Fernando Salazar/The Wichita Eagle
The shuttered abortion clinic once operated by the late Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas has been purchased by an abortion rights group with plans to open a new clinic at the site and resume abortion services there. The sale was first reported by the Wichita Eagle. There has been no known abortion provider in Wichita since Dr. Tiller was assassinated in 2009.
The new owner is the Trust Women Foundation. Director Julie Burkhart confirmed reports of the purchase. Burkhart is a former Tiller employee. After his death she founded the Trust Women PAC to address access to abortion in under-served states. "Trust Women" was a favorite motto of Tiller's -- he is said to have worn a "Trust Women" button every day.
Burkhart says her goal for the new clinic is a health center that would provide first and early-second trimester abortions as well as a full range of OBGYN services. She'll need doctors who are both qualified and willing to provide those services in Wichita. Burkhart says she is talking to physicians both locally and from out-of-state. Under a Kansas law enacted last year, the clinic could be required to meet strict new architectural standards, and its doctors could be required to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. That law is currently tied up in court and would only apply if it's ultimately cleared. "Our strategy is whatever the law is, whatever they throw our way we will be able to abide by the letter of the law so women will be able to come in and get services," Burkhart says.
Burkhart hopes to open the new clinic in the first quarter of next year, but she's bracing herself for the opposition she expects to encounter as she tries to make that happen:
"I suspect that [the anti-abortion movement is] going to come out and protest. I suspect that they'll have some new bills up in Topeka. And I think that they'll be looking for any and every opportunity to hold us up, to close us up, and to slow us down."
Kari Ann Rinker, the Kansas state coordinator for the National Organization for Women, talks about the news with the same tone of cautious resolve. "Getting a building is a great accomplishment. We [in the abortion rights community] are all thrilled that [Burkhart] has been successful in this part of her journey. But there are still a lot of unknowns," she says, pointing to the clinic regulations that are tied up in court, pressure from anti-abortion groups like Operation Rescue, and new restrictions that may come out of what's expected to be a more conservative state legislature after November's elections. "We're happy, but we're all realistic and we know what happens here."
By "what happens" in Wichita, Rinker means what happened to local family doctor Mila Means after she announced, in 2010, her intention to begin providing abortion services in Wichita. There were protests at Means' family medical practice as well as her home, she received a letter warning that she'd need to check under her car for a bomb every day if she decided to provide abortions, and her landlord sued to block her from providing abortions at her existing medical practice.
Last year, when Dr. Means agreed not to provide abortions at her current practice, Operation Rescue declared victory and took credit for stopping her. When news of Burkhart's plans for Dr. Tiller’s old clinic broke this week, Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue said in a statement, "The abortion group may have bought Tiller’s old building, but that is still a far cry from resuming abortions in Wichita. If Trust Women wants to provide abortions then Operation Rescue will make sure the business is neither profitable nor sustainable."
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That my friends is the definition of Bravery .
That is an example of ideolistic stupidy. She will be shut down.
And the troll who's never been right about anything in his life pops up to try and diminish a woman's act of bravery.....
Tom, I would die to uphold a woman's right to reproductive freedom; the right would fight to put a woman in jail for an abortion, and would rather see a woman die in a back alley abortion. What would you choose? Fight for freedom of rights, or put women in jail????
Have you ever noticed troll computers don't have spell check?
ideolistic
Must be running a 486 with AOL in his mom's basement.
That 486 must have a time-warping modem, because I'm pretty sure AOL ditched dialup access ages ago.
Personally, I think their browsers do have spell-checking. They just ignore it because, you know, freedom or something.
I'm sure some anti-choice nut will soon try to torch the place.
I would definitely have high class security; you cannot give into the people that killed Dr. Tiller. They are murderers, pure and simple......
They employ violence and the threat of violence as a means of forcing their will on politics and society, therefore they are terrorists.
Best of luck to Ms. Burkhart.
Is there any way that we can help?
It looks like their website:
trustwomenpac.org
has links for donations.
Get Enraged and Engaged:
Mooch the Vote 2012!
;-)
You can donate at itrustwomen.org or at our crowdrise account, http://www.crowdrise.com/trustwomenfoundation. trustwomenpac.org is our PAC website so the money donated there cannot be used for the Foundation.
Katie - I apologize if I inadvertently sowed any confusion here. I'll have to admit, though, I'm still a bit confused. I tried following the link you provided. First, it led me to an error message telling me the page no longer existed.
Trying it a second time just to see if I'd found an internet glitch, I landed on a page full of unresolved HTML code that included, toward the bottom of the page, the message "Sorry, but we've got to limit messages to 2500 characters".
Since I'd gotten a different result each time, I figured I'd try it a third time. This time I got another "page not found" message (but different from the first). However, at this point I noticed that there was a period at the end of the web address linked to. Acting on another hunch, I back-spaced the period out, and this time I landed on the page I think you intended to direct us to:
http://www.crowdrise.com/trustwomenfoundation
Still a bit confused though. On the page I'd now found, there was the following message:
Curious, I checked out the website referenced, itrustwomen.org, and both it and the crowdrise site do look legit. Why then, if, as you say, the PAC money can't be used for the Foundation, do I find this message on the PAC site (to which I linked in my comment above):
[emphasis added]
Can you see why I'm confused? I think people (particularly many of the people who visit this Blog) want to do the right thing, but there've been well-documented instances of web sites being set up to look legit and solicit donations, without necessarily being quite what they claim to be, e.g. in the wake of the Haiti earthquake.
Why would the PAC web site use that language if the money they accept couldn't be applied to that purpose? Thank you in advance for helping to clear this up.
UPDATE
I'm relieved to be able to say that I received an email from a representative of the PAC web site explaining that all of the above "trustwomen" web sites are legit (including the one suggested by Katie). Apparently, the distinction involves which donations would be considered tax-deductible. I have requested permission to post the details of the email I received, and will do so as soon as permission has been granted.
My sincere apologies to trustwomen and to anyone else reading these if I in any way created undue confusion or doubt for anyone else with my questions.
UPDATE 2
My request to the PAC web site for clarification was answered in an email by Julie, of their organization. I now have received her permission to post her answer to me as clarification of the above. On Sunday, 9/30/2012, Julie sent me the following:
My thanks again to trustwomen for the good work they're doing, and apologies once more to one and all for any confusion I may have accidentally caused.
Start with educating the community on the difference between a fetus and a baby, along with the guaranteed rights of women in our democracy. Make sure there is a strong security presence on site also.
Even God said life begins when He breathes life into his nostrils. The breath of life should be part of the dialogue.
The right would ban masturbation, if they could.......
Right, your heart can still beat but if u don't take a breath on yr.own U R not alive.
I worked OB as a scrub nurse 4 yrs.& I learned even after a baby was bor; unknowingly I'm sure the baby was considered"it" by parents&fam,we were mostly ones saying baby. Breath is the 1st thing we want2 see4there2belife. I've had3kids but if I neede2choose it would be me&my Lord talk7n about it not me&no choice or now I'm a murderer.
I still wonder exactly what the citizens of Kansas feel was accomplished by Tiller's death.
Some victory for Jesus?
The ceassation of abortions beyond this closed clinic?
To save a fetus by killing a man?
Demonstrating to those Middle Eastern countries with their antediluvian treatment of women just how enlightened nations care for theirs?
I just don't understand what the good folks there are thinking...
The longer this clinic stays closed, the deeper goes the feeling that murder won.
I live in Wichita. I was in a Lutheran church the morning Dr. Tiller was murdered. There was hate directed at Dr. Tiller when he was alive. He was also greatly admired and is missed. His clinic is surrounded by a high fence and under heavy security. It drew many protesters when Dr. Tiller was alive. It also drew escorts to take the women who needed services past the gauntlet. While we voice our opinions that women are entitled by the constitution to privacy in health care decisions that not everyone approves of, we also have to accept that the people from the other side of the argument are entitled to voice their opinion. I can't defend anyone trying to nuisance a business out of existence. That isn't freedom of speech.
Abortion has been legal for 40 years, but Republicans believe otherwise. Why is it so important to deprive women of this procedure. Nobody talks about it, but there is an over-population problem, with limited resources left on this planet to sustain life. What's going to happen to all of the rape victims's babies once they deliver; who is going to support them?
My best wishes to Ms. Burkhart! I'll keep a candle burning for your safety....
Does her Foundation accept donations - and where can I get some information on it?
It looks like their website:
trustwomenpac.org
has links for donations.
Get Enraged and Engaged:
Mooch the Vote 2012!
;-)
You can donate at http://www.crowdrise.com/trustwomenfoundation or itrustwomen.org. You can find more information about us at itrustwomen.org and trustwomenpac.com for our other activities. We also have a facebook and twitter account.
This should be the time that women in Kansas make their influence obvious. The elections are a perfect vehicle for demonstrating the power of the vote. Voting against candidates is just as powerful as voting for candidates. Even if the opposition candidates lose, the number of votes is a good way for women to register their anger. It will also show areas of weakness with incumbents and point to future election challenges. That will make those incumbents think twice before they vote for a bill.
I am seldom proud of the political and social happenings in my home - Wichita, KS - but this gives me the slightest glimmer that it is still worth the fight.
Trust women!
Wow. God Bless this woman. I love the name of her organization too. Troy Newman shows the disrespect he has for all women when he th
reatens to ensure that "Trust Women" will not be sustainable. What a complete pig.
It should be named the 'Dr. George Tiller memorial women's clinic'.
I should thank Operation Rescue for their "Summer of Mercy" in 1991 where they descended on Dr Tillers clinic in Wichita. I worked next door, in an unrelated business at the time. At the beginning of the summer I was very against abortions, and by the end of summer, after dealing with the protesters every day, and their incredible disrespect, mean spirited nature and entitlement, I slowly moved to being a staunch supporter of a woman's right to choose. They converted me, and it turned me into not only a supporter, but an advocate. The staff at Tiller's clinic are heroes and I applaud their tenacity and hope they again are able to resume this very valuable service to women's health.
God doesn't want any more people, there are over 7 billion and they are outrunning the earths resources. If you believe God creaed the beautiful earth and all its plant and animals, you can see that man is destroying them. God didn't create us only so that we could destroy his creation and in the end ourselves.
If God wanted more people he would have created them and not told us that we have to make sure every egg is fertilized and develops into a human.
It's man that has created the mandate to keep creating more and more humans. It's good for business in that a growing population needs more stuff and you make more money when you sell more stuff.
Religions need more people. The more people you have in your religion the more powerful your religion is and the leaders are more powerful.
Enough said! We don't need any more people than we want and nobody should be telling us what we can and can't do in our private lives. If we don't want more children for whatever reason, nobody should be using a law to say anything different.
An individual's rights trump all religious mandates and a government should not ever impose a religious mandate on us.
That's what I believe!
My friend lives on the same block as the clinic, we pondered setting up a live webcam so everyone can see how obnoxious these terrorists are. She'll probably be there for awhile since the buyer of her home will probably back down now that these criminals will be infesting the block with their bullhorns and vandalism (it's okay, the police says it's legal, anywhere else it town it would be illegal).
As for Angel Dillard I believe the Department of Justice still has a case open on her. They called me awhile back. She attends a local hate church in town where one of the preacher's sermons was about how Obama is a socialist and the embodiment of the Anti-Christ.
Operation Rescue has been hurting financially since they had Dr. Tiller killed. Now they are excited abortion is coming back to Wichita so they can make more money terrorizing the staff at the clinic.
I'm glad Ms Burkhart used the proper term in describing the opponents of those who would oppose the clinic and those availing themselves of some of it's services: anti-abortionists.
A less "pro-life" bunch of yahoos, I've never seen!
Why not make the connection between the Constitutional right to bear arms and to have an abortion. Why is one hands off and the other a target? Why would the right be so rabid over both but on opposite sides?
Why not make the connection between the Constitutional right to have an abortion and bear arms. Why is the right so rabid about both but one is for and the other against Constitutional right?
Sorry for the double post....stupid login.
Double like,, :>)
Smaller government??
An this is "Freedom"?
On my vehicle, I have a hanger from my license plate. It reads simply:
"Republican Birth Control Plan". One one person tried to rip the hanger off my vehicle and many have taken photos as I sit at red lights. One person - one sign- one effort to stop government control of our bodies and our minds.
Why have we not talked about all the unwanted children. Someone will have to care and feed and educated that child. Most likely the mother and unwanted child will require social assistance which will not be there. What happened to "Freedom" Ryan's " getting government out of your life.
An interesting fact: Exactly 19 years after Roe v Wade (1992), when all the unwanted children Roe v Wade prevented would have reached majority, the crime rate in the US began to STEADILY decline until this year. It has declined 33% over the course of this period--and it will presumably continue to decline.
In "Freakonomics" Levitt & Dubner claims that the exact opposite occurred in Albania, where women were forced to get pregnant and bring their children, wanted or unwanted, to term. About the same time after the beginning of this program, the crime rate began rising in Albania.
If we allow the wingnuts to succeed in stopping abortions in the US, we can expect crime to rise 50% beginning about 20-40 years hence. Why do I not hear about this startling correlation in any of the criticism of the laws in Mississippi, Missouri, and Virginia?
unfortunately, correlation is not causation. if it was, wall street would be mandating miniskirts.
that said, it might make an interesting topic for a scientific study.
The Republican Party is shrinking because of their Extreme Agenda, so the real reason behind all these new State Laws against abortion, contraception and the Republican Party wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade is they want women to be baby mills so they can hopefully increase the Republican Party.
Has anybody else noticed that all the hysteria trying to eliminate abortion only concerns limiting abortions for POOR WOMEN? Wealthy women have NO PROBLEM traveling or staying overnight in places like Phoenex. This reminds me of the BAD OLD DAYS when rich women flew to Europe and came home having had a facial, bought a dress ---and NOT PREGNANT. All this stuff will ABSOLUTELY hurt POOR women but wealthy women will see their personal doctor and will leave with an appointment with a GYN at a nice hospital. It's only poor and middleclass women who need Planned Parenthood and the clinics. THIS is a ANOTHER class warfare action, ODDLY it may result in thinning the ranks of the wealthy thru abortion while adding to the ranks of the very people REPUBLICANS seem to dislike so much--POOR WOMEN and CHILDREN!!
It took me forever to finally get it. It was so simple, I can’t believe it took me so long. It's not about preventing abortion--it's about control!
Women have become a major threat to male dominance and control, to the radical good ole boy ‘White Guy Club’ that’s willing to take extreme steps to keep women ‘in their place,’ to prevent them from gaining control.
As a newlywed in the 1960s I was thrilled to have the luxury of the new birth control pills so we could plan our future rather than take hit or miss chances. Then in the 1970s Roe v Wade was upheld by the Supreme Court, giving women further control over their lives. I recall criteria being established to ensure that abortions were to some degree warranted and to prevent late term abortions. What I don’t recall was an all-out fully orchestrated political campaign to prevent contraceptives and abortions as we are seeing today, 40 or 50 years later.
Why are so many predominantly white Republican men, many of them in our Congress, suddenly crying foul about these long established practices? Why do they stir up their women to join the movement, and incite over-zealous fanatics who go out and kill doctors and staff?
They shout with indignation: ‘It’s murder!’ ‘She’s a harlot if she needs to take contraceptives! She should practice abstinence!’ ‘The government will force her to have an ultrasound with the TV monitor placed right in her face before she can have an abortion.’
If they’re quite so suddenly morally outraged, why not the same call for a ban on male erectile dysfunction medication as well, why not tell men to practice abstinence, too?
Perhaps the most important question is why don’t they show a modicum of concern for the high death rate of infants in our prosperous country? Instead, this club of good ole boys called for cuts to spending on food and healthcare for newborns and their mothers! Cuts that surely will contribute to more infant deaths! But newborns apparently aren’t sacred—just fetuses.
On the surface it’s illogical and it doesn’t make sense. But the smoke is finally clearing and the truth is revealed: They don’t give a damn about contraception or abortion. Those are just tools to exert their control. What does make sense is fear. Fear of losing power and control to a growing population of independent women who are steadily moving into higher and higher positions of power! Women who are no longer subservient and obedient. It scares the hell out of them, and I’m sorry for their unfounded fear. But they can’t put that genie back in the bottle and they should just give up trying!
welcome to consciousness. now get out and vote.
Meanwhile, we have this 14 year old girl that gave birth and then strangled the baby to death. I guess they just want the baby to be old enough to actually feel the pain instead of aborting it before it knows its about to be tortured.
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just transport these abortion cases to a nearby venue than fight these ridiculous towns. The cost of a van to drive them, bus tickets, etc. has to be less than going through all these threats and animosities all the time ?
If nothing else, for peace of mind of both staff and the women that need services.
Where's the peace ?
it's almost always easier and cheaper to just run from the bullies than to confront them. these people at trustwomen are standing up for their rights and that's not always easy.
i'm a guy and have no right to tell a woman what to do with her body.
can't remember who said it, but "if men got pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."