Dear Friends of Life,

I wanted to take the time to share with you the incredibly fruitful time we had last week.

I spent the week in New York City at Priests for Life Headquarters. I was honored to be given the privilege of addressing the pastoral staff and sharing with them about our work. It was an amazing opportunity to meet new people and create relationships that I believe will help forge alliances that will speed the end of abortion in our nation.

While I was away from Operation Rescue’s own national headquarters in Wichita, our busy staff was notified that the Kansas Board of Healing Arts had filed a disciplinary petition against Ann Kristin Neuhaus for improper late-term abortion referrals that she made to George Tiller. That petition was based on a complaint we filed.

That was exciting news in our office, since we had worked for many years to bring this particular abortionist to justice. (We had a similar disciplinary petition pending against Tiller at the time of his death.) There is a good chance that Neuhaus, who defiantly and improperly provided a rubber stamp on Tiller’s post-viability abortions, will lose her medical license. This story made news all over the country.

Later in the week, our staff learned that another abortionist in California, Andrew Rutland, who we have worked to expose and bring to discipline, was charged by the California Medical Board with one count of homicide in the death of Ying Chen. That young lady died from a botched abortion done by Rutland in a filthy acupuncture clinic in San Gabriel that lacked proper emergency equipment and trained staff.

Rutland had the nerve to lash out at Operation Rescue for our part in trying to alert the Medical Board to his abortion abuses. He accused us of being engaged in a “clandestine political collaboration” with authorities and complained that several abortionists have already been “forced” from the abortion business because of our work.

If he means that we work with the authorities to report illegal activity at abortion clinics and demand enforcement, he is correct! When he says we “forced” abortionists out of work, he really means that we urged medical boards to suspend or revoke their medical licenses. Guilty as charged!

This is an example of how worried abortionists are about Operation Rescue’s peaceful efforts to work though the legal system. They know how effective it is!

In fact, so concerned are abortionists in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the thought of us coming to their town that they staged a protest of Operation Rescue outside of the local Planned Parenthood on Friday. (Ironically, the unorganized band of protesters appeared to passersby to be protesting the abortion clinic!)

They don’t want us investigating Planned Parenthood and late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd, because they know what we know: abortionists do not keep the law and act as though they are above it.

I have often said that we have never found an abortion clinic yet that follows the law.

That is why the abortion cartel fears Operation Rescue.

It is certainly not because we are violent. We are not and the abortionists know it. We have a long track record of peaceful activism within the framework of the law that has resulted in the closure of countless abortion clinics. In order to take the focus off their shoddy abortion practices, they have to attack our reputation.

But we are okay with that because the Bible teaches us in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…”

We know that truth will ultimately win out and that one day, with God’s grace, we will triumph over child-killing in this nation.

So that was our week; a successful trip to encourage other pro-lifers in New York, two abortionists in hot water with the authorities that could result in them being kicked out of the abortion business for good, and a protest against us backfired on the pro-aborts. Praise God!

We could not have accomplished so much without the faithful support of people like you. Our victories are your victories as well.

With your continued support, we can have many more weeks like this – and even better. We have big plans in the works to expose the horrific truth of abortion that can only become reality with your help.

This is August, traditionally the worst month for donations. We call it the “Summer Slump.” With all our projects making such great progress, for the babies’ sake, we cannot afford to cut back on any of them.

We are in Iowa exposing Planned Parenthood’s dangerous remote controlled abortion pill distribution scheme known as “telemed abortions.” We are working in Florida to hasten the prosecution of an abortion clinic worker who killed a baby that was born alive during a botched abortion. Our hard-working staff has important ongoing projects in New Mexico, California, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and more.

Please consider making a special summer gift to Operation Rescue to help us through the “Summer Slump.” You can donate easily and securely online by clicking here.

Thank you in advance for your support of this important, life-saving work.

For the innocent,

Troy Newman
President

Links to news coverage, video of this story below

Topeka, KS – The Kansas Board of Healing Arts set a hearing date yesterday in the case of abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who signed off on late-term abortions for George Tiller at his infamous clinic in Wichita, Kansas. The Board has charged Neuhaus with a range of violations, including failure to provide adequate patient evaluations and shoddy record-keeping for eleven patients who received post-viability abortions by Tiller in 2003.

Neuhaus will face an evidentiary hearing before the Board on January 11, 2011. While Neuhaus faces no criminal charges, Board discipline could include license suspension or revocation.

Kansas law bans abortions after viability, or 22 weeks, unless continuation of the pregnancy endangers the life or presents “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the woman. This law has been interpreted to include mental health exceptions, as long as the condition meets the standard of “substantial and irreversible” impairment to the woman’s mental health. A second referring physician must concur that the abortions meet the strict exceptions in the law.

Between July 22 and November 18, 2003, the dates for the abortions of the eleven patients listed in the Board’s disciplinary petition, Neuhaus was the only person who provided those referrals. Each referral was based on mental health exceptions.

The eleven records contained one diagnosis of “Anxiety Disorder,” three diagnoses of “Acute Stress Disorder,” six instances of “Major Depressive Disorder, Single Episode.” One 13-year old patient who was 25 weeks pregnant had no specific psychiatric diagnosis listed to justify her exception to the Kansas law banning post-viability abortions.

None of those abortions met the standard of “substantial and irreversible” mental health impairments, according to Dr. Paul McHugh, a highly respected expert in psychiatry with Johns Hopkins University Hospital who reviewed the abortion records and submitted an affidavit on his findings at the request of then-Attorney General Phill Kline, whose office was investigating abortion abuses. McHugh later stated in an interview that it was his opinion that information in the records was inadequate to come to any psychiatric diagnosis, and that he could see no case among the files he examined in which a late-term abortion could be justified under Kansas law on psychiatric grounds. (Watch the McHugh Interview)

Since the abortions did not meet the legal standard of presenting “substantial and irreversible” mental health risks, it would have been illegal and unethical for Neuhaus to sign off on them.

“The Board must consider the severity of rubber stamping abortions on viable babies that the laws were designed to protect. It is tantamount to signing a death warrant for these babies that could survive, if birthed. The fact that she did so in such a negligent way makes the needless deaths of these babies even more unconscionable,” said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger, who filed the complaint with the Board that resulted in the disciplinary petition against Neuhaus.

While Tiller’s clinic is now closed and Neuhaus appears to be taking a professional hiatus, Operation Rescue has no doubt that under the right circumstances, Neuhaus will go back to the abortion business in some capacity if she is allowed to keep her medical license. That would present an unacceptable danger to the public.

“The Board has disciplined Neuhaus twice before with half-measures that have failed to persuade her to amend her ways. Her attitude has remained one of defiance. The only thing that will stop her from further victimizing women and babies is full license revocation. We pray that the Board will agree to do that at the January hearing,” said Sullenger.

Read previous story with links to documents
Read AP Story by Roxana Hegeman
Read Story on LifeNews.com
Read Story on LifeSiteNews.com
Story at onenewsnow.com (American Family News)
Watch news coverage from KWCH in Wichita, Kansas:

Wichita, KS — The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts has filed an 11-count petition recommending that abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus be disciplined for negligence and violations of the Healing Arts Act for late-term abortion referrals she made to George Tiller in 2003.

The petition was based on a complaint first filed by Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger in October, 2006, and amended in February, 2007. Sullenger was notified of the petition in a letter from the KSBHA dated July 21, 2010. The letter indicated that the petition had been filed on April 16 of this year and that an evidentiary hearing will soon be scheduled. Neuhaus could face revocation of her medical license.

Sullenger discovered that Tiller used only Neuhaus as the legally-mandated second referring physician for all his post-viability abortions, an arrangement that created a symbiotic financial relationship that appeared to violate the law that prohibited legal or financial affiliation between the abortionist and the second concurring physician.

In 2008, Attorney General Paul Morrison agreed and filed 19 criminal charges against Tiller for violating the unaffiliated physician requirement of the Kansas ban on post-viability abortions. Tiller went to trial on those charges in March, 2009, and was acquitted by a jury of six.

However, in a surprising twist, just minutes after the verdict, the KSBHA announced that it had filed an 11-count disciplinary petition against Tiller based on the same allegations at issue in the criminal trial. In a press statement, the KSBHA told the public that the trial’s outcome would not affect the KSBHA’s plans to discipline Tiller since the Board operated under a different burden of proof than criminal courts.

Operation Rescue was convinced that Tiller was preparing for retirement and would soon close to avoid Board discipline. Tiller associate LeRoy Carhart confirmed at a banquet earlier this year that Tiller had in fact announced his impending retirement to his staff just two weeks before his death.

Aftter Tiller was shot and killed in May, 2009, the KSBHA informed Sullenger that the case against Tiller was closed. Operation Rescue was among the first to denounce Tiller’s murder.

The Neuhaus complaint is based on the same eleven patient files that were the basis for the Tiller disciplinary petition. Patients range in age from 10-18 years old with gestational ages between 25 and 29 weeks. All eleven patients were referred to Tiller for post-viability abortions based on mental health concerns between July and November, 2003.

Information about the patients’ abortions was gathered from files produced under subpoena at the request of former Attorney General Phill Kline, who fought a 3-year legal battle with the Kansas Supreme Court over access to the incriminating abortion records. Identities of the women are protected and were never sought.

Neuhaus came under Board discipline in 1999 and again in 2001 for medical abuses, which included violations of consent laws, shoddy record-keeping, and lack of proper patient care. The KSBHA declared at that time that Neuhaus was a “danger to the public” and limited her ability to practice medicine.

In the current petition, Neuhaus is accused of the following in each of the eleven counts against her:

• Failure to perform adequate patient interview
• Failure to obtain adequate patient history
• Failure to adequately evaluate the “behavioral or functional impact” of the patient’s condition and symptoms
• Failure to meet the standard of care to the degree of constituting ordinary negligence
• Failure to keep adequate medical records

“This petition is verification that we were correct about our allegations that Neuhaus and Tiller were operating outside the law. It is also evidence that the efforts to work peacefully within the legal system that have been employed by us for over two decades are effective at exposing abortion abuses and bringing the perpetrators to justice. The system isn’t perfect, but it does work,” said Sullenger.

“We wish that this petition had been filed years ago, when our complaint was first made, but are thankful for the Board’s willingness to pursue this matter against an abortionist who has been illegally operating for years in a manner that has endangered the lives of women and cost the lives of viable babies that the laws of Kansas were enacted to protect.”

Read KSBHA letter to Sullenger
Read the KSBHA petition against Neuhaus