Kansas

The trial of the man accused of fatally shooting late-term abortionist George Tiller was set to begin Friday – on the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to legalize abortion nationwide.

Lawyers are expected to begin making their cases to the jury of eight men and six women that will be deciding the fate of 51-year-old Scott Roeder, who has not denied shooting Tiller on May 31, 2009, as the abortion doctor was attending service at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.

Prosecutors believe Roeder should be convicted of first-degree murder and be handed a life sentence. more >>

Prosecutors against the accused killer of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller filed on Monday a motion in an attempt to keep abortion out of the trial.

The trial of Scott Roeder was delayed to Wednesday.

Prosecutors filed the motion after Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert said he would consider giving the jury the option of convicting Roeder on voluntary manslaughter. more >>

The man accused of killing late-term abortionist George Tiller won’t be allowed to use the “necessity defense” when he goes on trial next month, a district judge in Wichita, Kan., ruled this week.

While Judge Warren Wilbert said he would “leave the door open” for Scott Roeder to present evidence and arguments showing that his slaying of Tiller was done out of belief that he was saving the lives of fetuses, he will not allow Roeder to claim that he broke the law to prevent a greater harm.

The necessity defense is not recognized under Kansas law, the judge said Tuesday. more >>

The head of a pro-life group in Wichita said his group is interested in buying the clinic of slain late-term abortion provider George Tiller and turning it into a place that honors life rather than one that takes life away.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which is operating at the former site of an abortion clinic it purchased and closed, said he has brought up the idea of purchasing Tiller's clinic with a few board members but nothing has been confirmed.

He said that the group might turn the Women’s Health Care Services clinic – the site of Tiller's operations for decades – into a memorial museum for babies. The activist group has long tried to shut down the Wichita clinic. more >>

The Kansas-based abortion clinic of the late George Tiller will be "permanently closed," effective immediately, his family announced Tuesday.

In a statement released by their attorney, family members of the late-term abortion doctor said they will be "ceasing operation of the clinic and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic."

Tiller had run the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita from 1975 until last week, when he was shot and killed during a Sunday service at his Lutheran church. more >>

Opponents of abortion, fearful of a public backlash, have strongly denied any connections to the suspected killer of the nation’s most prominent abortion provider.

Pro-life news site, LifeNews.com, ran a headline that read, “George Tiller Shooting Suspect Caught, No Connection with Pro-Life Groups,” while Dr. Richard Land, a spokesperson for the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, denounced the killing of the abortion provider as “unbiblical, unchristian and un-American.”

Across America, pro-life groups scrambled to distance themselves from Scott Roeder, 51, a Kansas man suspected of killing late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller Sunday morning. more >>