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Since the death of George Tiller, the third-trimester abortion provider who was killed in Wichita in 2009, former abortion doctor Ann Kristin Neuhaus has been fighting Operation Rescue--one of the country's most radical anti-choice groups--alone. As part of their effort to oust "Tiller the Killer," Operation Rescue lodged frequent accusations of medical misconduct with the Board of Healing Arts, the state medical licensing board, against Tiller and his colleagues. After his murder, Operation Rescue turned the full force of its ire on Neuhaus, who had worked on and off as a consultant for Tiller in the early 2000s.Appeals to the Board of Healing Arts hadn't worked in the past, but the 2010 elections swept in Sam Brownback, a virulent opponent of abortion, as governor. Brownback had the power to select new members for the board, and he immediately made it clear how he'd use that power: His first choice was Richard Macias, a lawyer for Operation Rescue. Over the following months, Brownback continued to appoint members with nakedly anti-choice leanings. In 2012, prompted by an Operation Rescue complaint, the Board of Healing Arts revoked Neuhaus's license and handed her the bill for the proceedings--more than $90,000.
"I'd have to file for bankruptcy to pay what they said I owed. But losing my license was even worse. Thirty years of work were gone. I was back to square one."
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"It was so demoralizing," Neuhaus says. "I'd have to file for bankruptcy to pay what they said I owed. But losing my license was even worse. Thirty years of work were gone. I was back to square one."
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