Digging, Chipping, To-may-to, To-mah-to

If you're a woman who's had an abortion in Kansas, your medical records are likely to be reviewed by Attorney General Phill Kline in his quest to find "rapists, sex offenders with child victims and doctors involved in abortions."

The Kansas City Star reports:

Attorney General Phill Kline's office has received records from 90 patients at two abortion clinics and is reviewing for evidence of possible crimes.

Kline, who is opposed to a woman's right to an abortion, is not only seeking to prosecute perpetrators of sexual violence. He says the doctors who would be under investigation "could include physicians performing abortions, providing a second opion for late-term abortions or failing to report abuse of a child."

Women who have had abortions in Kansas are not the only vulnerable ones in this scenario. Although the attorney for one Planned Parenthood clinic said "the records don't show any wrongdoings by the clinic," doctors who perform abortions will be subject to the extreme scrutiny of Kline's office. Abortion rights supporters believe that Kline's motive is not solely to find and prosecute sexual predators--they believe "he's on a fishing expedition designed to ensnare the clinics."

Kline's opponent in this election race is District Attorney Paul Morrison. Morrison's campaign manager says,

"Phill Kline has used the power of the attorney general's office to finally get what he wanted all along: the chance to dig through Kansans' private medical records. . . It's desperate and it's dangerous."

In South Dakota (abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest), in California (Proposition 85), in Pennsylvania (where conservative politicians want to prevent a woman's access to contraception), and in Kansas. . .it's male politicians who seem to be leading the way in chipping away at a woman's right to comprehensive reproductive healthcare.

You know, I bet all of our problems would be solved if only everyone received abstinence-only-until-marriage indoctrination from the age of 6 until they were no longer of reproductive age (see yesterday's post). I guess this means for you men out there, you'll have to suffer through the federal government's lessons on chastity a little longer than us gals since we can bail after menopause. Could this be a really twisted triumph for women!?

Julie in Philly