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U.S. Justice Dept to probe Kansas abortion murder

WASHINGTON
Fri Jun 5, 2009 3:27pm EDT
Kansas doctor George Tiller is seen in a framegrab from undated video footage. REUTERS/via REUTERS TV

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it is launching an investigation into the murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, who had been reviled by anti-abortion groups.

U.S.

The Justice Department said it would investigate whether Tiller's murder violated a 1994 U.S. law that establishes penalties for those who block access to abortion services.

Kansas authorities have charged Scott Roeder with murder in the Sunday shooting death of Tiller in his church.

Tiller was one of only a few physicians in the United States willing to perform late-term abortions, those performed after the 20th week of gestation when a fetus potentially could survive outside the womb and legal under certain conditions.

Tiller's Wichita clinic had been the site of several mass protests by anti-abortion groups and was bombed in 1985. The doctor was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent in 1993.

After the shooting, Attorney General Eric Holder directed agents to protect other abortion facilities.
U.S.


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