Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info@operationrescue.org

WICHITA, Kansas, January 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- Operation Rescue filed two motions in Sedgwick County District Court late today to block District Attorney Nola Foulston and disgraced Attorney General Paul Morrison from participating in a grand jury set to convene tomorrow to investigate late-term abortionist George R. Tiller.

"We are seeking to intervene to insure that the will of the 7,500 citizens of Sedgwick County who demanded the grand jury is respected, and that the integrity of this grand jury remains intact," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, who filed the motions along with Mark Geitzen, who represents the petition signers.

Kansas allows for citizens to petition the courts for grand jury investigations. The petition that was approved to convene the Tiller grand jury included a clause that demanded that neither Foulston nor Attorney General Paul Morrison, both supporters of abortion, be allowed to participate in this grand jury because of their ties to Tiller.

Morrison has since resigned as Attorney General amid accusations that he attempted to use a former employee, with whom he was sexually involved, to gather information about a previous Tiller prosecution and other abortion cases for the purpose of illegally influencing them.

"It has become obvious that the Attorney General's office is tainted with the appearance, at least, of impropriety. The District Attorney's office, which has repeatedly acquiesced to Morrison in matters pertaining to Tiller, is now also tainted by that bad judgment and the appearance of collusion," Newman said.

"This is an eleventh-hour, last-ditch effort to insure that there is no hanky-panky with this grand jury," said Newman. "We are asking for an investigation into illegal late-term abortions on viable babies. If criminal abortions are taking place, it means innocent lives are being taken that should have instead been protected. That is a very serious matter - one literally of life and death. As long as Foulston remains at the helm of this investigation, we cannot have any confidence in the process."

Operation Rescue will conduct a public prayer for justice at 9 AM on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, outside the Sedgwick County Courthouse where the grand jury is set to convene for the first time.