Mark Gietzen, 69, Dies; Zealous Lieutenant in the Anti-Abortion Movement

Mark Gietzen, who gained prominence as one of the nation’s most zealous grass-roots opponents of abortion, died on Tuesday. He was 69. The Kansas Republican Party announced his death. The Wichita Eagle reported that Mr. Gietzen died when his Cessna 172 crashed a few miles northeast of Chambers, Neb. Last August, in what would turn out to be his final large-scale political initiative, Mr. Gietzen (pronounced GEET-zin) spent nearly $120,000 to finance a recount of the decisive vote in Kansas to preserve abortion rights. That month, Mr. Gietzen told The...