Sedgwick County, Kan., Chief Judge Michael Corrigan on Tuesday appointed District Judge Clark Owens to hear the case of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, who has been charged with 19 misdemeanors for allegedly violating a state law that requires an independent, consulting physician to approve some late-term abortions, the Wichita Eagle reports (Lefler, Wichita Eagle, 8/22).

State Attorney General Paul Morrison (D) in June filed charges alleging that Tiller, who owns Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kan., had financial ties to physician Ann Kristin Neuhaus, from whom he received a second opinion from before performing 19 late-term abortions in 2003. Morrison said Neuhaus had financial ties with Tiller. A 1998 Kansas law says that before an abortion of a fetus of 21 weeks' gestation or more, two physicians must determine if continuation of a pregnancy will lead to death or "substantial and irreversible" harm to a "major bodily function." Consulting physicians cannot have legal or financial ties to abortion providers. Tiller's attorneys have entered a not guilty plea to the alleged misdemeanors and filed a motion to dismiss the charges. If convicted, Tiller could face up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine for each of the 19 misdemeanor charges.

Sedgwick County Chief Criminal Judge Gregory Waller earlier this month assigned Tiller's case to District Judge Anthony Powell, who served as a Republican state legislator from 1995 to 2002. Powell voted regularly for restrictions on abortion laws, including a 1998 law restricting late-term abortions. Powell in 1998 said Tiller was "defying legal and moral authority" by performing late-term abortions. Attorneys representing Tiller last week filed a motion asking that the case be assigned to another judge. Powell on Friday recused himself, saying he wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/21).

Owens' Background, Reaction
Owens -- who previously heard pretrial motions in a case involving Tiller and five abortion-rights opponents who were charged with trespassing at his clinic -- has said he is opposed to abortion rights, the Eagle reports. The antiabortion group Operation Save America in a June 2005 news release wrote that Owens, after watching a video that contained scenes of aborted fetuses, said, "Had the Supreme Court had this [video] in 1973, they may have ruled differently" in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that effectively barred state abortion bans. Owens in a November 1988 article in the Eagle said that he supported a parental consent measure and state regulation of third-trimester abortions. According to the Eagle , Owens had to "walk a fine line" on the abortion-rights issue while serving as state Republican party chair in 1989 and 1990.

Tiller's attorney, Dan Monnat, said he thinks Owens is "perfectly capable of fairly hearing the case" (Wichita Eagle, 8/22). Ashley Anstaett, a spokesperson for Morrison, said the attorney general's office is "confident" Owens will "hear the case on its merits," adding that the office is "anxious to move forward" in the case (AP/Kansas City Star, 8/21). Owens on Tuesday declined to comment but said through his assistant that he was reviewing the case file, the Eagle reports (Wichita Eagle, 8/22).