DALLAS - Dr. Curtis Boyd is no stranger to controversy. In 1973, Boyd opened the Fairmount Center, which was the first abortion clinic in Texas.
Boyd is the only doctor in North Texas who will perform late-term abortions to women up to six months pregnant.
We see patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and across Texas, he said.
Now, the doctor has made a jarring admission.
Am I killing? Boyd said. Yes, I am. I know that.
Boyd said he is an ordained Baptist minister who has now turned Unitarian. He said he prays often.
I'll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding, he said.
Those prayers are vastly different than the ones that are made by members of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee who gather outside his office in hopes to sway women seeking abortions.
Well, we're certainly disappointed to hear any unborn child will be killed by abortion, said Karen Garnett, with the Catholic Pro-Life Committee. But, to hear it's a late-term abortion in Dallas, once again, it's particularly devastating.
The doctor opened the Southwestern Women's Surgery Center last week on Greenville Avenue. By law, Boyd must have a surgery center in order to abort a fetus more than 16 weeks along.
But, opposition to the late-term abortions doesn't just come from religious groups. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, whose district is where the surgery center resides, told News 8 he is troubled by the facility as well.
Boyd said he too has been troubled, but said his plight comes from the torment that drives patients to seek his services.
The hardest ones are the young girls, he said.
Girls as young as nine and ten have come to his clinic, he said.
Death threats have become a norm in Boyd's life. He was a close friend of Dr. George Tiller, who was a Wichita, Kansas abortion doctor murdered in May.
I don't want the fate that befell Dr. Tiller, but I'm not going to be deterred because what I'm doing is important, he said.
Boyd said he tries to make his phone numbers and address as private as possible and has heavy security.
