House Federal and State Affairs Committee Chairman Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, left, and Rep. Michael Peterson, D-Kansas City, listen during a committee meeting Monday at the Statehouse in Topeka. The committee voted 12-8 to endorse a resolution ordering Attorney General Paul Morrison to reinstate 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions. The charges were filed by Phill Kline, former attorney general.

Topeka ? Anti-abortion legislators took a major step Monday toward trying to force Attorney General Paul Morrison to revive criminal charges against one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee endorsed a resolution ordering Morrison to reinstate 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita. Those charges were filed in December by Morrison’s predecessor, Phill Kline, but were dismissed.

“This begins a process that might prove the rule of law isn’t dead in Kansas,” said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group.

Lee Thompson, an attorney representing Tiller, called the resolution “a bunch of baloney.”

Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said in a statement: “The investigation into Dr. George Tiller is not over. Attorney General Morrison is continuing to investigate this thoroughly and will file new charges if the law has been violated.”

The committee invited Morrison to testify but Anstaett said she didn’t know if he would be able to attend.

Morrison, an abortion rights Democrat, unseated Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, in the November general election, but Kline’s term didn’t end until Jan. 8. A day after Kline filed the charges in Sedgwick County, a district judge dismissed them on jurisdictional grounds.

Kline accused Tiller of violating restrictions in Kansas law on late-term abortions, and backers of the resolution said Kline’s evidence should be reviewed in court. Tiller’s attorneys have said repeatedly that the charges were without merit.

Little-used law

Kline’s legislative allies engineered the committee’s endorsement of the resolution on a 12-8 vote, which sent the measure to the House. The resolution invokes a little-used Kansas law that allows either the House or the Senate to adopt a resolution to force the attorney general to file a case.

“We need to be very interested in having our law being enforced impartially,” said Rep. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, an abortion opponent. “Justice needs to happen. The law needs to be enforced.”

Kansans for Life and another anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, have been pushing for the House to adopt such a resolution, and they’ve scheduled a Statehouse rally today to build pressure.

Morrison’s fellow Democrats complained about the committee’s quick action – it introduced and endorsed the measure on the same day – and said Morrison should be allowed to review the evidence in the Tiller case. Morrison has said he’s doing just that, and said Friday he’d have an announcement soon.

“I find this a travesty and an abuse of power,” said Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka.

Later, responding to Democrats’ complaints, the committee scheduled a hearing for today, and House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said he’s not sure how soon the House will debate the resolution.

‘Lapse in judgment’

Abortion opponents question whether Morrison plans to pursue Tiller, given that Tiller helped finance hundreds of thousands of dollars in anti-Kline advertising in 2002 and 2006.

Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire, said he’s worried about what appears to be Morrison’s “extraordinary lapse in judgment” in not pursuing Tiller so far.

And Rep. Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee, said: “This is something we’ve needed to look into for some time.”

But Thompson said by intervening, legislators would be violating the state constitution’s separation of powers, which leaves prosecuting criminal cases to the executive branch. He also said Kline’s case against Tiller was based on “phony facts.”

“Legislators who have no knowledge of the evidence ought to not unconstitutionally immerse themselves in the executive branch function of prosecution,” Thompson said.

Case history

In his complaint against Tiller, Kline alleged the doctor performed 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on patients aged 10 to 22, then failed to properly report the details to state health officials.

State law says an abortion of a viable fetus can be performed after the 22nd week of pregnancy to prevent “substantial and irreversible” harm to a major bodily function.

In his complaint, Kline said evidence showed that the abortions were performed after a diagnosis of a “single episode” of major depression, acute stress or anxiety or, in one case, no specific disorder. None of those reasons met the legal test, that a patient face “irreversible” harm, Kline alleged.

Kline filed his charges after a one Sedgwick County district judge, Eric Yost, concluded there was probable cause to believe that Tiller had violated the law.

But another judge, Paul W. Clark, dismissed the charges at the request of District Attorney Nola Foulston, agreeing with her that Kline didn’t have the authority to file a case in Sedgwick County because he didn’t have her consent.

Kline argued that the attorney general can file a case anywhere in the state.

Abortion opponents filed an ethics complaint last week against Clark because he didn’t declare in court that he’d received a contributions of $500 for his 2004 re-election campaign from a law firm representing Tiller and another $500 from Foulston and her husband.