TOPEKA (AP) -- Attorney General Stephen Six is resisting a subpoena from a Sedgwick County grand jury investigating abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.
Six asked the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday to quash the subpoena or at least temporarily block its enforcement. The grand jury demanded the records of 60 patients from Tiller's clinic in Wichita, which the attorney general's office had obtained as part of an earlier investigation.
Attorneys for Tiller, one of the few U.S. physicians who performs late-term abortions, already have asked the Supreme Court to block three other subpoenas that the doctor received from the grand jury. One of them seeks the records of about 2,000 patients from Tiller's clinic.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the subpoenas to Tiller couldn't be enforced until the justices decide whether to quash them. The court said Tiller's legal challenge raised "significant issues" about the grand jury's authority and patients' privacy.
Six said the records sought from his office are covered by the subpoenas the grand jury served on Tiller -- and therefore are covered by the Supreme Court's order. He also questioned whether the grand jury had the authority to issue the subpoenas and said patients' privacy could be in jeopardy.
"We simply want to give the Kansas Supreme Court the opportunity to examine these issues," said Six spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett. "Our subpoena deals with a subset of the medical records involved in the Supreme Court's recent ruling."
Six disclosed last week that he had received two subpoenas from the grand jury. He complied with one, which sought testimony gathered previously from a doctor who worked with Tiller on some late-term abortions.
Tiller's clinic has been the target of frequent protests and the inspiration for legislative attempts to restrict abortion. His clinic was bombed in 1986, and seven years later, a woman shot him in both arms.
Last year, Six's predecessor, Paul Morrison, filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller in Sedgwick County District Court. Morrison alleged Tiller failed to obtain a second opinion on late-term abortions in 2003 from an independent physician, as required by a 1998 state law. The case is pending, and Six has said it still will be prosecuted.
Morrison was forced to resign Jan. 31 after a year in office because of a scandal involving an extramarital affair with a former subordinate. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed Six to fill the remaining three years of Morrison's four-year term.
Abortion opponents believed Morrison wasn't pursuing Tiller aggressively enough and forced Sedgwick County to convene a grand jury for another investigation. Kansas is one of only six states to allow citizens to petition to create a grand jury, and Sedgwick County's convened Jan. 8.
Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney, said Six's request to the Supreme Court is encouraging.
"Dr. Tiller's foremost concern is always protection of his patients," Monnat said in a statement. "Dr. Tiller is pleased to hear the voice of the top law enforcement officer in the state join in his call for protection of patient privacy."
Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, the state's largest anti-abortion group, said she is appalled. Her group had been wary of Six because of his appointment by Sebelius, a strong abortion rights supporter.
"They switched names, they switched faces, but it doesn't appear as if anything else has changed," she said. "All the signs had been pointing a certain way, but this is more than a sign. It's a slap in the face to the people of Kansas."
Six's petition to the Supreme Court named as defendants District Judge Michael Corrigan, Sedgwick County's chief judge, and retired Judge Paul Buchanan, who's supervising the grand jury.
The attorney general said in documents filed with the court that the grand jury subpoena ordered him to turn over the patient records by Feb. 20. Six said he asked the judges to quash the subpoena, but they refused.
Six also asked the Supreme Court to consolidate the case he filed with Tiller's legal challenge to the grand jury subpoenas he received.
The attorney general's filing Friday was the latest development in a series of legal disputes surrounding Tiller.
Former Attorney General Phill Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, began investigating both in 2003 and eventually obtained the 60 records from Tiller's clinic. Kline filed a criminal case against Tiller in Sedgwick County, only to see it dismissed for jurisdictional reasons.
Kline lost his 2006 re-election race to Morrison, an abortion rights Democrat. After Morrison took office in January 2007, he reviewed the evidence Kline had collected on Tiller.
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Six's case is Stephen N. Six v. The Honorable Michael Corrigan and Paul Buchanan, No. 100,042.
Tiller's case is George R. Tiller, M.D. and Women's Health Care Services Inc. v. Honorable Michael Corrigan and Honorable Paul Buchanan, No. 99,951.
On the Net:
Kansas Supreme Court: http://www.kscourts.org
Attorney general's office: http://www.ksag.org
Tiller's clinic: http://www.drtiller.com
Kansans for Life: http://www.kfl.org