Concerns Over Evidence in Abortion Doctor Case
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
TOPEKA, Kan. — The newly installed attorney general, Paul Morrison, said yesterday that he’s worried that patient records used in a failed attempt to prosecute the state’s most visible abortion provider may have been copied and are not secure.
But a special prosecutor appointed by Mr. Morrison’s predecessor to handle the case against Dr. George Tiller accused Mr. Morrison of parroting “the same old abortion-industry smoke screen.”
The evidence involving Dr. Tiller includes records of 60 patients from his Wichita clinic, edited to avoid identifying them. The former attorney general, Phill Kline, whom Mr. Morrison ousted in the November election, obtained the documents through a district judge after a court battle that lasted more than two years.
Mr. Kline appointed the special prosecutor December 27 to handle the case against Dr. Tiller, who is among a few doctors in the nation performing late-term abortions. Mr. Kline alleges Dr. Tiller performed illegal late-term procedures, then failed to properly report the details to state health officials. Before he took office, Mr. Morrison promised to fire the special prosecutor, Wichita attorney Don McKinney, saying Mr. McKinney isn’t independent or objective. Mr. McKinney’s contract with the attorney general’s office, dated Friday, said he would be paid $185 an hour, up to $25,000.
Moments after his swearing in, Mr. Morrison told reporters he will demand that Mr. McKinney return any records — and copies he may have made.
“I do have concerns about how many copies have been made of that material and who’s got possession of them,” Mr. Morrison said.
Mr. Morrison is an abortion-rights supporter who switched parties to run as a Democrat last year against Mr. Kline, a Republican and strong abortion opponent. Mr. McKinney was among the leaders of a Democrats for Mr. Kline group during the campaign, and he has protested outside Dr. Tiller’s clinic.
Dr. Tiller’s attorneys contend Mr. Kline’s allegations are groundless. Abortion opponents don’t trust Mr. Morrison to aggressively investigate Dr. Tiller and note that Dr. Tiller helped finance at least $248,000 worth of anti-Kline advertising in 2002 and 2006.
