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

WICHITA, Kansas, Feb. 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- Yesterday, the Opinion Page of the Wichita Eagle was dominated with an editorial by Rhonda Holman and political cartoon by Richard Crowson attacking Operation Rescue's Troy Newman, and urging a grand jury to disregard any evidence Newman may have presented to the grand jury during when he testified before them last month.

"If the grand jury wants to be fair and impartial in its work, it should be wary of Newman, his fringe group and its harassing and often tasteless tactics," said Holman in her editorial.

"This attack was a shameless attempt to influence the grand jury via the editorial pages of the local newspaper with ad hominem attacks and inaccurate information," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger.

Holman voiced concerns about the privacy rights of women whose abortion records have been subpoenaed by the grand jury, and disparaged the blurred photos released by Operation Rescue of women entering Tiller's Women's Health Care Services abortion clinic obviously in the latest stages of pregnancy. But Holman's concerns are misleading since identifying information about the women was ordered redacted from the records, and photos released by Operation Rescue concealed the faces of the women.

"Privacy arguments are red herrings. A serious investigation into criminal abortions is being conducted and the grand jury is legally entitled to whatever evidence they require. Lives are at stake here. All due effort is being taken to protect the privacy of women, but you can't excuse criminal conduct by claiming in was done under a cloak of privacy," said Sullenger.

Addressing Homan's accusation that OR tactics are harassing, Sullenger responded, "The last time I checked, exercising the First Amendment was not considered harassment, despite Holman's inflammatory rhetoric. Holman would rather that viable-baby abortions illegally continue than face the truth that Tiller may be violating the law. This reveals a militant support for illegal post-viability abortions, which is a startlingly radical position for an editorial board to take."

"As much as they want to shift the focus from Tiller's alleged criminal late-term abortion ring, the truth will win out. Let the grand jury conduct their investigation unimpeded and let justice prevail," said Sullenger.

Read Holman's Editorial

Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation.  Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America.  Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.