Neb. abortion doctor to expand his practice
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Abortion doctor to expand practice
He had worked with Kansas doctor who was killed last May
The Associated Press
updated 4:18 p.m. MT, Fri., Dec . 4, 2009
OMAHA, Neb. - An abortion doctor said Friday that he will likely perform more late-term procedures at his Nebraska practice to meet the demand left when a Kansas physician was shot and killed earlier this year.
The move could solidify Nebraska's and Dr. LeRoy Carhart's place at the center of the fight over abortion because he's trying to offer the late-term procedures his friend Dr. George Tiller offered in Wichita before his death.
Carhart has considered opening a clinic in Kansas, but said he thinks expanding his practice in the Omaha suburbs may be the best option because it is easier for patients to get flights into Omaha than Wichita.
He said his lawyers have told him he's not breaking state law by performing late-term abortions in Nebraska, but he hasn't made a final decision on the clinic's future.
"We have not given up on the plan," Carhart said. "But we feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to do everything in Nebraska that we could do in Kansas."
The Nebraska attorney general's office declined to comment Friday on Carhart's clinic and what state law allows.
Staff now trained
Earlier this year, Carhart said he had not performed any abortion past the 22nd week of pregnancy at his own clinic because he never trained his staff to do them. He said Friday that his staff in Bellevue has now been trained to handle abortions later in pregnancy.
Carhart said he is performing one late-term abortion every eight to 10 days in Bellevue, but he didn't say how late in pregnancy those abortions were performed. If he decides to do more late-term abortions in Bellevue, Carhart said he would remodel his clinic to handle a higher number of them.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue praised the news that Carhart may not open a clinic in Kansas. Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said he considers it a victory that Tiller's clinic has remained closed since his death.
Now Newman plans to continue putting pressure on Carhart so he won't be able to offer the late-term abortion service Tiller provided.
"His abortion clinic is one of the ones that we desperately want to close," Newman said.
Operation Rescue and other groups have staged protests outside Carhart's clinic in recent months, and the number of protests has increased.
The protests outside Carhart's facility are similar to what regularly took place outside Tiller's clinic, which concerns the National Abortion Federation.
The federation works with local and federal law enforcement to track incidents outside clinics and ensure protesters aren't allowed to commit crimes that might escalate into violence, said President Vicki Saporta, whose group represents more than 400 abortion providers, including Carhart.
"We certainly are concerned about the security of Dr. Carhart and the rest of our members," said Saporta, whose group also advises doctors on security.
Before Tiller's death May 31, Carhart performed late-term abortions at Tiller's clinic although he's run his own clinic in Bellevue since 1985. Tiller's clinic was one of only a few facilities in the country that performed third-trimester abortions.
Neb. limits stricter than Kansas
Carhart said he really doesn't expect another legal fight because of the changes he's contemplating at his practice.
"We're not going to do anything that even approaches illegality," Carhart said.
Nebraska law does not allow an abortion if the fetus is considered viable, or able to survive outside the womb. Kansas law allows abortions on viable fetuses after the 21st week if carrying the pregnancy to term would endanger the mother's life or cause a "substantial and irreversible impairment" of a major bodily function. Courts have interpreted a "major bodily function" to include mental health.
Carhart twice has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge bans on a procedure its opponents call partial-birth abortion. In 2000, the high court ruled for Carhart in striking down a Nebraska law because it lacked an exception to preserve a woman's health and encompassed a more common abortion method.
He filed a lawsuit in 2003 challenging the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In 2007, the high court upheld the federal ban on the procedure, which generally was used to end pregnancies in the second and third trimester.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34281066/ns/us_news-life/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2009 MSNBC.com
He had worked with Kansas doctor who was killed last May
The Associated Press
updated 4:18 p.m. MT, Fri., Dec . 4, 2009
OMAHA, Neb. - An abortion doctor said Friday that he will likely perform more late-term procedures at his Nebraska practice to meet the demand left when a Kansas physician was shot and killed earlier this year.
The move could solidify Nebraska's and Dr. LeRoy Carhart's place at the center of the fight over abortion because he's trying to offer the late-term procedures his friend Dr. George Tiller offered in Wichita before his death.
Carhart has considered opening a clinic in Kansas, but said he thinks expanding his practice in the Omaha suburbs may be the best option because it is easier for patients to get flights into Omaha than Wichita.
He said his lawyers have told him he's not breaking state law by performing late-term abortions in Nebraska, but he hasn't made a final decision on the clinic's future.
"We have not given up on the plan," Carhart said. "But we feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to do everything in Nebraska that we could do in Kansas."
The Nebraska attorney general's office declined to comment Friday on Carhart's clinic and what state law allows.
Staff now trained
Earlier this year, Carhart said he had not performed any abortion past the 22nd week of pregnancy at his own clinic because he never trained his staff to do them. He said Friday that his staff in Bellevue has now been trained to handle abortions later in pregnancy.
Carhart said he is performing one late-term abortion every eight to 10 days in Bellevue, but he didn't say how late in pregnancy those abortions were performed. If he decides to do more late-term abortions in Bellevue, Carhart said he would remodel his clinic to handle a higher number of them.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue praised the news that Carhart may not open a clinic in Kansas. Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said he considers it a victory that Tiller's clinic has remained closed since his death.
Now Newman plans to continue putting pressure on Carhart so he won't be able to offer the late-term abortion service Tiller provided.
"His abortion clinic is one of the ones that we desperately want to close," Newman said.
Operation Rescue and other groups have staged protests outside Carhart's clinic in recent months, and the number of protests has increased.
The protests outside Carhart's facility are similar to what regularly took place outside Tiller's clinic, which concerns the National Abortion Federation.
The federation works with local and federal law enforcement to track incidents outside clinics and ensure protesters aren't allowed to commit crimes that might escalate into violence, said President Vicki Saporta, whose group represents more than 400 abortion providers, including Carhart.
"We certainly are concerned about the security of Dr. Carhart and the rest of our members," said Saporta, whose group also advises doctors on security.
Before Tiller's death May 31, Carhart performed late-term abortions at Tiller's clinic although he's run his own clinic in Bellevue since 1985. Tiller's clinic was one of only a few facilities in the country that performed third-trimester abortions.
Neb. limits stricter than Kansas
Carhart said he really doesn't expect another legal fight because of the changes he's contemplating at his practice.
"We're not going to do anything that even approaches illegality," Carhart said.
Nebraska law does not allow an abortion if the fetus is considered viable, or able to survive outside the womb. Kansas law allows abortions on viable fetuses after the 21st week if carrying the pregnancy to term would endanger the mother's life or cause a "substantial and irreversible impairment" of a major bodily function. Courts have interpreted a "major bodily function" to include mental health.
Carhart twice has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge bans on a procedure its opponents call partial-birth abortion. In 2000, the high court ruled for Carhart in striking down a Nebraska law because it lacked an exception to preserve a woman's health and encompassed a more common abortion method.
He filed a lawsuit in 2003 challenging the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In 2007, the high court upheld the federal ban on the procedure, which generally was used to end pregnancies in the second and third trimester.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34281066/ns/us_news-life/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2009 MSNBC.com
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i saw a story about this on cbs news tonight. he said he takes alternate routes to and from work now in an attempt to protect himself...i hope its enough...
some redneck protester was on there being interviewed saying he is going to go to hell like hitler, as if this guy can know that...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Wrong !!!!! Pro lifers didn' get Tiller. What that guy did was wrong and did that on his own accord and not one Pro- lifer is on record saying that they are glad what happened to Tiller. But let me ask you this.. Do think it's ok for a doctor to perform a late term abortion if there is not a viable reason such as the mothers life ? Or do you think for whatever reason is ok ?
yes and yes.
sure, they won't let the pro-lifers that agreed with tiller's murder on air, so no wonder we don't have anyone "on record." but there have been enough murders of doctors to establish the fact that this is a movement that attracts and apparently supports violent personalities. you never heard of health care reform activists killing anyone. it's a phenomenon pretty exclusive to the pro-life movement. once again, i ask of you defenders of the right... give me an example where political violence has been used in america for any cause other than right-wing religious ones? nobody has been able to do it yet...
1) Black conservative beaten up by SEIU union thugs at a town hall meeting.
2) Obamacare protester had his finger bitten off by an Obamacare supporter at a town hall meeting.
3) Anti-abortion protester shot dead by someone who disagreed with him.
While I understand that not all "pro-life" individuals are exactly alike, you are viewing this issue from a bubble and conveniently omiting the history of the movement.
Pro-life groups have for years issued hit-lists of abortion providers, including their names, pictures, birthdates, social security numbers, work addresses, home addresses, licence plate numbers, age, height, weight, phone numbers, etc. They have even included this information about the family members, friends, colleagues, dentists, etc. of the abortion providers. Their images have been presented as wanted posters, surrounded by graphics of dripping blood and (supposed) fetal parts. These have often been accompanied by language comparing abortion providers to Nazi "baby butchers" and excerpts from the Bible meant to support the idea that killing abortion providers is the moral thing to do. And when someone on the list is murdered, their names are crossed out like a task completed on a to-do list, with names being changed to gray for those who were merely wounded. These pro-murder messages are only currently tamed because of lawsuits, which have made pro-lifers more careful of what they go on record as saying.
But the fact is that Dr. George Tiller has always been at the top of the hit list. And now his name is crossed out, with a headline that reads "Tiller the Killer Aborted!". And the person who killed him has stated that he did it in support of the pro-life cause.
So it's totally accurate to say that pro-lifers killed Tiller and that factions of the larger pro-life movement support violence. The fact that your movement is not united in its anti-abortion methods is an internal problem, not the fault of those describing it from the outside.
9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
8/5/16 Fenway, 8/7/16 Fenway
EV Solo: 6/16/11 Boston, 6/18/11 Hartford,
but wait, prfoclefts where is your source to say no pro life people endorsed this act? the murderer said he did it for the cause...the articles i saw said that the pro-life movement was "devestated" by the loss of tiller....kind of like how the russians were devestated by the death of stalin...when people die you say nice things about them. there were crocodile tears and secret rejoicing in both cases in my opinion...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
and not everyone thought that what dr tiller did was wrong,
i am dr george tiller.
http://iamdrtiller.com/
But the fact is that Dr. George Tiller has always been at the top of the hit list. And now his name is crossed out, with a headline that reads "Tiller the Killer Aborted!". And the person who killed him has stated that he did it in support of the pro-life cause.
So it's totally accurate to say that pro-lifers killed Tiller and that factions of the larger pro-life movement support violence. The fact that your movement is not united in its anti-abortion methods is an internal problem, not the fault of those describing it from the outside.
[/quote]
First: Im not part of any movement. I just don't agree with a woman getting an abortion or late term unless it's for the health of the mother.Why not just give it up for adoption? There are many women who can't have children that want to adopt.
2nd:I don't agree with what some of these pro lifers do as far as what you mentioned above. I think that they have a right to be heard but enciting violence is wrong PERIOD !!!! Where did you see this So called Hitlist that you speak of with Tillers name on it ?
3rd: I agree with you to an extent that there are probably are some that celebrated Tillers death,but I doubt all share the same feeling. I don't
Where's your source that says"they did "?
Looks like aerial just did....
That was an assumption on my part, but you sure defend pro-lifers like you are one. Are you saying you're not pro-life?
Regarding adoption:
1. The question itself, being rhetorical, demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of just how complicated and serious the decision to have an abortion is.
2. There are many children who are available for adoption.
Well some of us remember these lists from when they were still available in their original form. The main one is called the Nuremberg Files, and has been documented by court cases. Here's the currrent, cleaned-up-for-legal-reasons, version:
http://www.christiangallery.com/atrocity/aborts.html
http://www.christiangallery.com/atrocity/tiller.html
Here's a copy, with the info removed, of a page from the former version:
http://www.cyberussr.com/adg/hitlist-san/Xxxxxxxx.htm
And here's a current website for a well-known anti-abortion group, which specifically says (among many other things), "Thank you Scott Roeder for stopping Babykilling abortionist George Tiller from murdering any more innocent children.":
http://www.armyofgod.com/index.html
I agree.
i've never heard of any of these incidents. i don't suppose you have any links to show that these things actually happened?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
also that first one happened in my hometown and that protestor PROVOKED the person who attacked him. he was blocking people from entering a townhall meeting giving out hate speech pamphlets containing lies about healthcare reform and someone beat his ass on their way out due to what he said to them earlier in the day. he walked away from the scene then the next day he showed up on tv in a wheelchair and neckbrace all lawyered up when in the video he was clearly not even struck in the head or neck...please don't make me search for the news articles and videos... i really do not feel like embarrassing aerial today...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
you said Violence ....now you want to change it to murder...can't you see that violence happens on both sides?...
Since when did handing out pins or stickers that say "Don't Tread on Me" turn into a provoking hate speech?...and even if he was saying something they didn't like, do you think because he was a "tea bagger" he has no right to free speech?....are you saying if we don't like what someone is saying it's okay to just kick there ass?... I watched the video and it is impossible to see exactly were they hit him but there were witnesses...I don't know if you have heard of whip lash but some times it takes a day or more to set in...
i think this pretty much sums it up here ... correlating victory due to his murder
good point px....i was going to say something similar to that before i lost my cool earlier...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."