Attorneys for Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller have taken their case to the Kansas Supreme Court.

Papers filed early Friday with the state's highest court ask judges to throw out a grand jury investigation into Dr. Tiller. Only a few hours later in Sedgwick County Court, a judge upheld his Tuesday decision, forcing Tiller to turn over some 2,000 patient file numbers to the grand jury. Prosecutors say the patient records are needed to determine if Tiller broke the law by giving late-term abortions to women who did not need them.

State law allows late-term abortions in cases where the mother's health is at significant risk if the pregnancy continues.

Friday, Sedgwick County Judge Paul Buchanan said names on the files could be blacked out, but patient identification numbers must remain. That troubles Tiller's attorneys.

"The problem... is that the file numbers themselves reveal patient identifying information," said defense attorney Dan Monnat. He compared this inquest into patient records with that of former Attorney General Phill Kline in 2006. In that investigation, Monnat says Kline was able to cross-reference patient ID numbers with hotels in the area where out-of-town patients had stayed, thereby deriving their names.

"We think that he violated the late-term abortion law and that it will show in the patient records," said David Gittrich, state development director for Kansans For Life, a pro-life advocacy group. "We don't care who the people are."

Prosecutors say the names will be protected, and that grand jury information is well guarded from the public. Still, Tiller's attorneys fear a leak could jeopardize patient privacy laws.

Pro-life advocates say Tiller's attorneys are only delaying the grand jury process -- forcing the clock to run down on the jury's 90 day deadline in which it must decide whether to file charges. Tiller's attorneys say this is not about delays, but about patient rights.

"Those subpoenas cannot be enforced and this grand jury needs to be disbanded because it's unconstitutional," Monnat said.

Monnat expects a decision from the Kansas Supreme Court on whether to stay grand jury proceedings by the end of Friday or Monday. If approved, the grand jury investigation would have to stop until both sides have a chance to argue their case before the high court.