Section B·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, November 16, 1999
Soldier of God continues battle from behind bars
Continued from page 1A
years have seen the Legislature throw up several legal hurdles. Tiller seems to have cleared them with minimal trouble.
In its 1998 session, the Legislature approved a ban on abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy, provided medical tests showed the fetus could live outside of the mother's body. It allowed an exception if carrying a pregnancy to term would permanently or irreparably damage a major bodily function of the mother.
Later in the same session, lawmakers approved a ban on partial-birth abortions, but with an exception for preserving a major physical or mental function of the mother.
Before the laws were passed, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported no partialbirth procedures. After July 1,1997
— when the laws went into effect
58 partial-birth abortions were reported, all citing the mental health provision. All of those are
thought to have taken place at Tiller's clinic. Statistics collected by KDHE cannot disclose the names of the clinics by law.
In August, a 14-year-old ward of the state of Arizona who said she was raped was cleared to travel to Kansas for an abortion. She was 24 weeks into the pregnancy, just past the deadline for an abortion in Arizona.
Lawmakers argue that Tiller has found a loophole in the laws that the mental health exception allows him to perform partial-birth abortions, even past the 22nd-week barrier
"The law is toothless," said Rep. Tom Klein, D-Wichita and the ranking Democrat on the Kansas House Federal and State Affairs committee, which handles abortion legislation. "We really opened it up."
The incident attracted widespread national attention. Operation Rescue's return to Wichita in June, however, garnered nowhere near the recognition the group received in 1991.
"No one likes fighting over an issue that's so emotional. But where we've tried to make headway is on something for which we think there is a public consensus."
Rep. Tony Powell, R-Wichita and one of the post-viability law's authors,
Tony Powell Republican Representative from Wichita
said what's happened is directly contrary to the legislation's intent.
"We've virtually allowed partial-birth abortion on demand," he said. "it's become the procedure of choice."
Attorney General Carla Stovall has repeatedly declined to prosecute Tiller and has said that no evidence exists proving he has violated the laws as they stand.
But when the Legislature convenes in January, Powell said, strengthening the law likely will come up again.
"It's an issue you'll continue to see on a frequent basis," he said. "It's fatiguing. No one likes fighting over an issue that's so emotional. But where we've tried to make headway is on something for which we think
Will history sustain itself?
"In many ways, it's not a reputation for intolerance so much as a reputation for not being very thoughtful," she said. "If they gave states IQs, most people would see Kansas as somewhere in the 60s."
Kansas always has played the national role of radicalist hotbed, said Angel Kwolek-Folland, associate professor of history.
She said Kansas has been at the center of debates about free speech and church vs. state.
there is a public consensus."
History and reputations aside, whether the passion in the anti-abortion movement can sustain
itself in Kansas is unclear.
Powell said divisions between conservatives have left anti-abortionists weaker. Klein agreed, noting that the different outlooks caused the groups to vote against each other.
Margie Kelly, communications director for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, said anti-abortion activists may be less numerous in front of Kansas clinics, but still had a political voice. She cited the recent U.S. Senate vote to ban partial-birth abortions.
"They've evolved," she said. "Like all movements, they've changed their tactics."
David Gittrich, executive director of Kansans For Life, the state's largest anti-abortion organization, denied his movement had lost any momentum. People who opposed abortion, he said, just aren't active enough.
Clutching onto a cause
Back in her prison cell, Shannon
remains as vocal as she can. She
submits parts of her diary to Prayer
Clutching onto a cause
For more information see www.kansan.com
& Action News, an anti-abortion newspaper. She crochets camouflage-pattern baby booties and sends them to her friends' newborn children. She even recently sent out her Christmas letter, in which her spirit sounds far from exhausted.
In fact, she's as fervent and defiant as ever. Her only regret?
"I probably should have tried harder not to let them take me captive," she said.
But in her heart, she doesn't feel like a prisoner of war. She's still a soldier. She may not be free, but she's far from broken.
"Babies are innocent. Abortionists are murders," she said. "No government can change reality. It's not wrong to stop murder, no matter what it takes to do so."
— Edited by Matt James
— Designed by Kristi Elliott
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