Topeka ? Sedgwick County’s top prosecutor jumped back into the legal controversy surrounding the state’s most visible abortion provider, declaring Wednesday that Dr. George Tiller had properly reported suspected cases of child sexual abuse to authorities.

District Attorney Nola Foulston’s statements didn’t address allegations made by former Attorney General Phill Kline that Tiller performed illegal late-term abortions and didn’t properly report all the details of the procedures to state health officials. Tiller is among a few doctors in the nation to perform late-term procedures.

But Kline’s allegations did raise the question of whether Tiller had notified law enforcement and social services authorities when performing abortions on underage girls. Kline’s charges involved abortions for patients aged 10 to 22.

“That has always been – and is – a very important issue for our office,” Foulston spokeswoman Georgia Cole said during an interview. “Numerous citizens expressed concern about that issue, and that is something we take seriously.”

Investigation ‘superfluous’

Foulston acknowledged that her investigation was limited and criticized Kline for not turning over his investigatory files to her. Kline dismissed her investigation as “superfluous and meaningless.”

Foulston’s statements were another twist in an ongoing legal battle over Tiller’s activities involving her, Kline, a special prosecutor Kline appointed before leaving office and newly installed Attorney General Paul Morrison, who unseated Kline in the November election.

Kline filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Tiller in Sedgwick County District Court on Dec. 21. The next day, a judge dismissed them at Foulston’s request, agreeing with her that Kansas law required Kline to obtain her consent to file a criminal case – and he didn’t.

On Dec. 27, Kline appointed the special prosecutor, Wichita attorney Don McKinney, who asked the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday to reinstate the charges against Tiller. Morrison took office Monday and fired McKinney the next day.

Meanwhile, Kline took over Morrison’s old job as Johnson County district attorney. The unprecedented job switch was possible because Morrison won five terms in the county office as a Republican but switched parties to challenge Kline, leaving the GOP with the right to fill the vacancy.

The charges

Kline, a Republican, is a strong abortion opponent. Morrison is an abortion rights Democrat, and abortion opponents trust neither him nor Foulston, also a Democrat, to investigate Tiller aggressively. McKinney is a Democrat, but he has protested outside Tiller’s clinic.

Kline’s charges involved 15 late-term abortions performed in 2003. Eleven of the patients involved were younger than 16, meaning they couldn’t legally consent to sex. Thus, Foulston said, Tiller was required by law to report their pregnancies to authorities.

“All instances of child sexual assault were reported to the proper authorities,” Foulston said in a news release.

Tiller’s attorneys said Foulston’s report confirms what the doctor has said repeatedly: that he and his clinic follow Kansas law.

Kline questions findings

“Her findings should put to rest the persistent and false claims that child sexual predators were running loose or being protected by Dr. Tiller,” the attorneys, Daniel Monnat and Lee Thompson, said in a written statement.

However, Kline questioned the thoroughness of Foulston’s investigation, noting that he presented no evidence that Tiller had failed to report suspected child sex abuse because he didn’t accuse the doctor of it.

Instead, his complaint focused on how Tiller used patients’ mental health concerns to justify the late-term abortions, alleging the reasons Tiller gave didn’t meet exceptions to restrictions on such procedures.

“The district attorney’s ‘investigation’ is like looking at the moon and proclaiming that she doesn’t see any evidence that it is the sun,” Kline said. “Her ‘investigation’ is nonsensical and serves no law enforcement purpose.”

McKinney called Foulston’s statement a “publicity stunt and another effort to protect George Tiller.”