Abortion-rights opponents in Sedgwick County, Kan., on Friday plan to submit a petition to convene a grand jury to investigate the death of a woman who died two days after receiving an abortion at the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, Kan., the Wichita Eagle reports. Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old Texas resident Down syndrome who was 28 weeks pregnant, died on Jan. 13, 2005, after receiving an abortion at the clinic, which is owned by physician George Tiller. The autopsy said Gilbert died "as a result of complications of a therapeutic abortion," adding that the most likely reason for her death was sepsis, which might have been caused by the pneumonia that she had when she underwent the procedure (Finger, Wichita Eagle, 4/5). The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, which regulates physicians, in December 2005 cleared Tiller and his staff of misconduct in Gilbert's death. However, the petition alleges that the clinic committed violations, including involuntary manslaughter, mistreatment of a dependent adult, failure to report abuse of children and violation of abortion-related statutes. Supporters of the petition say that Gilbert did not have the mental capacity to consent to either the sex or the abortion (Hegeman, AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4/4). Tiller in the past has been the target of violence, and the clinic previously has been bombed and its entrances repeatedly blocked (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/23/01).

Petition Requirements, Reaction
Kansas law allows a grand jury to be formed within 60 days of a petition filed with a state district court if the petition has at least 100 more signatures than 2% of the number of people in the county who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election. According to Sedgwick County Commissioner Bill Gale, the figure for the county would be 2,520 signatures. Troy Newman -- president of Operation Rescue, a group that opposes abortion rights -- estimated that the group has collected more than 6,000 signatures among county residents to convene the grand jury for the case (Wichita Eagle, 4/5). If the signatures are determined to be valid, a county judge would determine if the petition is in correct form to convene a grand jury, Whitney Watson, spokesperson for the Kansas Attorney General's Office, said. "The deeper we looked into this case, the more we realized there was a lack of justice -- a travesty that has been committed," Newman said. Nicole Corcoran, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), said, "We trust the Board of Healing Arts conducted a thorough investigation in this matter and we have no further comment." Tiller's office declined to comment, the AP/Star-Telegram reports (AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4/4).

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