By Casey Moore

(EP News)--George Tiller, 67, will be tried on March 23, 2009 in Wichita, Kan. for performing abortions on late term pregnancies.

“I am at least happy that this case is going forward,” said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. Under Kansas law, abortion is illegal after 22 weeks of pregnancy, unless a woman’s health is jeopardized. In order to prove a late term abortion acceptable, two physicians have to sign off declaring the mother’s health is endangered by her pregnancy.

At issue in the Tiller case is whether the signature of Ann Kristin Neuhaus, the second doctor to sign off on 19 abortions, is legitimate. She is accused of having financial and other relationships with Tiller that makes her approval of Tiller’s abortions not truly independent. If Tiller is found guilty, each abortion illegally performed could be punished by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Tiller has been the subject of controversy for years. In 1986, his clinic was bombed. In 1991, it was blockaded for six weeks. In 1993, an abortion opponent shot him in both arms. He has been investigated twice by grand juries that have found no cause to charge him with crimes. In 2006, Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline charged Tiller with illegally performing late-term abortions. The charges were dropped because of a technicality about jurisdiction.

Troy Newman, president of the antiabortion activist group Operation Rescue, is an evangelical minister and former Californian who said he moved to Kansas six years ago with the goal of putting Tiller out of business. Newman said his group had provided some information that helped lead to the latest charges against Tiller. "Part of what we do is investigations," Newman said. "We find stuff out and I feed the information to the prosecutors."

On March 23, Tiller will face a jury of six, not twelve, as his attorney Dan Monnat requested. Assistant Attorney General Barry Disney expects the trial to last only two days, and he will put on two or three witnesses to prove that Tiller and Neuhaus had a financial and legal affiliation that was prohibited by the laws of Kansas. Disney also told the jury pool that he was required to prove five elements to gain conviction of Tiller, and that the defense agrees on the truth of four elements and will not dispute them. “Kansas pretrial publicity rules discourage specific comment on trial evidence. But we can say this: Dr. Tiller is innocent. We expect the prosecution's evidence and any defense evidence to make that very, very clear,” says Monnat.

Results of a poll regarding the Tiller case were close. Pollsters asked: “Do you think abortionist George Tiller will be found guilty?” The percentage of people voting yes was 36.46. The percentage of people voting no was 38.35. Finally, 25.18 percent said it was too soon to tell. Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri said, "We're not worried about the outcome, because we follow the law, always have.