Topeka ? Attorneys for a high-profile abortion provider are raising a novel legal issue in defending him against misdemeanor of violating Kansas’ restrictions on late-term abortions.

Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, wants 12 jurors to consider his case in Sedgwick County District Court, but state law limits juries in misdemeanor trials to six members. His attorneys argue that seating a smaller jury violates the Kansas Constitution.

“The more jurors, the more difficult it is to convict an innocent person,” Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney representing Tiller, said Thursday.

Tiller faces 19 misdemeanor charges. Attorney General Paul Morrison alleges Tiller failed to obtain a second opinion on some late-term abortions in 2003, as state law requires. Tiller’s attorneys maintain the doctor is innocent.

His attorneys already are challenging the requirement for a second doctor’s involvement, arguing it puts too much of a burden on a woman seeking an abortion. They filed a request for a 12-person jury Monday.

“We expect numerous motions to be filed in this case, and we will deal with them as they come and prepare our case for trial,” said Morrison spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said Tiller is acting like a “spoiled child.” Another anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, issued a statement accusing Tiller of seeking special treatment.

“Tiller is trying to increase his chances of weaseling out of these charges,” said Troy Newman, Operation Rescue’s president.

Monnat said Tiller is seeking only the protection that Kansas’ founders intended when they wrote the state constitution in 1859.

“It doesn’t make any sense to distinguish between misdemeanor juries and felony juries when the reputation and good name of an innocent person and his family may be equally damaged by either a misdemeanor or felony conviction,” Monnat said.

The Kansas Constitution describes the right to a jury trial as “inviolate.” Tiller’s attorneys argue its drafters assumed a jury meant 12 people.

In a 1900 ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court said “there can be no doubt” that 12 people were required for a jury by legal traditions dating to the 1200s in England.

However, a 1901 law gave defendants the right to ask for a six-member jury in many misdemeanor cases, and they already had the right to waive a jury trial altogether.

A 1970 law said juries in misdemeanor cases would have six members, unless a defendant requested 12. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court said juries in criminal cases could have less than 12 jurors under the federal constitution.

Tiller’s attorneys contend that ruling is irrelevant because it didn’t interpret the Kansas Constitution.

In 1981, legislators enacted the law saying all misdemeanor juries would have six members. Supporters argued it would lower costs.

Six-person juries in misdemeanor cases are such a long-standing practice that Rep. Mike O’Neal, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was “flummoxed” by Tiller’s arguments. If more jurors are better, he said, “Why not 18?”

“I don’t think that’s a legitimate challenge,” said O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican who opposes abortion.