Grand Jury: Late Term Abortion Not A Crime

— -- WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas grand jury declined Wednesday to indict one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers, saying it did not find enough evidence to indict him on any crime related to abortion laws.

In a written statement, grand jurors said that unless the Legislature amends state law and provides clearer guidelines, it is unlikely any investigation will provide a basis to indict Dr. George Tiller.

The panel said it reached its decision after a six-month investigation that included hearing witness testimony and reviewing documents and medical records of patients of Women's Health Care Services.

Grand jurors said they believed the state Legislature made an earnest attempt to limit late-term abortions by including the words "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" to prohibit the abortion of a viable fetus unless two doctors find the abortion was necessary.

"Our perception is that these words were used to insure that only the gravest of circumstances would allow the abortion of a viable fetus," according to the grand jury statement. "However, the medical records reviewed by this jury revealed a number of questionable late-term abortions with regard to the diagnosis of 'substantial and irreversible impairment."'

But jurors wrote that as the current law has been written -- and interpreted by the Kansas Supreme Court -- late-term abortions will continue for many circumstances that as a matter of common interpretation do not meet the definition.

"Unless, and until the state Legislature is willing to amend the present statutes and provide clearer and more definitive guidelines regarding 'substantial and irreversible impairment,' or impose new or additional statutory limitations on the ability of a woman to obtain an abortion of a viable fetus, we doubt that any investigation into the practices and procedures of Dr. Tiller and the Women's Health Care Services will yield an outcome that will provide any basis for indictment," the grand jury wrote.