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Saturday, February 04, 2006

Law - More on: Kansas Supreme Court rules in favor of privacy of abortion patients

Updating yesterday's ILB entry (access it here or scroll down to the next entry), the NY Times reports today, in a story headlined "Kansas' Top Court Limits Abortion Record Search":

WICHITA, Kan., Feb. 3 — The Kansas Supreme Court restricted on Friday an unusual and divisive investigation by Attorney General Phill Kline into illegal abortions and child rape, ruling that the names and personal information of 90 women and girls must be removed from the records he is seeking from two abortion clinics.

While granting most of the clinics' requests in a lawsuit seeking to keep the records private, the court did not prevent Mr. Kline from obtaining the records, leaving that decision to a lower court judge.

Before turning over the records, however, that judge must re-evaluate whether Mr. Kline has sound legal reasons for seeking the records, the court ruled, and must eliminate from them information unrelated to possible violations of the state's laws on late-term abortions and reporting of child abuse.

"The type of information sought by the state here could hardly be more sensitive, or the potential harm to patient privacy posed by disclosure more substantial," Justice Carol A. Beier wrote for the court. "If inquisition subpoenas for documents related to abortions are not handled sensitively, the fundamental rights of women who may seek abortions in the future could be substantially impaired or the assertion of those rights prevented."

About midway through the story, the Times reports:
Mr. Kline, a conservative Republican, secretly began the investigation into the two abortion clinics shortly after taking office in 2003. It was the first of its kind in the country to pursue criminal charges and was part of an effort by Mr. Kline to clamp down on illegal abortions.

The investigation became public when the clinics moved to stop the subpoenas, and shortly afterward, the attorney general in Indiana, also an anti-abortion Republican, took a similar tack, demanding 80 patient files in an investigation of whether Planned Parenthood clinics failed to report illegal sexual activity by girls under 14.

Indiana suit. And what of Indiana? As reported in this ILB entry from Dec. 15, 2005, the Indiana Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Planned Parenthood of Indiana v. Steve Carter, et al. on Dec. 14th. The description from the Court's site:
Planned Parenthood of Indiana, on its own behalf and on behalf of its patients, appeals the denial of its motion for preliminary injunction against Steve Carter, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Indiana, and Allen K. Pope, in his official capacity as Director, Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
The entry has a link to the oral argument, plus links to previous coverage of the Indiana story.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 4, 2006 07:41 AM
Posted to General Law Related | Ind. App.Ct. Decisions