A health center offering abortions is set to open up in Wichita, Kan., this week — four years after the building’s former owner was gunned down by an abortion opponent.
Renamed the South Wind Women’s Center, the building will be opening with tightened security. But the new operators’ tactics are different. While former owner Dr. George Tiller was known for providing late-term abortions, the new clinic will only do procedures through the fourteenth week of pregnancy. And while many of Tiller’s patients came in for abortions, Spokeswoman Kerry Townsend Jacob said that patients visiting South Wind will receive a full range of women’s health services, from pelvic exams to regular check-ups.
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The building was the site of constant protests during Tiller’s tenure. It was shuttered soon after the doctor was shot in the head during church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder. Roeder is now serving out a life sentence in jail.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Pro-choice activists stand outside George Tiller's abortion clinic to counter a planned appearance by the Operation Rescue anti-abortion group.
The new operators claim they are also the target of attacks. The building was purchased by the Trust Women Foundation, an organization founded by Tiller’s former colleague Julie Burkhart.
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Burkhart told the Kansas City Star that protestors have gathered outside her house. A pastor reportedly stuck a poster with the words, “Where’s your church?” on the woman’s front lawn.
“I took it as meaning, ‘We’re going to get a gunman and track you down at your church,’ ” similar to what Roeder did to Tiller, Burkhart told the Star.
KWCH12
The South Wind Women's Center, a new abortion clinic, is scheduled to open in Wichita this week. This will be the first clinic in town since former abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was killed nearly four years ago.
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Spokeswoman Kerry Jacob said that the South Wind Women’s Center staff is prepared for whatever dangers may lie in store for them.
“These are extraordinary women who care passionately about the women of Wichita and are willing to go to work every day,” Jacob said. “They understand what they’re getting in to.”
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Jefferson Siegel/For New York Daily News
Pro-choice activists hold a vigil for Dr. Tiller after his death in 2009.
The clinic will have one full-time local doctor and two part-time out-of-state doctors. Jacob said that several women have already expressed interest in booking appointments at the clinic.
If the clinic opens again, abortion opponent groups have said that they are planning to picket.
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Members of Operation Rescue, a Christian activist organization that opposes abortion, want to see the clinic shut down for good. Group president Troy Newman said that he doesn’t accept South Wind’s branding as a comprehensive women’s health services center, pointing to other centers in Wichita that provide women’s health services.
“An abortion clinic under any other name is still an abortion clinic,” Newman told the New York Daily News. “It’s just another filthy, dirty chop shop. Ladies aren’t going to go there, only desperate women.”
“We will use all the tools available to us to shut them down,” Newman said.
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