DA Comments On Case Kansas AG Kline Cited For Necessity Of Investigations Into Late-Term Abortions, Child Sex Crimes

A district attorney involved in a case that Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R) has cited as an example of how his office discovered evidence of a crime by conducting wide-ranging investigations about possibly illegal late-term abortions and sex crimes against children recently responded to Kline's comments, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports. Sedgwick County, Kan., District Attorney Nola Foulston on Monday said that Kline had "absolutely nothing to do" with the case (Hanna, AP/Wichita Eagle, 10/2). Kline in 2004 subpoenaed the medical records of 90 women and girls who in 2003 underwent late-term abortions at two clinics -- Comprehensive Health, which is operated by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri in Overland Park, Kan., and Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kan. -- saying there is probable cause that each record contains evidence of a felony. The original subpoena asked that the records include each patient's name, medical history, birth control practices, psychological profile and sexual history and asked for the records of all women and girls who sought abortions at or after 22 weeks' gestation. The clinics in March 2005 filed a brief with the state Supreme Court requesting that the court block Kline's subpoena, and the court in February ruled that Kline can seek access to the records but that he must return to Shawnee County, Kan., District Court and present his reasons for seeking the subpoenas. The state's high court also said any information not related to potential violations of state laws on late-term abortions or child abuse must be eliminated from the records. According to attorneys for the two clinics, Kline has not received the requested medical records.

Case Cited By Kline
Kline on Thursday said that "[t]here are prosecutions resulting from information that has been obtained" from the medical records (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/2). One of the cases he cited resulted in a plea of no contest in July by Robert Estrada in Sedgwick County to nine criminal charges involving rape and sexual abuse of two minor girls. One of the minor girls who had given birth was mentioned in an October 2005 memo from Kline's office to Foulston concerning "credible information" about "numerous incidents" of sex crimes against minors. However, Foulston said she already was investigating Estrada before she received the memo from Kline's office, adding that Kline "didn't have anything to do with this case." She also said that since Estrada's plea, her office received requests from Kline's office for copies of records of an abortion that one of the minor girls involved with Estrada's case underwent. Kline denied that he has sought the records, adding that Foulston's comments and his own on the case are "not necessarily a conflict" because both an inquisition by his office and a prosecution took place (AP/Wichita Eagle, 10/2).

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