Reproductive Privacy Under Attack

On February 22, attorneys for two abortion clinics in Kansas filed a brief (pdf) with the Kansas Supreme Court in their continuing effort to protect the privacy of their patients. The State Attorney General, Phill Kline, claims he is conducting an investigation into sexual assaults on children and that one or both clinics are not reporting sexual assaults to the authorities. He has subpoenaed the medical records of 90 women which District Judge Richard Anderson upheld in a decision on Oct 21, which are to include “any and all files, reports, histories, charts, graphs, papers, documents, images whether electronic or otherwise, and/or computer files containing medical or patient care information…” No allowance was made for the redaction of names, sexual, legal or other history that might be contained in the medical records.

The investigation launched in October is secret, meaning no one except Kline and presumably Judge Anderson even know what evidence is available that launched the investigation in the first place. Women’s abortion records could be given to the State Attorney General, with little or no privacy protection, and the women in question would not even know that it has happened. The brief also states that all 90 cases involve abortions at or beyond 22 weeks, which are restricted by Kansas State Law. The Attorney General has apparently received these records, which are identified by a Kansas Dept of Health and Environment numbering system, which are supposed to be kept in “the strictest confidence absent a showing of reasonable cause.”

In watching Kline on an MSNBC interview, I did not hear him state that anyone came forward to allege that a sexual assault on a child had been committed. Rather, he appears to be basing his investigation on statutory rape laws that state a minor cannot give sexual consent. He refers to ten year olds, but because the investigation is secret, we do not know if there are actually any ten year olds involved. The records of the 90 women include adults, which is further indication that his investigation is not about crimes committed against children.

In 2003, there were 11,697 abortions in Kansas. In checking gynpages.com, there are 2 abortion clinics in Kansas, which would indicate that they are the two abortion clinics represented in the briefs. Of those 11,697 abortions(pdf), 5,534 were out of state residents, primarily from Missouri and Oklahoma. Missouri appears to have only two abortion clinics as well, in St. Louis. Of the abortions performed at or beyond 22 weeks (pdf) in 2003, 46 were reported to be Kansas residents and 445 from out of state. Not only are these figures consistent with previous research that late term abortions are extremely rare, it also appears that lack of access to abortions increases the likelihood of late term abortions.

Kansas has enacted all of the abortion laws the anti-abortion groups have advocated, including parental notification. But this is not enough. Anti-abortion appointees like Kline continue their assault on women’s right to reproductive medical privacy. Crimes are investigated after allegations have been made. We all have the expectation that Attorney Generals will conduct investigations within the confines of the Fourth Amendment and guarantee that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...”

.pdf links:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=426

:eyes:

the likelihood of LATER abortions by making access to abortion so difficult.

*sigh*

controlling women through fear, shame, and Draconian laws.

All under the sentimentalized patina of "motherhood" and concern for fetuses.

you wouldn't limit your scope to women having late-term abortions and you wouldn't need to examine any where minors were not involved. I'd be interested to learn if he checked ERs or other places where young women might report sexual assault that did not result in pregnancy.

This is a witch hunt, pure and simple.

Seriously. Why not supeona all the clinical records of males in therapy? Afterall, males are the primary perpetrators.

God Almighty, I hate how they use one crime to harass women who have exercised their constitutional right to an abortion.

Thomas Frank's terrific book spells out the problem: Kansans have been repeatedly voting against their own economic interests for decades now, and drifting farther rightward each year, **instead** of venting their anger at the very forces that are causing their problems, and voting themout of office. Kansans seem to be okay with their lousy economy, as long as God, "morals" and "values" continue to be dangled in the forefront of their lives.