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Posted on Tue, Jun. 02, 2009

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Tiller clinic plans to reopen next week

BY STAN FINGER

The Wichita Eagle

Women's Health Care Services, the clinic run by slain abortion provider George Tiller, will resume operations next Monday, a physician who worked with Tiller said Monday.

The clinic at 5107 E. Kellogg will remain closed the rest of this week so staff members and family can mourn Tiller's death, said LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska physician who has come to Tiller's clinic on a rotating basis for more than 10 years.

"What people need to know is... the women's services that we provided for 30 years are not going to change," Carhart said. "The same abortion services will remain available in Wichita."

Tiller, 67, was shot to death just after 10 a.m. Sunday in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher.

Scott Roeder, 51, of Merriam, has been arrested in connection with the shooting, according to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office. He remains at the Sedgwick County Jail pending the formal filing of charges.

Carhart said he drove to Wichita on Sunday night. He met with clinic employees and Tiller's wife and daughters Monday morning.

"It was a really, really good meeting," Carhart said. "It was a chance to go over all the important things and the good things George had done for each of us, and ways that we could appreciate all that he's done for the community and the women of this country.

"His daughters and his wife are doing far better than I would be doing if I just lost my life partner or my mother or father," he said.

Patients who had appointments this week have been notified of the clinic's closing, and other arrangements for their care have been made, Carhart said.

"Starting next Monday we should be back to 100 percent," he said.

Carhart said he and two other out-of-state doctors have been rotating weekly shifts at the clinic, and that will continue.

The two other doctors are licensed to practice medicine in the state of Kansas and have no complaints against them, said Kristi Pankratz, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Healing Arts.

Wichita police have stepped up patrols at the clinic on East Kellogg, said Daryl Ingermanson, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshal's Kansas district. But no U.S. marshals have been assigned to guard Tiller's clinic, he said.

"At this point, we haven't been directed to," Ingermanson said.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday ordered increased security for some abortion clinics and doctors in the wake of Tiller's slaying.

Jeff Carter, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, confirmed the decision "to increase security for a number of individuals and facilities" but would not disclose further details.

Tiller's clinic has been bombed, blockaded and vandalized at various times over the past two decades.

A staff member reported severe vandalism to the clinic to authorities May 2, and a letter threatening Tiller's life was reported May 4.

Authorities on Monday did not respond to inquiries about whether the suspect in custody is linked to the threatening letter.

Bridget Patton, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Kansas City, Mo., said she could neither confirm nor deny that the suspect arrested in connection with Tiller's death had been on any kind of an agency watch list.

"We do have an open investigation into the vandalism at that clinic," Patton said.

Reach Stan Finger at 316-268-6437 or sfinger@wichitaeagle.com.