Few cases attempting to revoke an abortionist’s license have stretched out over 14 years, but a case against Kansas abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus did just that. Pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue recently learned “Shawnee County Court Judge Franklin Theis issued a judgement that upheld a January 2019 license revocation order issued by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts against abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus.” Read the judge’s ruling here.
The allegations against Neuhaus’ licensure started back in 1999 — allegations like forcing abortions after consent was withdrawn, “shoddy record-keeping,” and other medical abuses. Allegations were brought against her again in 2001. As a result, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts (HSBHA) restricted her ability to practice medicine. This led Neuhaus to shut down her own abortion facility in Lawrence, Kansas. By 2002, she had also quit her job at Central Women’s Health Services, late abortionist George Tiller’s facility in Wichita.
However, Neuhaus had not yet given up her abortion livelihood. Instead, she partnered with Tiller as a “second medical opinion” — basically rubber stamping all of his abortion procedures.
It was actually the former executive director of the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, Larry Buening, who recommended that Neuhaus partner with Tiller, as she needed a source of income. According to Operation Rescue, the requirements for a second opinion medical signature stated that the physician needed to be “unaffiliated with the person conducting the abortion” and the physician “had to agree that the abortion was medically necessary.” Obviously, Neuhaus was affiliated with Tiller’s facility, as she would now be paid by them to carry out this shady arrangement. While Tiller allegedly had objections to the legality of this plan, Buening assured him that the law would be no problem to him in this case. Buening later denied the conversation upon interrogation, and eventually resigned from the KSBHA.
Upon learning of the questionable Tiller/Neuhaus partnership in October 2006, Operation Rescue filed a complaint with the KSBHA, stating that the arrangement was an unlawful. In 2009, the KSBHA issued an 11-count disciplinary petition against Tiller. However, Tiller died soon afterwards and his center was shut down. In July of 2010, the KSBHA filed another 11-count disciplinary petition — this time against Neuhaus.
A court hearing following the petition revealed the strategy Neuhaus used to avoid the heavier restrictions placed on late-term abortions at the time: she exploited the “mental health exceptions” loophole. Neuhaus typically had little to no contact with Tiller’s abortion patients — clearly not enough to properly diagnose a mental condition — but input patients’ medical information into a software called “Psych Manager Lite” which then calculated a mental health diagnosis to provide a justification for each patient’s abortion. The law, however, also required that the mental health exception be “substantial and irreversible.” The diagnoses Neuhaus made did not meet this qualification.
Over the following nine years, four more attempts to revoke Neuhaus’ medical license were attempted by the KBSHA and all but the fourth were successfully appealed by Neuhaus.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman remarked, “We are extremely relieved that Neuhaus will not be allowed to get her license back and will never be able to conduct another abortion. That means women and their babies will continue to be spared from Neuhaus’ shoddy practices…. Neuhaus’ arrogant and defiant attitude made her a danger to the public and was ultimately her undoing. She always acted as though her status as an abortionist placed her above the law. It took 14 years to prove she was wrong.”
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