Kansas City, Mo. ? A coalition of abortion opponents is one step closer to getting a grand jury formed to investigate whether a Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic is complying with state abortion laws.

A petition that the Life is for Everyone, or LIFE, coalition circulated seeking a grand jury has been certified by the Johnson County elections office, coalition leaders and county officials said Monday. The next step, they said, is for a panel of district judges to examine the petition language to make sure it’s worded properly and to move forward with seating grand jury members.

The petition consisted of 6,400 registered voter signatures, which were certified Friday. Under law, the county is required to convene the grand jury within 60 days of the date the petition was submitted, which was Oct. 26.

Troy Newman, president of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is part of the coalition, said the large number of signatures – significantly more than the required 3,815 – shows that people are interested in getting more involved in the process of enforcing the law.

“That speaks volumes that the people of Kansas do not trust that the enforcement agencies are applying the law as written,” Newman said. “They (the agencies) are not doing the will of the people.”

The coalition, in seeking to have Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri investigated, is using a 1970 state law that allows the public to petition for a grand jury. Kansas is one of only six states where a citizens petition can compel a county to convene a grand jury.

“I’m not surprised that they have sufficient signatures and that those have been certified,” said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. “It’s regrettable that we’ve gone down this path. It’s a huge waste of time and energy and taxpayer money, as well as a waste of money for Planned Parenthood to have to defend this.”

The Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park, Kan., already is at the center of a large criminal case. Last month, Phill Kline, the district attorney in Johnson County, Kan., and an anti-abortion Republican, filed 107 criminal counts against the clinic, including 23 felonies.

The charges claim many of the same violations alleged in the LIFE coalition’s petition. Kline’s allegations are based on 2003 records gathered when he 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 clinics.

“We know crimes are being committed there,” Newman said of the Planned Parenthood clinic.

He believes the grand jury will uncover even more wrongdoing than is being alleged by Kline’s office and that its findings will lead to additional criminal charges.

LIFE coalition members want the grand jury to review clinic records from 2004 forward to see if staff at the Overland Park clinic provided illegal late-term abortions, illegally sold fetal tissue, failed to report suspected child abuse, falsified records, or violated laws requiring a 24-hour waiting period and parental consent for minors before an abortion can be performed.

Brownlie reiterated that there are “no crimes to be found” on Planned Parenthood’s part.

“We always operate within the law,” he said. “And whenever there’s been any objective investigation, that’s been confirmed.”