cartoon molesting a young girl on a park bench. For this, the Star wins Planned Parenthood’s “Maggie Award” for journalistic excellence.

Spring 2006: The Kansas Supreme Court rules that the Kline may receive the records. In October of 2006, two years after the initial subpoena and as Kline is leaving office, he receives the records. Medical records with identities are subpoenaed every day for criminal prosecutions and are typically received in one week.

Spring, Summer, Fall 2006: Kline is named a “domestic terrorist” by Planned Parenthood, along with US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Planned Parenthood and Dr. Tiller and their political affiliates pour millions into Kansas to defeat Kline. A conviction by Kline could cost Planned Parenthood $325 million of annual federal funding.

December 2006: Kline charges Dr. Tiller with 30 criminal counts including 15 counts of illegal late-term abortion. The charges show that Dr. Tiller claims that “single episodic severe depression,” “anxiety disorder,” and “adjustment disorder” meet the Kansas late-term abortion exception of “severe and permanent impairment of a major bodily function.” Kline meets with and informs Sedgwick County District Attorney Foulston that he is filing the charges. District Court Judge Eric Yost reviews Kline’s evidence and finds probable cause to believe Dr. Tiller committed crimes.

December 2006: The day after the charges were filed, DA Foulston, without notifying Kline, went to another District Court Judge and obtained an order dismissing the charges, claiming that Kline did not have the authority to file the charges. Kline appeals the decision and appoints a special prosecutor as he is leaving office. Incoming AG Paul Morrison fires the special prosecutor on his first day in office and later dismisses the appeal. The Kansas media reported that Kline lost the appeal rather than the fact that Morrison essentially dismissed his own appeal.

January 2006: Kline and Morrison switch jobs with Kline firing eight employees and Morrison firing over 40. The media, however, focuses on Kline and he is sued again. The suit is resolved without any funds being paid to the 8 employees who Kline had ordered to be paid a severance.

January - May 2007: AG Morrison makes repeated attempts to have Kline ordered to give up his evidence relating to Planned Parenthood. Judge Anderson refuses. AG Morrison has his own set of records and Kline, with Anderson’s approval, brought a copy to Johnson County to continue his investigation. Regardless, when AG Morrison is unable to force Kline to give up his copies, AG Morrison and Planned Parenthood sue Kline and AG Morrison sues Judge Anderson. The Kansas Supreme Court accepts both suits. AG Morrison denies Kline state coverage and Kline is forced to pay for his own defense.

June 2007: AG Morrison announces “technical charges” against Dr. Tiller. Kline predicts the charges will fail. At trial, the AG’s office only puts on one witness and stipulates that every abortion performed by Dr. Tiller was “medically necessary.” AG Morrison refuses to refile Kline’s initial charges for which Judge Yost found probable cause. AG Morrison also states publicly that he “clears Planned Parenthood” of any criminal wrongdoing.

October 2007: After a two-day, eight hour hearing, Judge James Vano of Johnson County finds probable cause to believe that Planned Parenthood committed 107 crimes, including 23 felonies. Kline files the charges.

October 2007: The Kansas Supreme Court orders Kline to go to trial in the AG Morrison/Planned Parenthood case against him. The trial is held in secret in the Supreme Court building in December of 2007. Kline’s legal expenses skyrocket. AG Morrison claims that Kline’s keeping of copies of the records, with Judge Anderson’s permission, constitutes the “theft of state property.”

December 2007: AG Morrison resigns and Governor Sebelius appoints AG Six.

January 18, 2008: Judge Richard Anderson testifies in Kline’s case against Planned Parenthood. In now public pleadings and testimony, Judge Anderson states that “it appears that someone committed felonies to cover up” crimes and that he took some of the Planned Parenthood records to a handwriting expert who concluded they appeared manufactured.

May 2008: Without informing Kline, AG Six’s office goes to the Kansas Supreme Court and obtains an order that Judge Anderson cannot testify in Kline’s case. It is by order of the Kansas Supreme Court that Judge Anderson has the original records produced by Planned Parenthood and now by order of the Kansas Supreme Court the records are not to be produced by Judge Anderson. The order is one paragraph long and does not cite any statute, case law or other authority. Kline seeks to intervene in the Supreme Court to change the order, but is denied. The order still stands but Kline initiates an appeal.

June 2008: The Kansas Supreme Court denies Planned Parenthood’s and AG Morrison’s lawsuits seeking to have Kline give up his copies of all the records. The opinion is written in a very aggressive tone against Kline by Justice Carol Beier who suggests that the Disciplinary Administrator for Lawyers take a hard look at Kline. Later it is leaked to the press that the Disciplinary Administrator, who works for the Supreme Court, plans to proceed against Kline and two of his Chief Deputies. The tone of Justice Beier’s opinion draws a rebuke by Chief Justice McFarland and Justice Davis.

Winter 2008-2009: Kline is forced to appear and testify in a motion’s hearing in now AG Six’s criminal charges against Dr. Tiller. Dr. Tiller claims that the charges should be dismissed because of “outrageous conduct” by Kline. Again the Kansas media reports the allegations in sensational fashion. Judge Owen later denies the motion. In the Spring of 2009, Dr. Tiller is acquitted of the charges originally brought by AG Morrison and forwarded by AG Six. Charges Kline declined to file on the evidence he obtained as AG. Yet, the substantive charges initially brought by Kline have never been reinstated or prosecuted.

May 31, 2009 Dr. George Tiller is gunned down in cold blood as he serves as an usher in his church in Wichita. Pro-life leaders condemn the violence. Later, Scott Roeder of Merriam, Kansas is arrested and charged with first degree murder. Mr. Roeder has a criminal record that involves illegally possessing bomb making materials, has participated in anti-tax extremism and has a history of mental illness.

Now: Kline’s charges against Planned Parenthood are still pending and the Kansas Supreme Court order silencing Judge Anderson is still in effect. The Kansas Supreme Court has not ruled on Kline’s appeal for the Court to reverse its own order silencing the Judge. Justice Beier has strongly encouraged the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator to act on Planned Parenthood’s numerous complaints and Kline is again being forced to pay substantial legal fees for his defense. Kline is now leading a national effort to reveal the truth about abortion and is affiliated with the Life Issues Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio which was founded by pro-life pioneer Dr. Jack Willke and Mr. Brad Mattes. Kline also serves as a Visiting Professor of Law at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

This video was produced by Kansas City radio journalist and author Jack Cashill in the Spring of 2008 in an effort to explain the complexities of the Phill Kline’s efforts to enforce Kansas abortion laws. The video runs 10 minutes.

Secret court orders silencing witnesses, millions of campaign cash flowing to pro-abortion government officials, unexplained judicial delays and mainstream media ignoring relevant facts. The saga of trying to hold the abortion industry accountable to the law continues in Kansas - the nation’s leading late-term abortion capital.

This is the lead of Denis Boyles article published by National Review Online.

Read the full story here.

Kansas – The Epicenter in the Battle for Life

This page provides links to stories that will help you to understand 21^st century Bleeding Kansas. Kansas, as a territory, became known to the nation in the 1850’s as “Bleeding Kansas” during a time that abolitionist and pro-slave forces engaged in guerilla warfare in an effort to usher Kansas into the union as either a slave or free state.

The abolitionists prevailed in Kansas in the 1850’s and Kansas entered the union as a free state in 1861. The battle in Kansas, President Lincoln’s role in supporting the Kansas free state cause and subsequent election as President of the United States served as a precursor to the American Civil War.

Today, Kansas is again a battleground over whether our nation will live up to its promise to respect the dignity of all human life. Kansas is the center of our nation’s abortion wars.

Former Kansas Attorney General and current District Attorney Phill Kline, in an effort to perform his duty and enforce the law, became the first prosecutor in United States history to charge Planned Parenthood with criminal activity. If Kline prevails in his case, Planned Parenthood could lose $350 million plus of annual federal taxpayer funding. Kline also became the first prosecutor ever to obtain copies of abortion records from abortion clinics.

Mr. Kline also led and investigation that resulted in criminal charges against notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller of Wichita. Mr. Tiller is one of the few in the nation who will perform abortions on healthy viable children up to the moment of birth even when the mother is not in threat of any physical injury if the pregnancy continued to term.

For his efforts, Mr. Kline has been maliciously attacked by millions of dollars of abortion monies, abortion rights supporter Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, named a “domestic terrorist” by Planned Parenthood and repeatedly maligned by the two major daily and sister newspapers in Kansas the Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle.

Efforts to communicate the truth about Mr. Kline’s investigation and prosecution to Kansans has been stymied by the profound media bias and deception by these two daily newspapers. Unlike most media markets in the nation – Kansas media is controlled by very few reporters and editors and they have kept Kansans ignorant of the truth.

The links on this page are an effort to get out some of the truth regarding the investigation and the prolonged battle in Kansas that national columnist Bob Novak calls “the fiercest state battle ground in the abortion war.”

It is Difficult to Understand the Battle in Kansas without Understanding the Willingness for those who Support Abortion on Demand to the moment of birth - even when such abortion is against the law.

Former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison was elected Kansas Attorney General on the promise that he would end Phill Kline’s efforts to enforce Kansas abortion laws and with the support of millions of abortion industry money and the support of the Kansas print media establishment. (Morrison has since been forced to resign his office due to scandal). Morrison worked to deliver on his promise and the following video is of Mr. Morrison’s first news conference about Kline’s investigation. Mr. Morrison averages one lie every 16 seconds. Unfortunately, Kansas media repeated the lies as fact for several months.

National Review’s Denis Boyles takes Kline’s abortion battle in Kansas to the streets of Europe - and finds support for Kline.

Read the full story here.

The Man Behind The Curtain:

How the Abortion Industry Has Come to Control Kansas

By Jack Cashill

A written explanation of the Kansas abortion wars. Written in June, 2008.

read full story

Courtesy of Kansans for Life

As Attorney General, Phill Kline presented evidence to a Shawnee County District Court Judge in an effort to obtain a subpoena of abortion records from a Wichita, Kansas clinic operated by Dr. George Tiller. Mr. Tiller, a pathologist by training, is one of the few physicians in the nation to perform late-term abortions on healthy viable fetuses.

After reviewing the evidence, the Judge found probable cause to believe that evidence of crimes were contained in the Tiller clinic files and issued the subpoena. At Mr. Kline’s request, the court would receive the records and then remove patient names in order to protect patient privacy. The patients were not under any investigation, only Mr. Tiller was being investigated.

Kansas law provides that an abortion late-term on a viable child (one that is capable of living away from the mother at the time the abortion is performed (generally the last trimester) can only be performed if “two doctors find the mother would suffer substantial and irreversible damage to a major bodily function” if the abortion is not performed. This law is one of the most strict late-term prohibitions in the nation and the langauge has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).

Regardless, Kansas still led the nation due to Mr. Tiller’s activities. Once Mr. Kline obtained the Tiller clinic records (after names had been removed and a multi-year legal battle in which Mr. Kline and the Judge who issued the subpoena were sued) Mr. Kline hired Dr. Paul McHugh, the long serving Chairman of the School of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University to review the files.

Mr. Kline hired Mr. McHugh because, as later criminal charges demonstrated, Mr. Tiller was performing late-term abortions on viable fetuses for mental health reasons. Mr. Tiller would diagnose “temporary episodic depression,” “adjustment disorder,” and “anxiety disorder.” Mr. Tiller would call such conditions “permanent and irreversible damage to a major bodily function” and perform the abortion. Mr. Kline wanted Dr. McHugh’s opinion regarding whether such conditions were permanent and irreversible and whether the diagnosis was justified by the medical evidence in the file. Mr. McHugh’s opinion on both counts was an emphatic no.

Dr. McHugh in the videotaped interview you can view on this page, states that none of the abortions performed by Mr. Tiller were justified under Kansas law.

Dr. McHugh states that Mr. Tiller would find irreversible damage to a major bodily function of the mother in instances where the mother wanted a late-term abortion because she did not want to have to hire a babysitter in the future so she could attend rock concerts. Another example cited by Dr. McHugh is the desire to go to a prom.

In December of 2006, Mr. Kline, as Attorney General, filed 30 criminal counts against Mr. Tiller for illegal late-term abortion. Before filing the charges, Kansas law required Mr. Kline to present his evidence to another judge, this one in Wichita, where the law required the judge to review the evidence and determine if charges should be filed.

Sedgwick County District Court Judge Eric Yost reviewed Kline’s evidence and found probable cause to believe that Mr. Tiller committed the crimes alleged and the charges were filed. Judge Yost’s finding represents the second judge to issue a probable cause finding regarding Mr. Tiller.

The following day, however, in an extraordinary development, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, on her own and without any notice to Mr. Kline, found a separate traffic court judge who, without reviewing the evidence, dismissed the charges. Ms. Foulston convinced the judge that the Attorney General does not have legal authority to file such charges despite the fact that Kansas law recognizes the Attorney General as the state’s chief law enforcement official.

Mr. Kline filed emergency motions to reinstate the charges arguing that his office had the legal authority and in the alternative that even if such authority did not exist - Mr. Kline stated that he consulted with Ms. Foulston prior to filing the charges and she consented to the AG’s office pursuing the case.

Kansas law is clear that if a District Attorney grants permission to the AG, that the AG has full authority to proceed with a case. Ms. Foulston claimed to have never met with Mr. Kline and denied Mr. Kline’s claims.

Ms. Foulston’s office visitor’s log, however, shows that Mr. Kline did in fact meet with Ms. Foulston for a solid your prior to the filing of charges.

Mr. Kline filed an emergency appeal of the dismissal to the Kansas Supreme Court. Mr. Kline, however, had been defeated in his re-election bid having been savagely attacked and grossly outspent due to millions of dollars of abortion monies supporting his opponent, Democrat Paul Morrison, who promised to end “Kline’s witch hunt” when he became Attorney General.

As Mr. Kline was leaving office, he appointed a special prosecutor to continue his appeal and his efforts to reinstate the Tiller charges.

Upon being sworn in as the state’s 42nd Attorney General, Mr. Morrison promptly fired Mr. Kline’s special prosecutor and then later dismissing Kline’s appeal and ending the charges against Mr. Tiller.

Mr. Morrison then sued Mr. Kline and the judge who originally issued the subpoenas in a remarkable effort to return all evidence of criminal activity by Mr. Tiller back to Mr. Tiller. Mr. Morrison did engaged in a similar lawsuit against Mr. Kline and the same judge in conjunction with Planned Parenthood which was also under investigation by Mr. Kline. Mr. Kline moved from Attorney General to Johnson County District Attorney effectively switching jobs with Mr. Morrison.

Mr. Morrison had been a long serving Republican District Attorney in Johnson County, a Kansas City suburb and the largest county by population in Kansas. Mr. Morrison was recruited to run against Mr. Kline by avidly pro-abortion Democrat Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Mr. Morrison switched his party affiliation to Democrat and then defeated Kline. Mr. Morrison, however, had to vacate his District Attorney’s job mid-term to assume the role of Attorney General. Since Mr. Morrison was originally elected District Attorney as a Republican, Kansas law provided that Republican precinct committeemen and committeewoman would elect his successor to fill out his term - and in early December, 2006 they elected Mr. Kline. Accordingly, on January 8, 2007, Mr. Kline and Mr. Morrison simply switched jobs.

In various legal proceedings, which are still not public, Mr. Morrison worked to stopped Mr. Kline’s investigation while Mr. Kline sought to proceed with the investigation. Mr. Morrison was brought under legal pressure to acknowledge the evidence of crimes and in June of 2007 Mr. Morrison announced he would file 19 criminal charges against Mr. Tiller. Mr. Kline had predicted Mr. Morrison would do so and then seek to settle the charges with a slap on the wrist for Mr. Tiller and that Mr. Morrison would refuse to continue to investigate any of the more substantive charges uncovered by Mr. Kline.

Mr. Kline’s prediction appeared to be correct as Mr. Morrison called his own charges against Mr. Tiller as “hyper-technical,” refused to engage in any further investigation and continued his lawsuits against Mr. Kline and the judge in order to retrieve and return to Mr. Tiller and Planned Parenthood any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Additional extraordinary developments, however, removed Mr. Morrison from the Attorney General’s office. In December of 2007, the Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper broke involved an illicit affair Mr. Morrison had with his former office manager. (read story here)

The office manager, who worked for Mr. Morrison in the District Attorney’s office, remained in that office to work for Mr. Kline after the job switch. Among her allegations, were claims that Mr. Morrison attempted to manipulate the woman in a manner to undermine Kline’s investigation. One week after the story broke, Mr. Morrison announced he would resign as Attorney General.

Kansas law gives the Governor the authority to appoint some one to fill Mr. Morrison’s term and she appointed democrat activist, former trial lawyer and appointed Judge Stephen Six to fill Mr. Morrison’s term. Mr. Six has continued to refuse to engage in any further investigation of the Kansas abortion clinics, despite clear indications of illegality, but appears to have taken a more professional approach to the existing charges against Mr. Tiller. Mr. Tiller is still charged criminally, although the more serious charges filed by Mr. Kline and supported by the McHugh video have not been reinstated.