Kansas doctor offers free abortions

WICHITA, KANSAS - A doctor who was once shot by an anti-abortion protester marked the 29th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by offering free abortions Saturday, a move that drew more than 100 protesters to his clinic. <br> <br> With the protesters yelling and praying from beyond a fence, Dr. George Tiller spoke to 65 supporters Saturday morning and warned them that abortion rights are at a fragile point. <br> <br> ``This is an alert. It is a wakeup call,&#39;&#39; Tiller said. ``We are sort of a huddled mass here together, a few of us arrayed against a vast enemy. We are armed with our attitude and our conviction that men and women are reproductively equal.<br> <br> Former President Clinton had thwarted opponents&#39; attempts to curb access to abortions, legalized by a Supreme Court decision Jan. 22, 1973. President Bush, however, opposes abortion, and conservatives in Congress and several states have pushed for abortion restrictions. <br> <br> In a proclamation late Friday, Bush declared Sunday to be National Sanctity of Human Life Day. ``Unborn children should be welcomed in life and protected in law,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Among those joining Tiller on Saturday was Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who successfully challenged a Nebraska ban on so-called ``partial-birth&#39;&#39; abortion, a type of late-term abortion. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to strike down the measure in 2000. More than half the states have passed similar bans. <br> <br> ``This clinic has weathered the opposition probably more than any other place in the United States, and they have done it so well,&#39;&#39; Carhart said. <br> <br> Tiller, one of the few other physicians in the country to perform late-term abortions, has been a continued focus of anti-abortion protesters. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and he was shot in both arms by an abortion protester in 1993 - but returned to work the next day. The 1991 ``Summer of Mercy&#39;&#39; campaign, which resulted in nearly 2,700 arrests, targeted his clinic. Protesters targeted the clinic again last summer. <br> <br> ``Any time the sanctity of life is being shown such complete disregard, we are going to come out in force - and exemplify that the majority of Kansans really do believe abortion should be rare and it shouldn&#39;t be taken lightly,&#39;&#39; said Joan Hawkins, director of Kansans for Life. <br> <br> Tiller said Saturday at least 32 low-income women had signed up for the free first-trimester abortions. <br> <br> Outside the clinic, protesters decried the offer as a publicity stunt. <br> <br> ``Abortions are not something to hand away like candy at Halloween, abortions are not something like free balloons at a circus,&#39;&#39; said Troy Newman, one of the national leaders for Operation Save America. ``Abortions are killing children. Wake up, wake up!&#39;&#39;