WICHITA, Kan. — For abortion opponents, the trial of one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers is a chance for a little bit of justice after years of seeing their efforts thwarted. To abortion-rights supporters, Dr. George Tiller’s trial, to begin Monday, is the culmination of a witch hunt.

Tiller and his Wichita clinic have been regular targets of anti-abortion demonstrations. His clinic was damaged by a pipe bomb in 1986, and in 1993, a protester shot him in both arms.

Kansas law allows late-term abortions if two doctors agree that it is necessary to save a women’s life or prevent “substantial and irreversible” harm to “a major bodily function,” a phrase that’s been interpreted to include mental health. Tiller is charged with 19 misdemeanors alleging he failed to obtain the required second opinion.