World Jun. 10, 2009 - 03:38PM JST ( 33 )

CHICAGO —

One of the few remaining US clinics that provided controversial late-term abortions will close in the wake of its owner’s murder, the slain doctor’s family said Tuesday.

The decision has left counseling centers scrambling to find a place to send women seeking to abort a fetus in the second or third trimester, at a time when providers across the country are fearful they could be the next target.

George Tiller, 67, was a lightning rod in the nation’s culture wars over abortion and had already been shot in the arms and seen his Kansas clinic bombed, vandalized and targeted by decades of protests before he was gunned down in the foyer of his church on May 31.

Just two other clinics in the United States are believed to provide the controversial procedure, which is legal in many states only when a doctor determines that an abortion is necessary to preserve the health or life of the mother.

Abortion opponents argued that doctors like Tiller stretched the definition of preserving a women’s health to cover mere moodiness.

Less than 0.4% of U.S. abortions are performed after 23 weeks—the point at which a fetus could be viable outside the womb—according to the most recent study by the Guttmacher Institute.

“It’s almost exclusively for reasons of fetal or maternal health: extreme fetal abnormalities or serious threats to the mother,” said Rachel Jones, a senior researcher at the institute, which studies reproductive and sexual health.

It is not clear whether the two remaining clinics will be able to absorb Tiller’s caseload, Jones said, and it’s possible some women may end up dying because they could not access the highly-specialized procedure.

Tiller’s family had initially said the clinic would reopen after a brief mourning period, but on Tuesday said it would be “permanently closed” and that the family would cease any involvement with abortion clinics.

“We are proud of the service and courage shown by our husband and father and know that women’s health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service,” the family said in a statement issued by their lawyers.

“That is a legacy that will never die. The family will honor Dr Tiller’s memory through private charitable activities.

“The Tiller family wishes to assure Dr Tiller’s past patients that the privacy of their medical histories and patient records will remain as fiercely protected now and in the future as they were during Dr Tiller’s lifetime.”

Around 1,000 mourners gathered in Wichita, Kansas, for Tiller’s funeral on Saturday where police ringed off groups of protesters who held signs outside claiming “God sent the shooter” and “God hates abortions.”

A 51-year-old Kansas City area resident with a history of mental problems and links to anti-abortion groups has been charged with his murder.

Many anti-abortion groups have denounced his killing and distanced themselves from his alleged killer, Scott Roeder, who was remanded on a $5 million bond.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it will see whether any other crimes were committed by Roeder or others in connection with Tiller’s death.

In a jailhouse interview with CNN Tuesday, Roeder said the clinic’s closure was ” a victory for all the unborn children” and would mean “no more slicing and dicing of the unborn child in the mother’s womb and no more needles of poison into the baby’s heart to stop the heart from beating, and no more partial-birth abortions.”

Roeder did not admit to the slaying, but told CNN that if he is convicted “the entire motive was the defense of the unborn.”

Wire reports