(CNSNews.com) - More than 60 pro-life leaders from across the country called on Congress Thursday to suspend over $300 million in annual taxpayer funding to the nation's biggest abortion provider while one of its local affiliates faces 107 criminal counts in Kansas.

"Congress has a duty to the American taxpayer to ensure that public funds are not used to support illegal activities," said Brian Burch, president of the Catholic advocacy group Fidelis, in a news release announcing the letter, which was sent to each member in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

"Given the evidence compiled in connection with these charges, Congress must take immediate action to ensure that federal funds are not being used to harm and endanger women," he added. "Anything less would constitute a serious breach of the public trust."

Burch was one of 62 signers - including the leaders of such conservative groups as Conservative Women for America, Women Influencing the Nation (WIN) and Operation Rescue - seeking "immediate suspension of Planned Parenthood's federal funding until it can be determined whether the organization violated state and/or federal laws."

According to the complaint filed in Kansas's Johnson County District Court last week, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is accused of 29 misdemeanor counts of performing "unlawful late-term abortions," 29 misdemeanor counts of "unlawful failure to determine viability for late-term abortion," 23 felony counts of "making false information" and 27 misdemeanor counts of "unlawful failure to maintain records."

Because the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) operates about 860 facilities around the U.S. and approximately 40 states ban late-term abortions, "this illegal conduct may be happening all over the country," the letter stated.

"States have passed laws on late-term abortions because they are detrimental to women as well as babies," the document noted. "Women are often not informed that late-term abortions increase the likelihood of severe blood loss, damage to vital organs, later premature births and loss of fertility."

Thursday's letter is the latest fallout of charges filed on Oct. 17 by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, who served for eight years in the Kansas House of Representatives before narrowly winning election as state attorney general in 2002.

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Kline ordered Kansas abortion clinics to turn over the medical records of women and girls who had late-term abortions in 2003 to learn if they'd had the procedure after the unborn child had gestated for 22 weeks, the legal limit in the state.

Kline later sought to prosecute Wichita-based abortionist George Tiller.

However, he lost the post in the 2006 election to abortion rights supporter Johnson County D.A. Paul Morrison, and in a bizarre twist, Kline was soon appointed to fill Morrison's old office.

While telephone calls seeking comment from Planned Parenthood were not returned by press time, Peter Brownlie, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said in a release on the PPFA Web site that the charges are "baseless" and part of an "outrageous attack" by Kline, whom he called "a hard-line crusader against reproductive rights."

The records and documents upon which Kline is relying have been fully reviewed by Morrison, Brownlie added, who announced in June that after "an objective, unbiased and thorough examination of the numerous documents and medical records," no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing was found.

"This attack on women's rights must end," Brownlie stated.

However, WIN President Jenn Giroux told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that attempts to narrow the issue to a "crusade" by Kline overlooks the fact that District Judge James Vano spent eight hours reviewing the indictment on Oct. 17 before deciding there was "probable cause" to proceed with the case.

"There's a lot of political back-and-forth going on in Kansas, but when you have 107 charges and a finding of probable cause, it moves from the political realm to the legal realm," Giroux stated. "It'll be very interesting to see what the evidence is" when it is unsealed and presented to a jury sometime in the next few months.

Cybercast News Service also reported that during its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the PPFA attained a profit of $55.8 million after receiving record taxpayer funding of $305.3 million.

Jim Sedlak, executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP) International, said on Thursday that although Democrats have marginal control of both houses of Congress, the charges in Kansas might be enough to convince federal officials that the abortion provider doesn't deserve government money.

"We had a very significant vote in July in the House on the labor, health and human services bill," he told Cybercast News Service. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) "introduced an amendment to take all Title X money away from Planned Parenthood, and although we didn't win that time, we failed by only 20 votes."

Sedlak stated that the 107 criminal counts submitted last week are "only going to add to the reasons why Planned Parenthood should not get funding," noting that "a district attorney put the charges together, and a judge reviewed the thousands of pages of documents supporting them."

"It's not as if somebody just beamed it up and threw the charges in," he added.

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