Abortion-Doctor Murder Trial in Turmoil

A Kansas judge has ruled that Scott Roeder, who confessed to killing Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States who openly provided late-term abortions, can argue a defense based on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, defined under state law as "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force." The announcement immediately set off fears among pro-choice groups that allowing such a defense could lead to more violence against other abortion providers. "The judge has basically announced a death sentence for all of us who help women," said Dr. Warren Hern of Boulder, Colorado, another provider of late-term abortions. The Rev. Don Spitz, a militant anti-abortion activist, said he was "flabbergasted, but in a good way."