Planned Parenthood sues prosecutor

Planned Parenthood sues prosecutor
Abortion business target of 3-year investigation

A Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kansas under investigation the past three years has struck back with a lawsuit against the county's attorney general.

The action, a "writ of mandamus," was filed directly with the state Supreme Court against Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline.

The order was sealed at the request of Planned Parenthood, meaing no details of the complaint are being released at this point.

Kline, when he was state attorney general, had subpoenaed abortion records from Planned Parenthood and from George Tiller, who runs an abortion business in Wichita, Kan.

Kline was granted access to the records with only weeks left in his administration and filed no charges against Planned Parenthood at that time. He filed counts, however, alleging illegal late-term abortions against Tiller and current Attorney General Paul Morrison, an abortion rights Democrat who defeated Kline in the 2006 election. Kline's case against Tiller includes 19 counts.

Planned Parenthood had lost a three-year battle to prevent Kline from inspecting abortion records that he – as well as a Shawnee County judge who evaluated the case – believed contained possible evidence of crimes.

Morrison had issued a letter to Planned Parenthood at the time the case against Tiller was filed, advising that Kline had copies of the records.

Morrison's statement was: "And we were able to find that Phill Kline had, on his last day in office as attorney general, had used the power of this office to assign those files to him in his new job as Johnson County District Attorney, totally on his own – no oversight."

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman charged it was hypocritical of Morrison to "infer that the forwarding of evidence to a county prosecutor is something sinister when it is done every day."

"The charges of illegal late-term abortions and covering up for child rapists are serious ones," said Newman. "By filing suit and sealing proceedings, Planned Parenthood is telegraphing to the world that they have a lot to hide."

A week ago, Peter Brownlie of Planned Parenthood said the issue was being addressed.

"All I can say at this point is that we are pursuing all appropriate legal remedies," he said.

Kline began investigating allegations of illegal late-term abortions in Kansas in 2003. He said his investigation uncovered potential sex crimes against children as well as wrongdoing by the clinics. He questioned how girls as young as 13 could be given abortions without any statutory rape cases developing.

He sought subpoenas for the records in 2004 but because of legal challenges didn't obtain them until October 2006. Then when he was not re-elected in 2006, he took over the office Morrison had vacated as prosecutor for Johnson County, where the Overland Park clinic is located.

Morrison's pending case against Tiller alleges he violated state law in documenting late-term abortions.

"The Kansas late-term abortion statute, K.S.A. 65-6703, states that the doctor performing the abortion must have 'a documented referral from another physician not legally or financially affiliated with the physician performing or inducing the abortion and both physicians determine that: (1) the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman,'" Morrison said in a statement.

"Due to the serious nature of late-term abortion, the Legislature chose to require that two independent doctors make the determination of 'substantial and irreversible' harm before an abortion can be performed," Morrison said.

His charges allege Tiller and the second doctor who endorsed Tiller's opinions, Ann Kristin Neuhaus, "were not financially and legally independent as required by Kansas law."

Operation Rescue's Newman noted the filings stemmed from Kline's investigation of 2003, raising the question of happend in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

"They've been doing the same exact thing forever," he said.

"What this represents is a conspiracy between two abortionists who conspired to take the life of an otherwise healthy child who otherwise had protection under Kansas statute," Newman declared.