[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: Judge to Hear Criminal Charges against Klan Parenthood

[PFLI PharmAid Center]

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 22 Mar 2008 AD +Holy Saturday

*
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200803/CUL20080320a.html

*Judge to Hear Criminal Charges against [Klan] Parenthood

*By Penny Starr

CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer

March 20, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is facing 
107 criminal charges, including 23 felony counts of falsifying medical 
documents related to late-term abortions. The felony charges will be 
examined at preliminary hearings set for April 7 and 8 in Johnson County 
District Court in Olathe, Kan.

The current case stems from 2003, when then-Kansas Attorney General 
Phill Kline requested a subpoena, which was eventually issued by a 
judge, for Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Midwestern 
affiliate to hand over its medical records.

Kline, who is now the district attorney in Johnson County, obtained the 
records in October 2006 and subsequently filed 107 criminal charges 
against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri in October 2007.

In addition to the felony counts of falsifying documents, there are 26 
misdemeanor counts of unlawful failure to maintain records, 29 counts of 
unlawful failure to determine viability for a late-term abortion and 29 
counts of unlawful late-term abortion.

In Kansas, "making a false information" -- the legal phrase for 
falsifying documents -- is a felony, while a criminal late-term abortion 
is a misdemeanor.

At the hearings, district court judge Stephen Tatum will determine if 
probable cause exists for the 23 felony counts, which could pave the way 
for a jury trial. Misdemeanor charges automatically go to trial, Kline said.

Kline told Cybercast News Service that "delay has been the game" 
strategy of Planned Parenthood's legal experts.

But now, thanks to legislation sponsored by Kline and passed by Kansas 
lawmakers in 2005 extending the statutes of limitation on certain 
crimes, including those covered in this case, the Kansas and 
Mid-Missouri Planned Parenthood will be in court next month.

Planned Parenthood had claimed that releasing patients' records would 
violate privacy laws, but Kline said it is medical information - not 
names - that are vital to the case.

"We use medical records in almost every prosecution, and we've never 
named names," Kline said, referring to the names of patients being 
struck from the records before they were delivered to the district 
attorney's office in October 2007. "You can't prosecute late-term 
abortions without looking at the reason the doctor says the abortion is 
necessary."

Questions submitted by Cybercast News Service to Peter Brownlie, 
president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid Missouri, were 
not answered by press time.

Kline said successful prosecution of Planned Parenthood in this case 
could have repercussions across the country.

"Planned Parenthood is required for the receipt of federal funds to 
comply with state laws," Kline said. "It could jeopardize their federal 
funding."

Jenn Giroux, executive director of Women Influencing the Nation, a 
pro-life group in Ohio that has been following the case, told Cybercast 
News Service that the hearing will also reveal if the rule of law 
applies in Kansas.

"We're looking for judicial fairness instead of the judicial advocacy 
we've see on the part of the abortion industry," Giroux said. "We want a 
fair review of the evidence."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the largest provider of 
abortions in the United States and receives about one-third of its $1 
billion annual budget from federal grants and contracts.


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