WICHITA, Kansas, July 2, 2008 – A grand jury has decided it will not indict Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller on charges he performed unlawful late-term abortions.

Today’s decision represents that second time in two years that Dr. Tiller has been indicted by a grand jury.

In a statement released late Wednesday afternoon the grand jury said that the abortions in question were legal under current law because they protected the mental health of a woman. It also noted mental health is considered by the Kansas Supreme Court as “a major bodily function” that needs protecting even if it means having an abortion.

However, the grand jury said it reviewed “a number of questionable late-term abortions,” but those are protected by the current law. If that is going to be changed, said the grand jury, it will have to come from the state legislature passing laws to clearly define whether mental health or other ailments rises to the level that justifies these late-term abortions.

"I think what they are saying is that the terminology used in the statute applied to some of the abortions could be deemed questionable from a lay person’s point of view, but that’s exactly why the decision always has to be intrusted to a medical doctor and the woman herself,” said Tiller’s attorney Dan Monnat.

“We can consider additional legislation and then we have a couple other things that we are exploring right now, but we are not giving up, we are far from done with this,” said Cheryl Sullenger with Operation Rescue.

But according to Tiller’s attorneys, convening another grand jury may not be so easy. The Kansas Supreme Court handed down a ruling a few months ago stating that petitions requesting a grand jury be convened must be reviewed to make sure the juries aren’t being used for harassment. And given that two grand juries in the last couple of years have now ruled in favor of Dr. Tiller, getting another together could prove to be difficult.