Abortion Practitioner Accused of Killing Baby Born Alive After Botched Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 24, 2008
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion practitioner in Kansas stands accused of killing a baby who apparently was born alive following a failed abortion procedure. Officials with the pro-life group Operation Rescue alerted LifeNews.com to the situation and said it involves infamous late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller.
Tiller runs the Women's Health Care Services abortion center in Wichita, Kansas and often employs other abortion practitioners there on a part-time basis.
The incident saw Shelley Sella, a California abortion practitioner sometimes employed by Tiller, intentionally stab to death an infant born alive during an abortion.
In this case, former Tiller employee Tina Davis told OR staff that the incident took place sometime in the last two years. Davis informed the pro-life group of the baby's horrific death in April and the organization reported it to the Wichita Police Department.
The pro-life group also notified the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, which has confirmed that the case has been assigned to an investigator.
Sella reportedly splits her time with Tiller's abortion center, one in California, and smaller abortion centers across the country.
"Davis gave us a very specific eyewitness account about the incident," Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com.
"We were told that the baby was 35 weeks gestation at the time of the abortion. The baby came out and was moving," he continued. "Sella looked up at Ms. Davis, then picked up a utensil and stabbed the baby in the left ribcage, twisting the utensil until the baby quit moving."
Newman said he hopes officials will investigate the incident as a murder case.
"At 35 weeks, there is no doubt about viability. This is murder in anybody's book," he said.
However, Newman acknowledged officials would have a tough time since the baby's body would have been incinerated at Tiller's on-site crematorium.
"Without a body, any murder case becomes more difficult," said Newman.
"However, because of the brutality of this murder and the gravity of this charge, we are compelled to demand that Tiller's clinic be closed by the state until a full inspection and investigation can take place."
He also called for the medical board to temporarily suspend Sella's and Tiller's licenses while the investigation moves ahead.
Newman said his group has been able to independently confirm many of the details of Davis' account of the baby's death.
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 24, 2008
Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion practitioner in Kansas stands accused of killing a baby who apparently was born alive following a failed abortion procedure. Officials with the pro-life group Operation Rescue alerted LifeNews.com to the situation and said it involves infamous late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller.
Tiller runs the Women's Health Care Services abortion center in Wichita, Kansas and often employs other abortion practitioners there on a part-time basis.
The incident saw Shelley Sella, a California abortion practitioner sometimes employed by Tiller, intentionally stab to death an infant born alive during an abortion.
In this case, former Tiller employee Tina Davis told OR staff that the incident took place sometime in the last two years. Davis informed the pro-life group of the baby's horrific death in April and the organization reported it to the Wichita Police Department.
The pro-life group also notified the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, which has confirmed that the case has been assigned to an investigator.
Sella reportedly splits her time with Tiller's abortion center, one in California, and smaller abortion centers across the country.
"Davis gave us a very specific eyewitness account about the incident," Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com.
"We were told that the baby was 35 weeks gestation at the time of the abortion. The baby came out and was moving," he continued. "Sella looked up at Ms. Davis, then picked up a utensil and stabbed the baby in the left ribcage, twisting the utensil until the baby quit moving."
Newman said he hopes officials will investigate the incident as a murder case.
"At 35 weeks, there is no doubt about viability. This is murder in anybody's book," he said.
However, Newman acknowledged officials would have a tough time since the baby's body would have been incinerated at Tiller's on-site crematorium.
"Without a body, any murder case becomes more difficult," said Newman.
"However, because of the brutality of this murder and the gravity of this charge, we are compelled to demand that Tiller's clinic be closed by the state until a full inspection and investigation can take place."
He also called for the medical board to temporarily suspend Sella's and Tiller's licenses while the investigation moves ahead.
Newman said his group has been able to independently confirm many of the details of Davis' account of the baby's death.
