By JOHN HANNA

Associated Press

TOPEKA -- Numerous political debates and legal disputes involving abortion providers continue to demonstrate that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is a key figure in all of them.

True, the latest event last week seemed removed from her. A grand jury in Sedgwick County declined to indict Dr. George Tiller, one of the few U.S. physicians performing late-term abortions.

But the grand jury said any indictment of Tiller is unlikely unless legislators rewrite a state law restricting late-term procedures. That raised the question of whether lawmakers should rewrite the law -- and what Sebelius, a strong abortion rights advocate, would accept.

Abortion opponents consistently argue the problem isn't the law but its enforcement. It's not necessary to take a position on that issue to conclude that Sebelius' influence is significant.

She appoints members of the board regulating doctors. A health department under her direction enforces reporting requirements. She's appointed the current attorney general, and next year, four of the seven state Supreme Court justices will be her picks.

And in April 2007, Tiller attended a reception at Cedar Crest, the governor's residence, and photos show the two of them shaking hands. Sebelius and her staff say he won the right to have the event in a group's fundraising auction, but that didn't lessen abortion foes' outrage.

"It's clear that she's strongly allied politically with Tiller, and there's no doubt in my mind that she's going to act to use the power of the governor's office in any way that she can to protect him," said Rep. Lance Kinzer, an anti-abortion Olathe Republican.

Sebelius and her supporters dismiss such comments. She said last week that abortion opponents have turned debates about state law into "wide-based assaults on privacy rights." (In legalizing some abortions across the nation in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court cited women's right to privacy.)

"I have not seen a bill hit my desk in the years I have been governor that hasn't had serious constitutional questions raised by a whole variety of sources," she said.

This year, Sebelius vetoed a bill imposing additional restrictions on abortion providers and allowing lawsuits against them to block late-term procedures. She vetoed measures requiring additional reporting by physicians in 2006 and 2007, and new licensing requirements for clinics in 2003 and 2005.

But it's not just legislative battles frustrating abortion opponents.

The attorney general's office is pursuing 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller, alleging he failed to get a second opinion on some late-term procedures from an independent physician, as required by law. He denies wrongdoing.

Abortion opponents believe the attorney general's office should be pursuing Tiller more aggressively.

The case against Tiller was started by former Attorney General Paul Morrison, an abortion rights supporter. Many Democrats believed Sebelius was instrumental in getting Morrison to switch parties to run in 2006, when he ousted Phill Kline, an anti-abortion Republican.

When Morrison was forced to resign in January because of a sex scandal, Sebelius appointed Steve Six to replace him.

Abortion opponents' frustration with the attorney general's office under Morrison led them to pursue a grand jury in Sedgwick County, using a law that allows citizens to circulate petitions to force one to convene.

They believed, as Kline did, that Tiller was performing late-term abortions in violation of a state law meant to limit them to medical emergencies. Morrison read the law more narrowly than Kline did -- and the grand jury's reasoning was in line with Morrison's opinion.

Meanwhile, other agencies have a role in regulating abortion providers.

Providers file reports on late-term abortions with the Department and Health and Environment, whose secretary is appointed by the governor.

Abortion foes believe physicians should be -- and are -- required by law to give the actual medical diagnosis that warrants an abortion, rather than the statement KDHE allows that a woman's health faces "substantial and irreversible" harm if she does not have one.

The State Board of Healing Arts licenses doctors and has been accused repeatedly by abortion foes of lax regulation of abortion providers, which it has denied.

The governor appoints its 15 members and its former longtime executive director was the husband of a Sebelius aide.

And finally, there's the Supreme Court.

The court is hearing two lawsuits over the custody of edited medical records from about 90 patients' files from Tiller's clinic and one operated by Planned Parenthood in Overland Park.

Kline, now Johnson County district attorney, has copies of Planned Parenthood records. A Shawnee County judge has custody of copies of documents from both clinics. The issue is whether they're returned to the clinics.

Sebelius has appointed three justices since taking office in January 2003. Two more were appointed by her predecessor, Republican Bill Graves, whom anti-abortion groups saw as hostile to them.

Because of a mandatory retirement law, Chief Justice Kay McFarland cannot stand for retention this year for another six-year term and will leave office by January 2009. Her replacement will be Sebelius' fourth appointment.

A nonpartisan commission will screen applications and give Sebelius three nominees. But the final choice will be hers -- and it won't be subject to Senate confirmation, where abortion opponents could raise questions.

Thus, it's not hard to see why abortion opponents believe much of state government is aligned against them. When they look for someone to crack down on abortion providers, they often find someone with a tie to Sebelius.

AP political writer John Hanna has covered state government and politics since 1987.