Kansas Supreme Court Orders Planned Parenthood Abortion Records to AG

From http://lifenews.com/state3687.html

Kansas Supreme Court Orders Planned Parenthood Abortion Records to AG

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 5, 2008

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Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ordered copies of abortion records that prosecutor Phill Kline obtained to prosecute a case of illegal abortions against an Overland Park Planned Parenthood to go to the state attorney general.

Kline filed 107 charges against the abortion business for allegedly violating state law.

The charges accuse Planned Parenthood of doing illegal late-term abortions and then falsifying medical documents to cover up their actions.

Planned Parenthood hoped to get abortion files back that two judges have determined show "probable cause" that the abortion business violated state abortion laws and falsified medical records.

In a July hearing, attorneys for the abortion center told the high court that Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline should not be allowed to keep the abortion records he obtained as attorney general.

Kline legally received the records during his investigation of Planned Parenthood and transferred them to his new office when he became the county attorney.

The high court asked Kline to give copies of the records to Attorney General Steve Six by December 12.

Ultimately, the good news for the pro-life community is that the case against Planned Paretnhood moves ahead.

Kline told LifeNews.com, "I am pleased that the prosecution may move forward and I must mention as a matter of ethics, that Planned Parenthood is presumed innocent as a matter of law."

Mary Kay Culp, the director of Kansans for Life, tells LifeNews.com that the decision is a victory of sorts for Kline and the investigation.

"We welcome today's Kansas Supreme Court decision. Beyond the spin, remains the fact that Kline was upheld, as the decision only requires him to give copies of his copies to the Attorney General, and explain the case to him," Culp said. "Judge Anderson retains the originals and the Supreme Court's earlier indefensible suppression of him as a witness must end."

She said the Kansas Supreme Court was also right to deny Planned Parenthood's petition for contempt proceedings against Kline.


During the hearing, Kline's attorney, Caleb Stegall, told the high court Kline transferred the records legally. He said the abortion center's request to hold Kline in contempt is wrong because Kline violated neither a state law nor a court order.

Culp said she expects Planned Parenthood to spin the decision as a vitory for its legal efforts.

"We are issuing a tornado warning, however for the spin that Planned Parenthood will use to try and hide the fact that nothing happened today that undermines or invalidates the merits of this case," she said.

In January, Shawnee County District Judge Richard Anderson, who originally validated Kline's access to the files, testified he had reason to believe documents filed by Planned Parenthood with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had been falsified before Kline's investigation while he was attorney general.

The records showed, according to Anderson, that the age of the babies involved in the abortions had been altered to hide the fact that Planned Parenthood was engaging in illegal late-term abortions.

Kline has also said Planned Parenthood engaged in a felony by making copies of state health department abortion reports that it failed to keep on file as required by law.