Kansas Town is Again Site of Abortion Activism


By Pete Winn, associate editor
Citizenlink

SUMMARY: It's been 15 years since Operation Rescue first visited Wichita, Kan.

Fifteen years after Operation Rescue conducted its 1991 "Summer of Mercy" rescues, Wichita, Kan., is again the scene of an abortion controversy.

This time, it involves billboards Operation Rescue (OR) has placed along I-35 in Oklahoma that dub Wichita the nation's "Abortion Capital."

OR West Director Troy Newman said the billboards are designed to speak the truth about the city.

"The interstates coming into Wichita are prime locations to make people think about their abortion on their long drive here from various states," he told CitizenLink. Family advocates in Kansas are asking state legislators to support a bill that would tighten parental-notification laws, LifeNews.com reported.

Wichita has become the abortion Mecca, Newman said, because late-term abortionist George Tiller operates a clinic there.

"George Tiller does abortions on women from every state in the union," he said. "If you want to get a late-term abortion, more than likely you're going to get it in Wichita, Kansas. We want to give them the opportunity to think about it."

OR has gone so far as to publish the names of Wichita businesses they say profit from Tiller's abortion clinic -- and from the deaths of innocents.

Not surprisingly, some community boosters like the Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau are condemning the campaign -- and say it gives the Kansas town a bad name.

Convention and Visitors Bureau Vice President Olivia Simmons told the Wichita Eagle newspaper that her group had "gotten a couple of calls from people worried that there might be a negative impact." Calls from CitizenLink to the bureau had not been returned late this afternoon.

OR agrees that Wichita should be worried about its reputation.

"George Tiller, however, is the one who has given Wichita a bad name," Newman said.

Some city officials are upset, he added, because Wichita has been the scene of continuing pro-life efforts since 1991, when OR conducted its "Summer of Mercy" rescues. It was there that Wichita gained national attention over the abortion issue -- and Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Services, was the focal point for weeks of rallies, protests, church services and arrests.

The Rev. Pat Mahoney, who was an OR leader and participant at the time, said a lot has changed in the pro-life movement over the last 15 years -- but the goal remains shining the light of day on abortion.

"I think when we went to Wichita, our point was to really draw attention nationwide -- not just to George Tiller, but to abortion itself," he said. "We've seen some incredible things happen in the last 15 years. Support for abortion is at its lowest rate. Seventy-two percent of America's youth believe abortion is immoral. South Dakota just banned abortion.

"I look back at what began, really, in Wichita -- and the eyes of the nation being fixed on Wichita really empowered a whole new generation of pro-life activists."

Some of the people who were at the Summer of Mercy in their mid- to late-20s, Mahoney added, are in elected office now.

"I still have people come up to me, from across the country, to say, 'Rev. Mahoney, I was touched and I was challenged. I came to Wichita from Ohio or Florida, and it revolutionized my life.'"

The ripple effect, Mahoney said, of what came out of Wichita, "only eternity will reveal."

On the other hand Tiller is still performing late-term abortions.

"You have to put things in context," Mahoney explained. "Business for him appears to be down. But just as importantly, Operation Rescue and Operation Save America and other pro-life groups are determined that they will have a peaceful and prayerful presence in Wichita until George Tiller leaves."

Indeed, Operation Rescue West moved its headquarters from California to Wichita a couple of years ago. Mahoney said the fact that pro-life activists from all across the country are still in Wichita is more telling than the fact that abortionist Tiller is still operating.

"Their resolve is to be there," he said, "and they have been there, really, non-stop since 1991."

Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issue analysis at Focus on the Family Action, said whatever Operation Rescue's role has been, there's no doubt that the Wichita "Summer of Mercy" galvanized opinion.

What's amazing, she said, is that the abortion culture has had 33 years to become institutionalized in America -- yet the pro-life movement is still alive.

"The fact that we're still talking about parental involvement, partial-birth abortion and banning abortion in South Dakota is the best news of all," Earll said.

"The fact that you've got states passing new, fresh pro-life legislation each year -- that's beyond progress -- that's really a miracle. Because in man's economy, having abortion legal as it is -- and supported by so many of the elite institutions -- should have shut down the pro-life movement years ago, and that didn't happen."