Kansas Seeks Files on Abortion Patients
The Attorney General of Kansas is demanding files of late-term abortion patients in anticipation of criminal prosecutions.
Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican who has made fighting abortion a staple of his two years in the post, is demanding the complete medical files of scores of women and girls who had late-term abortions, saying on Thursday that he needs the information to prosecute criminal cases.
He says his targets are abortion doctors and health professionals:
"There are two things that child predators want, access to children and secrecy. As attorney general, I'm bound and determined not to give them either."
Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue said the broad investigation, backed by a judge's subpoena, is the first of its kind in pursuit of criminal charges, although the federal Justice Department has unsuccessfully sought similar records in its defense of a ban on a procedure sometimes used to end pregnancies after the first trimester that doctors call intact dilation and extraction and that critics call partial-birth abortion.
Ultimately, the courts will determine if he gets them. This is a compelling reason to maintain the right to filibuster judicial nominees. And to block the confirmation of Bush nominees whom we know are chomping at the bit to outlaw abortion.
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