Dear Friend of Life,

The Summer Olympics will begin very soon in Beijing, China. As you are probably aware, China’s “one child per family” policy has led to forced abortions on an unprecedented scale. Additional babies, or those with defects are aborted - whether the family likes it or not! Because the families depend on their sons to provide for them in their old age, girl babies are often aborted or left to die.

As the attention of the world turns to China for the Summer Olympics, God has opened an amazing door for us to send a missionary to Beijing to help expose China’s draconian abortion policies.

While there, our missionary will work with a Christian ministry in China that goes to the hospitals and combs the streets looking for babies that have survived forced abortions or who have been “thrown away” due to birth defects or their sex. These courageous men and women risk their freedom - and even their lives - to care for those precious babies.

We can’t tell you who the missionary is or the name of the brave group of Christians in China for safety reasons.

Our missionary’s expenses, including travel, will be $6,000. We must raise this in the next week in order for our missionary to fulfill the call that God has placed on a willing heart.

In addition, our missionary has sought the Lord diligently, and feels called to lead a prayer vigil that could capture the attention of the world during the Olympics. In China, where Christians are routinely persecuted, this is indeed something that could help convict the world of the love of God and the sanctity of life.

This is not the first brave and selfless act in which our missionary has participated. We have learned that when God leads this individual, amazing things can be expected!

But in order for all this to happen, we need to raise money. It would be very much appreciated if you could make a donation of any amount to this heroic mission trip. (Just click here to donate.)

This is a once in a life-time opportunity to be a part of an amazing outreach to a nation in bondage to the wickedness of abortion and infanticide, and draw attention of the world to this injustice.

Won’t you please help? Simply CLICK HERE to donate or visit our web site for other giving options.

For the glory of God,
Troy Newman
President, Operation Rescue

Wichita, KS – Operation Rescue has released the most up-to-date list of abortion clinic workers employed by George R. Tiller at his late-term abortion mill, Women’s Health Care Services, in Wichita, Kansas. The list includes twenty-two people, including three out-of-state abortionists who travel to Kansas to do abortions, including late-term procedures that are illegal in their home states.

“We are releasing this list of abortion workers in order to expose them to the community, and to elicit prayers for their repentance,” said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger.

“As Christians, we are concerned about them as people, and understand that sometimes it takes ‘tough love’ to help someone see the destructive path they are taking, so that they can make the changes necessary to have a better life,” Sullenger said. “Most people who quit the abortion industry tell us that they are relieved to be out of that business, and say that leaving improved their lives.”

Last week, Operation Rescue released the name of a physician who provided the second required signature for Tiller’s post-viability abortions. Within hours, he and an associate, who was also providing that service for Tiller, voluntarily agreed to quit doing so “effective immediately.”

Tiller currently faces 19 criminal charges for illegal abortions done without the signature of an unaffiliated physician, when he and abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, collaborated to form what amounted to an illegal late-term abortion racket. Neuhaus has since quit working for Tiller.

“We began an intensive campaign exposing clinic workers and businesses that associate with Tiller in 2004,” said Sullenger. “Since then, over a dozen workers have quit and at least 25 businesses have stopped helping Tiller keep his abortion business open. There’s no doubt that public exposure helps these people do the right thing.”

Last week, Operation Rescue relaunched their Abortion Collaborator Project. In addition to the physicians who quit signing off on Tiller’s late-term abortions, OR relased a list to 30 businesses that provide services for Tiller and his abortion mill.

Today’s abortion worker list is in the form of a photo gallery with captions telling the public a little about each worker.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW. (Thumbnails cut off the photos. Click the thumbnails to view the full photos.)

Concerns of injustice renewed as Judge Clark V. Owens prepares to issue rulings in the criminal case against late-term abortionist George Tiller

By Cheryl Sullenger

Wichita, KS – Judge Clark V. Owens, who will oversee abortionist George Tiller’s criminal trial, if the case proceeds, recently received low ratings by a group of Wichita attorneys. Owens was among several judges running for re-election that were rated by members of the Wichita Bar Association.

Last week, Owens announced that he would soon issue a ruling on a motion filed by Tiller as to the constitutionality of the late-term abortion law under which Tiller has been charged with 19 violations.

“This is a serious ruling that Judge Owens is about to make in the Tiller case. However, based on his low ratings by local attorneys, we don’t believe that he has exhibited the fairness or trust that is required of a judge who is ruling on such a controversial case where corruption is already suspected,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

Less than half of attorneys rating Owens – 46% — strongly agreed that Owens was ethical, and only 34% strongly agreed that he is fair.

While 42% strongly agreed that Owens demonstrates a good knowledge of the law, only 30% felt as strongly that he applies the law appropriately.

Owens also received low marks for being punctual and demonstrating a fair work ethic. Only 19% of those who responded strongly agreed that he demonstrated those qualities.

“Because of the long frustration with the lack of enforcement of Kansas abortion laws, the public needs to be reassured that the judge overseeing Tiller’s criminal prosecution is one known for fairness, ethics, and the appropriate application of the rule of law,” said Newman. “Owens is not that judge.”

Third time may not be the charm

Owens is the third judge of record on the Tiller case. Judge Gregory Waller, who received the third worst ranking from the local attorneys’ group, was the first responsible for the case. Operation Rescue released documents showing that Tiller’s attorneys and close associates had made maximum contributions to one of Waller’s political campaigns. The following day, Waller was off the case.

As presiding judge, Waller appointed Judge Anthony Powell, who recused himself from hearing the case based on negative comments he had made about Tiller while serving in the Kansas Legislature over ten years earlier.

“I have no doubt about my ability to rule impartially in this case,” Powell said at the time, adding that because those comments raised even the appearance of partiality, he decided to step down from the case.

Powell received significantly higher marks from attorneys than Owens and Waller.

Criminal case on hold

Owens has put the Tiller criminal case on hold since he heard oral arguments on November 2, 2007, in Tiller’s motion to have the second physician requirement in the Kansas ban on post-viability abortions declared unconstitutional. At that time, Owens indicated that his decision would take “several weeks.”

“It has been over eight months, and only now that the grand jury has returned without indictment does Owens feel it is time to rule,” said Newman. “There has been far too much impropriety related to Tiller cases for us to feel easy about that.”

Owens has indicated that he will issue a ruling before July 29, when a status conference is scheduled and a “firm” trial date is expected to be set.

Can Owens apply the law ethically and with fairness?

Just last week, two physicians stopped providing the second signature for Tiller’s post-viability abortions after Operation Rescue released information about them and the medical clinic where they were seeing Tiller’s patients.

“Just because Tiller has a hard time finding anyone to approve of his late-term abortions, that certainly does not mean the law is over-burdensome. It means that the law works,” said Newman. “That law was enacted to protect viable babies from abortion except under the most rare and dire medical emergencies. The fact that Tiller can’t find doctors to legally concur that these abortions are medically necessary confirms that he is trying to do abortions outside the scope of the law that no reputable physician wants to have anything to do with. The problem has been trying to find anyone who will actually enforce the law when it is broken.”

“Upholding the second physician requirement will not present an undue burden to anyone except those who are trying to illegally abort viable babies for trivial reasons,” said Newman. “If Kansas is considered the Late-Term Abortion Capital now, removing that safeguard in the law will only open the floodgates.”

Abortionists already regularly visit Kansas in order to financially profit from doing expensive late-term abortions that are illegal in their home states. Most of the late-term abortions in Kansas are done on out-of-state women seeking to avoid abortion laws where they live. This condition exists not because Kansas lacks abortion laws, but because those laws are not properly enforced.

“We are concerned about Judge Owens’ ability to appropriately apply the existing law ethically and with fairness,” said Newman. “The low rating Owens received from local attorneys only compounds that concern. This should be an open and shut case, but given the circumstances, we will be very surprised if the criminal charges against Tiller survive the next few days.”

Security guards block Truth Truck from leaving parking lot, help abortion-bound women see the horrific truth about abortion

St. Louis, MO – Operation Rescue’s Truth Truck, driven by Mark Gietzen, caused a stir the St. Louis Planned Parenthood abortion mill on Saturday, July 19, 2008, when he drove onto their parking lot and parked near the front door as abortion-bound women entered the facility.

Security guards for Planned Parenthood immediately rushed to close the parking lot’s iron gates to prevent the Truth Truck from leaving while they summoned the police. But this action turned out for the good, allowing the Truth Truck to witness to the women in the parking lot for longer than it would have otherwise.

Gietzen was convinced that his actions were completely legal.

“They did not have the proper signage to keep me off the lot,” he said.

Apparently the police agreed. Officers made the Planned Parenthood security guards open the gate and allow the Truth Truck to leave as over 300 pro-lifers cheered.

“You would think if Planned Parenthood didn’t want their patients to see the Truth Truck, they would have let Mark drive on, instead of holding him hostage,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “By locking the Truth Truck into their parking lot, they were accomplishing our work for us!”

Gietzen and the Truth Truck were in St. Louis to attend the Walls Of Jericho Event hosted by the Defenders of the Unborn.

VIEW MORE PHOTOS

[Thanks to Tracy Mathews for her photos and on site report.]

Dear Friends of Life,

Phill Kline serves as the District Attorney of Johnson County, Kansas, where he has selflessly placed his personal career and reputation on the line in an effort to enforce Kansas abortion laws. He is currently prosecuting the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Overland Park on 107 charges – including 23 felonies – all serious violations of the law that present a danger to the public.

But Planned Parenthood is causing delay after delay in this case, knowing that Kline stands for re-election this year. They hope he will be defeated since they know that the others running for Kline’s post will likely never pursue the case against them.

At the urging of many pro-life and conservatives groups, including Operation Rescue, Kline is running for re-election so that he can finish what he started – what he knows no one else will have the courage to finish amid the often vicious negative media attacks that surround anyone who attempts to hold the Kansas abortion industry accountable to the law.

Only an amazingly special man would have accepted the charge to stand for re-election under the circumstances.

You see, Kline is being personally sued by Planned Parenthood and the current Attorney General. Incredibly, they want him to give up the incriminating evidence on which he has based the criminal case.

Kline has been though a lot, but is willing to endure in order to enforce the law.

We know Phill to be a strong man of faith, with integrity and amazing personal determination in the face of adversity. He won’t give up until justice is done.

But Phill needs our help now to win re-election. A campaign with this much at stake requires a huge campaign war chest. Even the primary election will be an expensive fight for him.

Please consider making a sacrificial contribution to Phill Kline’s re-election campaign. It’s easy to do. Simply CLICK HERE and you can donate on line now or visit his website, www.standwithphill.com.

We have never met a prosecutor anywhere in the country who has fought so valiantly or come so close to convicting Planned Parenthood of their crimes. This man deserves our support and our prayers.

For Life,
Troy Newman
President, Operation Rescue

PS Please visit www.standwithphill.com and help him finish the job of prosecuting Planned Parenthood!

Details of efforts to cover up aspects of Laura Smith’s death were exposed by the grand jury investigation.

Hyannis, MA – A Barnstable County Grand Jury issued an indictment today against abortionist Rapin Osathanondh for Involuntary Manslaughter in the death of 22-year old Laura Hope Smith. According to Smith’s mother, Eileen, efforts to cover up details of her daughter’s death came to light during the grand jury investigation.

Mrs. Smith told Operation Rescue that a Sheriff’s Deputy in another county had provided Osathanondh and his abortion clinic staff with CPR training, then backdated the session to a date prior to Laura’s death, with the full knowledge that someone had recently died at the clinic. Osathanondh and his staff had been uncertified in CPR until that time.

“I’m appalled that an officer of the law would be involved in that,” Eileen Smith told Operation Rescue. “Thank God this has been exposed!”

Mrs. Smith has filed a complaint in Bristol County against the deputy.

Laura Smith had sought an abortion from Osathanondh on September 13, 2007, at his office, Women’s Health Center, in the Cape Cod town of Hyannis. Smith was placed under full anesthesia when only Osathanondh and a non-medical receptionist were present. When Smith suddenly stopped breathing, the receptionist phoned 911, but it was too late. Smith died later that day.

Five months later, in response to a complaint filed by Eileen Smith, Osathanondh relinquished his medical license to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine in the wake of pending disciplinary action and a criminal investigation. Osathanondh’s two abortion offices were closed.

“We are gratified that Osathanondh will have to account for Laura’s death in a court of law. It is not enough that he can no longer practice medicine. He must be held legally responsible for his crimes that resulted in the death of this young woman,” said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. “Only then can we say that some small measure of justice has been served.”

“As for those who attempted to help Osathanondh cover up for his shocking lack of emergency training, we share Eileen’s dismay that someone involved in law enforcement would lie to provide the abortionist cover,” said Sullenger. “That is completely unacceptable behavior and that person should be fired immediately.”

Operation Rescue was the first to break the news of Laura’s death, and worked with Eileen to help bring Osathanondh to justice.

A list of thirty companies that enable Tiller’s disreputable abortion business is released to the public

Wichita, KS – Today Operation Rescue released the latest list of businesses that help abortionist George R. Tiller continue his questionably legal abortion business.

The project, called the Abortion Collaborators, was first launched in 2004 with a list of over 50 businesses that did work for Tiller’s late-term abortion clinic, Women’s Health Care Services. Since then 25 businesses - 50% - have stopped collaborating with Tiller. Today’s list contains 30 business listings.

This announcement follows on the heels of the decision by two physicians and the Wichita Clinic to stop providing the second signature for Tiller’s post-viability abortions after Operation Rescue reported that Burt Odenheimer and another physician had been secretly seeing Tiller patients. Within hours of Operation Rescue’s announcement, the Wichita Clinic confirmed that the two physicians had volunteered to stop providing that service for Tiller effective immediately.

“This victory underscores the effectiveness of the Abortion Collaborators campaign,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Tiller’s political cronies may be willing to prop up Tiller’s business, but the community proved this week that it is not.”

The purpose of the Abortion Collaborators project is to expose those with dealings with Tiller, so that people of conscience can avoid them and, more importantly, so that members of the community can contact them and ask them to stop participating in the promotion and enabling of abortion. Operation Rescue has re-published an updated booklet explaining the need for the Abortion Collaborators campaign.

“Some attempt to justify these dealings with abortionists as simply a business decision. ‘One has a right to make a living,’ they often say. However, history has clearly spoken on this matter. Throughout time and across the globe it has been considered morally reprehensible to collaborate with those who would callously destroy innocent lives, especially when that collaboration advances the cause of the oppressors,” said OR spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. “Applying those long established social mores to abortion collaborators, it becomes very clear that one does not morally have the right to make a living off the backs of dead children. The profiteering from innocent bloodshed goes beyond compromise; it is an act of treason against God and man.”

Operation Rescue encourages the public to review the list of Tiller Abortion Collaborators, and as they are led, contact them and ask them to stop doing business with Tiller.

View the list (HTML)
Read updated booklet: “Abortion Collaborators” (PDF)

The Wichita Clinic issues press release confirming two doctors have agreed to discontinue providing signatures for Tiller’s late-term abortions

Wichita, KS – Less than eight hours after Operation Rescue released his name to the public, Burt Odenheimer and another physician have agreed to no longer provide the second opinion for Tiller’s late-term abortion patients starting immediately.

A press release from the Wichita Clinic, where both Odenheimer and the other doctor had been secretly seeing Tiller’s patients, confirmed that until this morning, the Clinic had no knowledge that they were doing so. It also confirmed that both Odenheimer and the other physician had been providing the second opinions and that both agreed to stop.

“We have the utmost respect for the Wichita Clinic and the way they have handled this situation. As soon as they became aware that their clinic was being secretly used to enable late abortions, they took care of it immediately,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We wish to publicly thank them for their quick action, and commitment to life-affirming medicine.”

“We understand that many people communicated with the Wichita Clinic this morning, expressing their dismay with the Clinic’s association with Tiller. We want to thank each and every one of them who took the time to voice their concern,” said Newman. “This incident underscores the fact that the community does not support Tiller’s abortion business, and take it very seriously when others engage in actions that help him continue take the innocent lives of the pre-born. It also shows to what lengths Tiller and his cohorts will go to in order to hide the truth about what they are doing.”

OR discovered Odenheimer was collaborating with Tiller and released the information as part of a “second phase” of efforts to expose Tiller after the citizen-called grand jury dismissed without indictments earlier this month. Newman announced the plan at a leadership meeting held last week, where this and other strategies were discussed.

Operation Rescue plans to make further announcements about other Tiller abortion collaborators later this week.

Read the Wichita Clinic’s Press Release

Operation Rescue Urges The Public To Boycott The Wichita Clinic

Wichita, Kansas – Operation Rescue has learned that Burtram Odenhiemer, MD, is one of the physicians currently providing the second signature for patients of abortionist George R. Tiller that is required before they may receive post-viability abortions.

Odenheimer, a neurologist who is board certified in psychiatry, secretly sees Tiller’s late-term patients at his office at the Wichita Clinic, a non-abortion medical center at located at 3311 E. Murdock in Wichita.

Kansas law requires that an unaffiliated physician must concur with the abortionist that a post-viability abortion is necessary to prevent “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the mother. Tiller currently uses the mental health loophole supposedly implied in the law as an excuse to abort late-term babies up until the day before birth.

Odenheimer has connections to Tiller. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Kansas University School of Medicine, where Tiller has served as Clinical Instructor for over 25 years.

Odenheimer boasts of involvement with Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood and Tiller have been co-plaintiffs on numerous legal actions and share some attorneys, including Pedro Irigonegaray.

Operation Rescue believes that there may be other physicians associated with the Wichita Clinic, who are also providing signatures for Tiller’s post-viability abortion patients.

“Odenheimer and others are working secretly with Tiller because they do not want the community to know that they are associated with his disreputable late-term abortion practice,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “However, the public has a right to know who is propping up Tiller’s abortion business.”

“The Wichita Clinic and Odenheimer are abortion collaborators. Their help enables Tiller to continue aborting late-term babies,” said Newman. “We call on pro-life supporters in Wichita to boycott the Wichita Clinic as well as Odenheimer’s practice.”

“Since Tiller’s late-term abortion patients come from every state, we urge pro-lifers everywhere to contact the Wichita Clinic Board President Jerry Niernberger and voice opposition to his clinic’s part in aiding and abetting Tiller’s horrific late-term abortion business,” said Newman.

Operation Rescue has plans to launch protests at the Wichita Clinic and sponsor prayer walks in Odenheimer’s exclusive neighborhood, located near 21st Street and Webb Road.

Contact:

Wichita Clinic Board President Jerry E. Niernberger
Phone: (316) 609-4531; Fax: (316) 636-1540
E-Mail: shapedown@wichitaclinic.com (Put “Attn. Dr. Niernberger” in the subject line.)

Burt Odenheimer, MD
Phone: 800-876-5111
E-Mail: shapedown@wichitaclinic.com (Put “Attn. Dr. Odenheimer” in the subject line.)