Wichita ? Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston punted the investigation of a nationally known abortion provider to the state’s top prosecutor, telling protesters Monday that Attorney General Paul Morrison will decide whether there is evidence sufficient to warrant review by her own office.

Shortly before leaving office, former Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican and vocal abortion opponent, filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Dr. George Tiller in Sedgwick County District Court. But a judge dismissed the charges at Foulston’s request, agreeing with her that Kansas law required Kline to obtain her consent to file a criminal case and that he didn’t.

In a letter delivered to leaders of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue as they picketed Monday outside the county courthouse, Foulston said she now plans to wait until Morrison, a Democrat and abortion-rights supporter, reviews the case before she decides whether she will look at it.

‘Due process violation’

Foulston, a Democrat, also attacked Kline, saying her office requested in writing and in court all the underlying information that formed the basis for him to file charges.

“As attorney general, he failed, refused and neglected to do so,” Foulston wrote. “If there is any due process violation, it would lie with Kline’s refusal to forward to the proper prosecution authority in this jurisdiction, the office of the district attorney, the evidence that would be relevant to our review of the matter.”

Kline, who lost the November election to Morrison and is now the district attorney in Johnson County, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Morrison spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said the attorney general’s office was reviewing the case and had not yet decided how to proceed.

Letter to protesters

About 50 protesters gathered Monday outside the courthouse to call for Foulston to continue with the case against Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who performs late-term abortions. In her letter, Foulston said she would not meet with the protesters, and several who went into her office were turned away.

The letter also warned that any attempt to influence her office and interfere with the administration of justice was criminal conduct.

“This is ridiculous,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said as he read her letter to his supporters.

Kline alleged Tiller performed 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003, for patients aged 10 to 22, and failed to properly report details about them to state health officials. Tiller’s attorneys have called the allegations groundless.

Abortion protesters contend Kline’s thwarted charges reveal violations of Kansas law, which restricts abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy to cases in which the mother faces substantial and permanent health problems, unless it is determined the fetus is not viable. The state also requires a second physician not financially linked to the abortion provider to sign off.

Fewer than 100 abortion protesters heeded Operation Rescue’s nationwide call to come to Wichita for a four-day event marking the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

In Topeka, however, hundreds of abortion opponents crowded into the Statehouse’s second-floor rotunda Monday for a rally marking the Roe anniversary.

The rally came after a half-dozen women who had abortions spoke during a news conference sponsored by the anti-abortion group Operation Outcry.