Esteemed Doctor and Friend of George Tiller to Provide Late Term Abortion Care in Kansas

While the closing of Dr. Tiller’s clinic and the infuriating possibility that anti-choice extremist group Operation Rescue may try to buy the space has made us realize things actually could get worse, Dr. LeRoy Carhart brings us some hope.
Via Feministe, we find that Carhart has stepped in to take Dr. Tiller’s place in providing late term abortions in Kansas, although potential plans to open an actual clinic are unknown:

A Nebraska doctor said Wednesday that he will perform third-term abortions in Kansas after the slaying of abortion provider George Tiller, but would not say whether he will open a new facility or offer the procedure at an existing practice.
Dr. LeRoy Carhart declined to discuss his plans in detail during a telephone interview with The Associated Press, but insisted “there will be a place in Kansas for the later second- and the medically indicated third-trimester patients very soon.”
“I just think that until everything is in place, it’s something that doesn’t need to be talked about” in detail, Carhart said a day after Tiller’s family announced his Wichita clinic was permanently shutting its doors.
Tiller’s clinic was one of the only facilities in the country that performed third-trimester abortions. Carhart has run his own clinic in Bellevue, Neb., since 1985, but had performed late-term abortions at Tiller’s clinic because of Nebraska’s more restrictive abortion laws.

Carhart is indeed of the Gonzales v. Carhart Supreme Court case, which upheld the 2007 Federal Abortion Ban. (Carhart argued that the ban didn’t provide an exception for the woman’s health.) He was also a longtime friend of George Tiller.
Check out Ann’s piece from a couple of years ago when she met Carhart at his Nebraska clinic, which he had struggled to keep open himself amidst anti-choice forces. But whether or not he opens a clinic in Kansas or practices at an already-existing clinic, we all can rest easier knowing this brave doctor is stepping in to protect women’s health and lives.