Activists have their way at abortion clinic

Wichita, Kansas: It took waiting eight hours, but abortion opponents succeeded in holding a memorial service on Saturday at the closed clinic of slain abortion provider George Tiller.

As dusk fell on this Kansas city, a small group of 10 abortion foes showed up at the clinic to lay hundreds of flowers and hold a brief prayer service to memorialise the more than 60,000 abortions performed here.

A group of counter-protesters that had thwarted the event for most of the day were long gone.

"It was very peaceful," said Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for Operation Rescue. "It was exactly what we wanted."

Abortion opponents had planned a noon event at Tiller's clinic, one of the few in the nation where third-trimester abortions were available.

But the main event was moved after more than 40 abortion rights supporters announced plans for their own demonstrations and stood outside the clinic for hours.

About 30 abortion opponents held the event instead at Operation Rescue's national headquarters, the site of a closed Wichita abortion clinic the group bought in 2006.

Tiller was gunned down on May 31 at his church. Murder and aggravated assault charges were filed against Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Missouri.

"Our original intent was to prevent them from doing their proverbial dance on a murdered man's grave," said Marla Patrick, state coordinator for the National Organisation for Women, which coordinated the counter-protest.

Abortion opponents also laid flowers earlier on Saturday in front of the Operation Rescue building, a local hospital and a third abortion clinic that closed in 1991.

The 3,000 flowers represented the average number of abortions done each year at Tiller's clinic, the group said.

One of those at the flower-laying ceremony at Operation Rescue headquarters was the Rev Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defence Coalition of Washington, D.C., who condemned Tiller's shooting. Mahoney told the group they were praying for Tiller's family. "We are not celebrating the death of Tiller," he said.

Mahoney helped lead the 1991 'Summer of Mercy' abortion protests in Wichita, which saw thousands of arrests.

Tiller's family has said his clinic would remain permanently closed in the wake of his death.