Topeka — A legislative committee that will take testimony next week on late-term abortions plans to review an interview recorded with a psychiatrist once considered a key witness against a high-profile abortion provider.
But Attorney General Paul Morrison worries a public showing of the interview could affect a criminal case against Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, Morrison spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said Wednesday.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Paul McHugh, still is listed as a potential witness against Tiller, who is accused of violating the state's late-term abortion law by not obtaining a second opinion from an independent physician on some procedures.
McHugh is the former chairman of the psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Some legislators hoped McHugh would testify during a Sept. 6 hearing by the legislative committee, which could recommend changes in the late-term abortion law.
The committee listed McHugh as a witness for that day, but scheduling conflicts will prevent him from coming to Kansas, said Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, the committee's chairman. Instead, legislators will watch a DVD recording of an interview produced by abortion opponents, who posted excerpts of it in June on YouTube, the Internet video-sharing site.
"He's very much in demand," said Siegfreid, an Olathe Republican. "We just couldn't make the arrangements."
Morrison's predecessor, Phill Kline, hired McHugh late last year to review Tiller's medical justifications for some late-term procedures.
In a sworn statement for Kline, McHugh said none of the mental health conditions Tiller diagnosed in his patients were serious enough to allow the late-term abortions under Kansas law.
Morrison's office was upset when it learned that McHugh was scheduled to testify before the legislative committee. Anstaett said publicity about McHugh's statements could influence potential jurors, making it harder to seat a jury and have a fair trial.
McHugh did not return a telephone message left at his office at Johns Hopkins.
Abortion opponents brought McHugh to Kansas in June for a public forum, but Morrison ordered him not to discuss the case, and McHugh didn't speak.
"We still have the same concerns," Anstaett said after learning that the committee would see only the recorded interview. "Our No. 1 goal is to protect the integrity of our case."
Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney representing Tiller, also was displeased.
"However he does it, it is outrageous that Dr. McHugh would exploit his privileged access to the private medical files of women in order to lobby his own political agenda," he said.
Siegfreid said he doesn't want to hurt Morrison's prosecution. However, he said McHugh's statements are relevant as the committee discusses why the late-term abortion law should be enforced - and whether the state is enforcing it vigorously.
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Kropotkin (anonymous) says…
Dr. McHugh is an ultraconservative Catholic whose religious beliefs override every opinion he is paid to express on a witness stand. His positions are not derived from medicine, but rather theology. For instance...
"Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, explained his opposition to the destruction of human embryos created by the union of gametes, but sought to distinguish such embryos from what he dubbed 'clonotes': that is, embryos brought into being by cloning (a process known technically as 'somatic cell nuclear transfer' or SCNT). He argued that human 'clonotes' are not really human embryos, and thus do not enjoy the high moral status of embryos brought into being by ordinary sexual intercourse or by the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF). These 'clonotes,' McHugh argued, may be legitimately destroyed for purposes of stem cell harvesting, so long as they are destroyed before the fourteenth day of their development." (From the New Atlantic)
This is not science. This is a religious nut offering guesses as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It is a sad commentary that a Kansas legislative committee chair would solicit opinions from such a bizarre individual. It is akin to the ultraconservatives on the State Board of Education, two years ago, using taxpayer money to bring in an Islamic fundamentalist Turkish newspaper reporter to testify as to what "science" standards should be here in Kansas public schools.