Remember Attorney General Phill Kline, who tried to criminalize doctors who performed abortions, and who tried to obtain medical records of Kansas women who’d had abortions? He’s no longer in office, but sadly his spirit lives on in Topeka.

The AP reports on a new bill passed by both houses of the Kansas state legislature to further restrict access to abortions. Like the recent Supreme Court ban on late term abortions, this bill (if it’s not vetoed by Democratic Governor Sibelius) will deter doctors from performing abortions. Under the new KS bill,

“Doctors would have to tell the state exactly why they aborted viable fetuses, and state health officials would have to summarize the information in reports under a deal brokered Tuesday by legislative negotiators. Three senators and three House members agreed to impose the new reporting policy for the Department of Health and Environment as they worked on a compromise version of the year's last spending bill. If the agency did not comply, it would not be allowed to spend any money during the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Currently, doctors report each late-term procedure, whether the fetus was viable and whether the abortion preserved a woman's life or her health. Physicians must state generally how they made those assessments.

Currently, doctors report each late-term procedure, whether the fetus was viable and whether the abortion preserved a woman's life or her health. Physicians must state generally how they made those assessments.

But abortion opponents want doctors to spell out the medical condition leading to each late-term abortion when the fetus is viable. Rep. Jan Pauls, D-Hutchinson, said she and other abortion opponents believe most are for mental health reasons.

When outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges in December against Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, accusing Tiller of performing illegal-late term abortions, the complaint said Tiller had diagnosed some patients with a single episode of major depression.

But Julie Burkhart, a lobbyist for the abortion rights group ProKanDo, said the real goal of the provision's backers is to outlaw abortions for certain medical reasons, particularly mental health.”

On BlogHer and Huffington Post, Lisa Stone and I covered former KS Attorney General Kline’s outrageous antics, which including trying to prosecute Dr. Tiller and releasing medical records to Bill O'Reilly. Even though Kline lost that battle, and lost his re-election, he seems to be winning the steady war against abortion rights in Kansas.

Spending bill is SB 357.

On the Net:

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org

Kansas abortion statistics: http://www.kdheks.gov/hci/absumm.html