Angel Dillard’s civil trial began Tuesday in Wichita. The federal government is suing her under a law aimed at protecting women’s access to abortion services and is seeking damages, financial penalties and an order of protection keeping her away from Dr. Mila Means.
One of Dillard’s attorneys told jurors that the government is trying to shut down free speech about matters with which it disagrees.
Dillard sent the letter to Means in 2011, when Means was training to provide abortions. At the time, there hadn’t been any doctors providing abortions in Wichita since the 2009 killing of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion zealot.