Wichita ? Potential jurors in the trial of one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers were told Monday to set aside their personal views about abortion, and at least one was dismissed after she said she couldn’t.

“This trial is not a debate about abortion,” Assistant Attorney General Barry Disney told prospective jurors as jury selection began in Sedgwick County District Court. “It is not about whether abortion is right or wrong. … This trial is about whether the defendant has violated the law.”

Dr. George Tiller is charged with 19 misdemeanors alleging he failed to obtain a second opinion for late-term abortions from an independent physician, as required by Kansas law. If convicted, the Wichita doctor could face a year in county jail or a fine of $2,500 for each misdemeanor charge.

Defense attorney Dan Monnat hinted at the defense strategy while questioning the potential jurors by saying Tiller has never been “knowingly or intentionally” financially affiliated with the doctor who provided second opinions.

Monnat also said Tiller is one of only two doctors in North America capable of performing late-term abortions and asked whether the potential jurors had any problems with that fact. One replied, “Sounds like he is special.”

Tiller and his clinic have been a target of abortion opponents for decades. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and an abortion opponent shot him in both arms in 1993.

Wichita also was the site of the 45-day “Summer of Mercy” event staged by Operation Rescue in 1991. Those mass demonstrations and clinic blockades led to more than 2,600 arrests. One of those arrested, the Rev. Pat Mahoney, was back in Wichita on Monday for Tiller’s trial.

Abortion opponents plan prayer vigils during the trial, and abortion-rights supporters also plan demonstrations.

Disney told prospective jurors that prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that Tiller performed the 19 late-term abortions and that he was required to obtain a second, independent opinion. Jurors need only decide whether Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who provided Tiller with second opinions, had a financial or legal relationship with him, Disney said.

Jury selection continues today and Wednesday.

Kansas law allows late-term abortions if two doctors agree that it is necessary to save a woman’s life or prevent “substantial and irreversible” harm to “a major bodily function,” a phrase that has been interpreted to include mental health.