Olathe ? A grand jury was seated Monday to investigate whether an Overland Park clinic has violated state abortion laws.

The eight women and nine men – two of whom are alternates – were picked in about an hour from a pool of about 30 potential jurors. It takes 12 grand jurors to issue a recommendation.

The grand jury was ordered after a coalition of abortion opponents used a 1970 law that allows the public to petition for a such a panel. The grand jury can meet for up to 90 days, although that can be extended by the district court.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has called the proceedings harassment.

Before questioning began, Judge Kevin Moriarty told the jurors what mattered was not their opinions on abortion but whether they would be able to put those opinions aside and be impartial.

Under questioning from Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, none of the potential jurors said their personal opinions would cause a conflict. But several people were dismissed for personal reasons, including a woman who was eight months pregnant and a criminal defense attorney with many pending cases.

The Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park already is at the center of a large criminal case. In October, Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, filed 107 criminal counts against the clinic, including 23 felonies.

The allegations are based on 2003 records gathered when Kline was Kansas attorney general.

Current Attorney General Paul Morrison, an abortion rights Democrat, investigated many of the same allegations but found no wrongdoing. However, abortion opponents have criticized Morrison as overlooking criminal activity by the clinics.

Planned Parenthood had planned to ask the Kansas Supreme Court to order a Johnson County judge to stop the panel from meeting. But they changed their mind last month after the justices rejected a similar appeal from Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the nation to perform late-term abortions.

A grand jury is scheduled to be convened Jan. 8 in Sedgwick County to investigate Tiller.