Kansas Court Rules on Abortion Documents in Statutory Rape Probe 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 3, 2006
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the state attorney general can obtain records from two abortion businesses he needs to prosecute possible cases of statutory rape. The abortion centers didn’t want to aide in the investigation and tried to prohibit Attorney General Phill Kline’s request.
The court ruled that the records can only be obtained along with tight restrictions on the privacy of the girls involved. It also wants the lower court to determine if it still believes the records should be granted.
Justice Carol Baer wrote the opinion for the unanimous court and said the information Kline seeks is sensitive and said the lower court must do more to ensure the privacy rights are protected. She agreed with Kline that the state must pursue criminal investigations when necessary.
Judge Richard Anderson gave Kline permission to have access to the documents in the first ruling in the case and is expected to grant access again.
Kline said he is pleased with the results of the ruling and reiterated that his office has never sought sensitive, private information.
"They are under no criminal liability or investigation. Their privacy will be protected," he said of women who visited the abortion centers.
Kline is investigating the possible statutory rapes and the refusal of the abortion facilities to report cases when an underage girl engages in sexual relations outside state law.
He is also looking into the potential that illegal late-term abortions have been performed at the late-term abortion facility operated by infamous abortion practitioner George Tiller in Wichita. Tiller escaped prosecution in the abortion death of a mentally disabled teenager last year.
Abortions in Kansas can’t be performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy and require a viability test on the unborn child. Such abortions can only be performed for medical health reasons.
In addition to Tiller’s facility, Kline is seeking abortion records from the Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri abortion business in Overland Park. The records involve 90 women and girls.
