KS Attorney General Shares Abortion Records with Bill O'Reilly
by Morra Aarons Mele

If you need one more reason to go out and vote Democratic Monday, this is a good one. Conservative Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline has made a lot of noise about asking hospitals for their abortion records. He got them, and he is using them as a campaign tool. He also seems to have showed them to Fox TV's uber-rightie O'Reilly, as reported by AP:

O'Reilly has details of Kansas abortions
JOHN HANNA
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. - An abortion doctor plans to ask for an investigation of the state attorney general and Bill O'Reilly over comments by the Fox television host that he got information from Kansas abortion records, the doctor's attorneys said Saturday.

Dr. George Tiller said he will ask the Kansas Supreme Court on Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and take possession of the records of 90 patients from two clinics.

Attorney General Phill Kline obtained the records recently after a two-year battle that prompted privacy concerns. He has said he sought the records to review them for evidence of possible crimes including rape and illegal abortions.

During a Friday night broadcast of "The O'Reilly Factor," the conservative host said a "source inside" told the show that Tiller performs late-term abortions when a patient is depressed, which O'Reilly deemed "executing babies."

O'Reilly also said his show has evidence that Tiller's clinic and another unnamed clinic have broken Kansas law by failing to report potential rapes with victims ages 10 to 15.

A spokeswoman for Kline, who received redacted copies of the records Oct. 24, said Saturday he doesn't know how O'Reilly obtained the information.

Kline, an abortion opponent and Republican in a tight race with Democrat Paul Morrison, was interviewed by O'Reilly during the segment.

"Our information says that on almost every medical sheet - and obviously we have a source inside here - it says, 'depression,'" O'Reilly told Kline during the broadcast. "I don't know whether you have that information or not - I don't know - but that's what it says."

Pedro Irigonegaray, who represents Tiller and the clinics, said it was "preposterous" that the information would come from an insider at one of the clinics.

"This has been our concern from the beginning, that if he ended up with these records, that just this type of event would occur. Our worst nightmare has happened," Irigonegaray said. "Women in America deserve better than this."

...The documents Kline received were edited so that individual patients could not be identified.

Lisa, I don't know how you as a journalist feel about O'Reilly using his bully pulpit for this. But beyond that, this is the kind of anti-women posturing that most people, including Republicans, are terrified of.

And what exactly is O'Reilly implying when he cites "depression" as a cause on abortion records?

Phil Kline is running against Democrat Paul Morrison.

Submitted by Morra Aarons Mele (view blog) on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 09:24

Comments

 

If Bill O'Reilly has Kansan medical records,
someone broke laws

Hi Morra,

This is a grave issue indeed. The privacy of 90 women and girls who live in the Wichita and Overland Park areas and their medical records is exactly the reason the Kansas Supreme Court initially barred Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline -- barred the state attorney general -- from accessing these records.

Some backstory: Mr. Kline (who is against legal abortion) said he wanted the records to "investigate potential violations of state restrictions on abortion and suspected rapes of children" that the clinics weren't reporting, according to this ABCNews story.

Mr. Kline also said at the time that the patients' names were not of interest to him, saying "They are under no criminal liability or investigation. Their privacy will be protected."

When the records were finally released to Mr. Kline last month, the names had been eliminated by the court (they were "redacted" or crossed out in the documents). I see in today's Kansas City Star that Mr. Kline denies that he or anyone on his staff was the "source inside" that Bill O'Reilly said gave him information he talked about on last night's show.

Mr. O'Reilly is not a journalist - he's a commentator who has a television show where he discusses his opinions, much like Rush Limbaugh. In that context, it's not clear yet whether we're dealing here with Mr. O'Reilly's inflammatory approach to questions or whether someone has actually "broken state or federal laws by divulging patient information or whether O'Reilly or his staff had viewed any records themselves" as the Gainesville.com article you linked states. Mr. O'Reilly has yet to respond to questions by reporters.

The consequences for Attorney General Kline and his office would be disastrous if an investigation reflected that he or a member of his staff leaked the information to Mr. O'Reilly and his television show. Two words come to mind: disbarment and impeachment. Because the Kansas Supreme Court has already made it clear that Kline's first duty -- and that of the district court judge overseeing this investigation -- is to protect the privacy of the citizens whose records he has.

From a campaign horserace perspective, I am quite surprised that in such a close election, with the Kansas GOP undergoing a divisive conflict between fiscal and social conservatives, Mr. Kline chose to appear on a show by Mr. O'Reilly -- commentator famous for his socially conservative views, especially his belief that abortion should be illegal. (For more on Kansas, I recommend "Kansas Republicans evolve -- into Democrats: A popular incumbent governor persuades social moderates alienated by fights over abortion and Darwin to quit the GOP and run for office as Democrats" by Nadia Pflaum on Salon. The commercial's short and the article's worth it.)

Kansas' state-wide cultural divide is why Mr. Kline's is facing a serious challenge from Democrat Paul Morrison, who has made AG Kline's investigation into abortion clinic records a primary focus of the campaign months ago. The Lawrence Journal-World reported Sept. 6 today Morrison said "if elected attorney general he would end an investigation into two abortion clinics and instead commit the office’s resources to other uses, such as prosecuting domestic violence."

Will getting free commercial air-time on a Fox News show just days before the election backfire on Mr. Kline? It really depends whether Kansans agree with you that this is a frightening violation of their privacy and that Mr. Kline's approach is "anti-woman".

I'd love to hear what you all think?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 13:37
 

What about the women?

I am most personally upset by the fact that no one seems to care about women in this campaign. I live in Kansas, and it's been admitted that Paul Morrison (Kline's opponent) sexually harrassed a woman in his office in the '90s. What about her? Don't women deserve better than to be oppressed by men?

More than that, I think that the scum who rape little girls should be brought to justice. Don't abortion clinics have the responsibility to report the rape of a 10-year-old girl given an abortion? Most often, it's a family member repeatedly raping the young girls, and getting rid of the evidence at the abortion clinic. As someone who was molested at a young age, this just sickens me.

I know that Kline is in a lot of hot water. Trust me, I am NOT a Republican, but I think he's trying to protect our children. If the clinics had reported the child rape cases, as required by law, Judge Anderson wouldn't have subpoenaed the records. If the clinics hadn't done anything wrong, why do they care about having them reviewed by the AG's office?

Dr. Tiller's website states that all women who have abortions at their clinic will have their PERSONAL names, addresses, and dates of abortions turned over to Dr. Tiller's political action committee for fundraising. As someone who's been to Dr. Tiller's, I find that a GROSS INVASION OF PRIVACY. Even worse than AG Kline using the records (with all identifying information of the women removed) to prosecute a crime. The women were never going to be investigated by Kline's office; just the abortion clinics who failed to report the rape of children.

I hadn't really been a fan of Kline's until this abortion issue came up. Watching O'Reilly (for the first time ever), I was struck by the fact that O'Reilly said he had been performing his own investigation into the issue, and that he had found information Kline wasn't even privy to. I don't see why Kline would jeopardize everything by giving O'Reilly info. It just doesn't make sense.

Submitted by AnnLoves2Smile on Tue, 11/07/2006 - 00:14
 

Toto....

I wish I lived in Kansas. I'd vote pro-choice. Tiller is a wonderful man and physician. I fully respect him. This other man Kline sounds like a pig, getting medical records on patients, that is just gross.

Birdsword

Submitted by Roberta on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 16:39
 

Not happy

I used to live in Kansas and still have lots of friends there. Fortunately, my friends will most likely be voting against Kline, who, believe it or not, was in my law school class ... not an association I enjoy.

As for Bill-O (as Keith Olbermann calls him), I am never surprised or shocked at anything he does or says anymore. I am just sickened by it.

This is such an important issue in terms of women's health and privacy. But people like Kline and O'Reilly will never understand that.

Submitted by PunditMom on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 18:00
 

Bloody Kansas

Not much has changed in Kansas since the 1800s it seems, when intimidation and violence ran rampant over whether to permit legal slavery. It mortifies me that as a society we have made essentially no progress (and even gone backward) when it comes to the rights of women, privacy, and religion.

No one should be faced with terminating a pregnancy, particularly later in the game. However, life is complicated and not perfect, and safety valves are necessary. Dr. Tiller is a brave person, and I wish him the best.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminsim & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Submitted by Suzanne Reisman on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 21:22
 

What's The Matter With Republicans in Kansas?

I'm so sick of hearing about embarrassing things going on in Kansas. It makes me sad. I grew up there, had my first period there, and lost my virginity there (oh wait, that was in Missouri, 5 minutes across the State Line). I had my first pap smear in Overland Park though, and and that's where my first (yes, just the first) STD was diagnosed. Not that Bill O'Reilly should be talking about anything in my gynecological records, but I offer this information as an anecdote. If I'd had an abortion, I don't know if I'd be as willing to share.

Kansas has changed since the 1800s. Women have served in the state house and senate. I know one of them who is a good friend of our family (and a moderate Republican, I might add) who worked hard in the legislature and made some positive changes. I wouldn't want her to think all of her work has come to nothing. And now Kansas has a woman Democrat as governor. (I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard that!) My bet is that she won't let this terrible act go unpunished.

Sarah Granger
aka Sairy @ segmented
and at Silicon Valley Moms Blog under Sarah

Submitted by Sarah Granger on Mon, 11/06/2006 - 04:54
 

Bill OReily Is A Joke

I agree with all of you! This is very sickening and hopefully these republicans in Kansas will clean their act up. That Kline guy and "Bill O" have no respect for me and hopefully for no-one else either anymore.

Cheers!
-Gary
Public Records Forum

Submitted by Public_Records on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 13:26