Dr. McHugh's full interview hand delivered to Morrison's office

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Before what amounted to the keynote address, the National Right to Life Committee's three-day annual convention here showed a 12-minute video.

The video began with a woman singing ''God Bless America'' reverently, over photos and titles about former Attorney General Phill Kline and his stillborn criminal case against George Tiller, the Wichita doctor known nationally for late-term abortions. It ended with excerpts from a taped interview with the prominent Maryland psychiatrist who would have been Kline's star expert witness.

Then came the address from Kline, in which he described abortion as a slaughter of innocents and declared that Kansas' soil is ''stained red.''

Last week's convention and the days leading up to it were an aggravating time for Paul Morrison, the abortion rights Democrat who last year defeated Kline, a Republican. After Morrison took office in January, he began his own investigation of Tiller.

Abortion foes regularly criticize Morrison, which is irritating enough to him and his staff. But last week, Morrison believed their actions could compromise any case he would bring -- torpedoing the very thing abortion foes say they want, a prosecution of Tiller.

Of course, many abortion opponents don't believe Morrison will prosecute Tiller. Their goal isn't helping Morrison but vindicating Kline for the case Kline filed in December, which was dismissed for jurisdictional reasons -- and stoking public outrage against Tiller.

''Mr. Morrison states there's an investigation,'' Kline said during a news conference before his address. ''We have yet to see any fruits.''

Morrison has said he expects to finish his investigation and decide whether to charge Tiller by the end of this month. Spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett acknowledged that Morrison had refused an offer of help from Kline because, ''We are capable of conducting a criminal investigation on our own.''

In December, Kline filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges in Sedgwick County District Court against Tiller. Kline alleged the doctor had performed 15 illegal late-term abortions on patients aged 10 to 22 and failed to properly report the details to state health officials. Tiller's attorneys have said the charges were without merit.

Kline alleged Tiller violated a 1998 state law that after the 21st week of pregnancy, a doctor can't abort a fetus that can survive outside the womb, except to save the life of the patient, or to prevent ''substantial and irreversible'' harm to ''a major bodily function,'' which has been interpreted to include mental health.

In his complaint, Kline said all of the late-term abortions in question were done for mental health reasons, with justifications such as single-episode depression and anxiety. None of them, he said, were the kind of irreversible conditions the law requires.

Agreeing with Kline was Dr. Paul McHugh, the former director of the psychiatric department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, hired by Kline to review edited patient records. McHugh told The Associated Press last week that he and many other psychiatrists don't believe any purely psychiatric reason justifies an abortion.

With Kline's case dismissed and Morrison in office, McHugh's assessment as a potential expert witness received little public attention. Abortion foes tried to end that situation last week, having McHugh sit for a 45-minute interview, posting an eight-minute excerpt on the Internet video hosting site YouTube.com and bringing McHugh to Kansas for a public forum.

Morrison fired off an angry letter, ordering McHugh to stop speaking publicly. For the moment, the doctor has, and abortion opponents are accusing Morrison of trying to silence the doctor. Jenn Giroux, the Ohio activist who arranged McHugh's visit to Kansas, then hand-delivered a copy of his full interview to Morrison's office.

Anstaett said Morrison worries that McHugh's public statements will make it harder to find an untainted jury. Also being brought to Kansas by anti-abortion activists could damage his credibility as an objective expert.

Kline dismissed the latter concern, noting McHugh's extensive resume as a psychiatrist and author.

But Tiller's attorneys already argue their client was the victim of a witch hunt by a prosecutor blinded by opposition to abortion, and it's not hard anticipate them incorporating McHugh's being shepherded into Kansas by abortion foes in a defense. And what would Tiller's attorneys make of Kline not seeking out any other experts?

''I was fortunate enough to get the most respected psychiatrist in the nation,'' Kline said. ''Once Dr. McHugh agreed, there was no one else to get.''

Meanwhile, a stated goal of the anti-abortion movement is to expose what happens in abortion clinics. The theory is that once Americans know, they won't tolerate it.

Abortion providers contend such efforts are more accurately described as harassment.

''This is a fascist movement,'' said Dr. Warren Hern, of Boulder, Colo., identified by both sides as the only other U.S. physician who's acknowledged doing abortions as late in pregnancies as Tiller. ''If women are not free to make decisions about their own lives and bodies, then they are not free. If women are not free, then none of us are free. It's very fundamental.''

Kline and other abortion foes also bring much passion to their cause, viewing it as a fight for the most vulnerable Americans' liberty. They believe Kline's case against Tiller was more than justified, and they want it aired in public.