Another Ambulance Visits Tiller's Abortion Clinic in Wichita
by Jody Brown
May 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Pro-lifers in Wichita are reporting that another ambulance visit to a notorious abortionist's clinic on Wednesday "increases suspicion" that another woman may have died from abortion complications.According to reports from both Operation Rescue and Kansans for Life, an ambulance rolled up to Women's Health Care Services -- the Wichita abortion mill operated by George Tiller -- on Wednesday morning shortly after the arrival of a blanket-wrapped woman who "looked white as a sheet." The emergency crew remained on site, rendering medical care for more than 90 minutes, the groups report. It was the third time this year, and the sixth time in the past 16 months, that an ambulance had been summoned to the abortuary.
The ambulance then transported an injured woman from the clinic, presumably to the Wesley Medical Center emergency room. But pro-lifers on the scene report the ambulance drove "quickly past the emergency room entrance and disapper[ed] down the street."
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, describes the events as "highly unusual behavior," and asks several questions: "Why did the ambulance bypass the emergency room and disappear? Why was there a delay in getting the woman to the hospital? [And] why are so many women being maimed and even killed?" A woman died in January at the hospital after being transported there from Tiller's clinic.
"These questions must be answered," Newman continues. "[Tiller's] abortion mill is a proven public health risk."
The Operation Rescue president points out that just two weeks ago, lawmakers in Topeka failed to override the Kansas governor's veto of a measure (HB 2503) that would have provided minimum safety requirements for abortion clinics. Newman lays responsibility for this most recent incident at the feet of Governor Kathleen Sebelius and members of the State House who helped to sustain the veto.
"Sebelius is well aware that these mills are unsafe," Newman says, "but she cares more for protecting her large political campaign contributor, Tiller, and less about protecting the lives of women."
The director of Kansans for Life agrees. "What is needed is a way for the clinics to be closed by the Department of Health," observes Mary Kay Culp, "but again, that was rejected in April when the Kansas House filed to override the governor's veto."
After the failure of that veto override vote, Culp told the Kansas City Star that legislators who voted against the override were one ambulance visit away from regretting their decision. "That ambulance visit, just two weeks later, has now happened," she says.
Culp's group is calling for a full investigation into the incident by the Wichita Police Department and, if necessary, by the state attorney general's office as well. "This obvious public health threat needs to be addressed, and soon," she states.
