Abortion clinic case heard by high court

Attorney General Phil Kline of Kansas is doing a tremendous job exposing and prosecuting the horror that takes place in Kansas abortion mills every day.  We were privileged to be a part of the team that helped get him elected.  Now, he is fulfilling his promises, first to his Lord Jesus and then to God's people and the electorate.  Hallelujah!  Join all of us in Wichita, Kansas this October 5-8.  Keith Tucci, Rusty Thomas, Bill Shanks, and all the Operation Rescue crew will be there to allow the theology of the Church house to become biography in the streets.

Abortion clinic case heard by high court

By David Klepper

Kansas City Star

TOPEKA- Attorney General Phill Kline wants access to 90 abortion clinic medical records because he believes every record contains clues to felonies committed by child predators and the clinics themselves.

In oral arguments before the state Supreme Court on Thursday, a prosecutor for Kline gave the most details yet as to what Kline hopes to gain from reviewing the medical records that have been subpoenaed from two clinics.

Deputy Attorney General Eric Rucker told the justices the crimes committed by the clinics could include criminal failure to report child abuse and illegal abortions. The women weren't selected at random, Rucker said, but because there's probable cause that a crime was committed. “It is not just one possible felony, but more that one felony I each of the 90 records,” Deputy Attorney General Eric Rucker told the justices.

Kline is seeking records of women and girls who received abortions at the Women's Health Care clinic in Wichita and the Comprehensive Health clinic in Overland Park.

The clinics asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a Shawnee County judge issued subpoenas at Kline's request. The clinics say the subpoenas are too broad and that unless the request is limited, it constitutes a violation of privacy.

The subpoenas demand the entire medical records, including names, addresses and sexual and mental health histories. All 90 of the women received late-term abortions. Nearly three fourths of the women were adults when they received an abortion.

While child predators remain another target of the investigation, Thursday was the first time a prosecutor in the case has said the clinics are suspected of multiple felonies. Clinic officials called the accusations absurd and politically motivated.

“We've known we were the target,” said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri which operates the clinic in Overland Park that is under subpoena.

This attorney general has been very clear that he was out to get abortion providers, But it's never been stated before like it was today.”

The Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides for more than an hour Thursday. A ruling could come any time but isn't expected before the end of October. Kline did not speak at the hearing, but released a written statement afterward saying the legal system is “working appropriately.”

Justices repeatedly asked Rucker whether prosecutors subpoenaed other records that could contain evidence of child rape, such as live births. Rucker said they had not. Justices also asked Rucker what led prosecutors to believe there was evidence of a crime contained within the files.

Though he wouldn't elaborate, Rucker said there is probable cause to believe the clinics are not reporting suspicions on child abuse and are ignoring laws regulating late-term abortion.

By Kansas law, physicians are required to report any suspicion that a patient has been abused physically, emotionally or sexually. According to Kansas law, any girl under 16 impregnated by an adult man is considered to have been raped. In 2004, 79 girls under 15 received abortions in Kansas , accounting for 0.7 percent of all abortions reported to the state.

Abortion providers are prohibited from performing abortions after 22 weeks gestation unless the fetus will not survive or a continued pregnancy would harm the mother.

Failure by a physician to report child abuse is a misdemeanor, Illegal late-term abortion is also a misdemeanor, but multiple occurrences can elevate it to a felony. Brownlie said after the hearing that the clinics report all suspicions of abuse and follow all rules for lat-term abortions.

A lawyer for the clinics, Lee Thompson, told the justices that intimate medical information should only be subpoenaed when the records are of “compelling state interest” and then only in “the least intrusive manner possible.”

If Kline suspects illegal late-term abortions, the he could subpoena sonograms used by physicians in late-term abortions, Thompson said. If he is investigating abortions performed on minors, he doesn't need files for adult women. If the clinics are under suspicion, the identifying information of the patients is unnecessary. “It doesn't even meet the test of logic,” Thompson said.

But Rucker said prosecutors routinely subpoena medical records. He said Kline will protect he information within the records and never reveal a name, address or other identifier.

The clinics have asked the court to find Kline in contempt of court for releasing transcripts of the case – which was under a gag order until last spring - to the public.

Former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan addressed the court to defend Kline, saying it was the clinics who first released information about the case.

Thursday's oral arguments brought out vocal advocates for and against abortion rights. Julie Burkhart, director of the abortion-rights lobbying group ProKanDo, said Kline “wants to insert his political agenda into the courts.”

Michele Herzog of the Wichita-based anti-abortion group Operation Rescue said voters “elected Phill Kline to do exactly what he is trying to do.”