Anti-abortion ex-Kansas AG faces hearing

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TOPEKA, Kan., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline defended his investigation of two abortion clinics during a disciplinary hearing this week.

He was questioned Monday and Tuesday about his appearance on the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" in 2006 and his surveillance of a Wichita clinic run by Dr. George Tiller, The Capitol Journal of Topeka reported. The clinic, one of the few in the country where late-term abortions were performed, closed in 2009 after Tiller was killed.

On the witness stand, Kline said agents from his office identified the owners of cars parked outside Tiller's clinic because they were trying to find employees to question.

Asked Tuesday about appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show, where Tiller was called a "baby-killer" during the lead-in, Kline said he did not believe he violated Kansas ethics rules.

The state Board for the Discipline of Attorneys is also hearing evidence Kline lied to the state Supreme Court and a Johnston County grand jury. If he is found to have violated ethical rules, the penalty would be up to the state Supreme Court.

Kline teaches at Liberty University in Virginia, a conservative institution founded by Jerry Falwell, and has allowed his Kansas law license to lapse.