Olathe, KS — In light of the destruction of evidence that was critical to the prosecution of a Kansas Planned Parenthood on 107 criminal charges, Judge Stephen Tatum has delayed a preliminary hearing today and set a status conference for November 9 at 11 AM.
Last week news broke that that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) under the Administration of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius destroyed original 2003 abortion reporting forms sometime in 2005 after they had been subpoenaed by then-Attorney General Phill Kline in 2004 in his investigations of the non-reporting of child sex abuse and illegal late-term abortions. Those forms were the basis for 23 felony charges against Planned Parenthood related to manufacturing evidence.
Today, attorneys for Planned Parenthood made a motion for dismissal of those felony counts since the original records had been destroyed. Judge Tatum declined and gave District Attorney Steve Howe until the status conference on November 9 to provide the court with a chain of custody in order to allow copies of the abortion reports obtained through subpoena to be used as evidence if the case proceeds to trail.
“It is unconscionable that Sebelius’ KDHE destroyed those documents knowing they had been subpoenaed for a criminal investigation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “That willful destruction of evidence was a blatant act to protect Planned Parenthood from being held accountable to the law. Those who ordered that evidence be destroyed should be held accountable for obstruction of justice in a court of law.”
Judge Richard Anderson had informed Kline’s successor, Paul Morrison, that he believed the KDHE reporting forms in Planned Parenthood’s records were manufactured. After that, Morrison issued a letter “clearing” Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing. Morrison then joined Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against Kline and Anderson that attempted to disgorge them of the evidence against Kansas’ largest abortion supplier, knowing the evidence incriminated Planned Parenthood. Anderson later expressed regret for having informed Morrison, who in turn may have tipped off Planned Parenthood that their attempt to cover their crimes had been found out.
Morrison was hand-picked by Sebelius to run against Kline in 2006. It is estimated that over a million dollars of abortion money flowed in off the books to benefit Morrison’s vicious campaign against Kline. Morrison had promised to end the abortion clinic investigations. Less than a year after Morrison was sworn in as Attorney General, news broke that Morrison was embroiled in a sex and abortion corruption scandal where it was discovered that he had attempted to use his illicit lover in the District Attorney’s office to spy on Kline’s abortion investigations that proceeded during his term as Johnson County District Attorney so Morrison could thwart them. Morrison was forced to resign.
Sebelius then appointed Steve Six as Attorney General. Soon after taking office in early 2008, Six discovered that Anderson and KDHE had been subpoenaed to testify about the manufactured records. He immediately rushed to the Kansas Supreme Court and obtained a gag order on Anderson and the evidence, delaying the case until now.
This case puts in danger $350 million in Federal Title X funding that the organization now receives nationwide. In order to qualify for Title X funds, an organization must obey all State and Federal laws. A conviction in Kansas would disqualify Planned Parenthood affiliates from receiving funding. Sebelius, who now serves as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, has made it clear that tax funding of abortion and support for Planned Parenthood, her dedicated political supporter and contributor, is a high priority.
An ethics panel recently recommended indefinite suspension for Kline’s law license based on his handling of the abortion investigations even though the Supreme Court, District Court Judge Clark Owens, and even the Disciplinary Administrator’s own investigators cleared Kline of any wrongdoing. His prosecution was politically motivated to discredit the case he filed against Planned Parenthood. It contrast, an ethics complaint against Morrison, who behaved shamefully with his illicit lover in public buildings during business hours then became abusive of his paramour when she would not cooperate with is efforts to subvert Kline’s abortion investigations, was not pursued.
“This case hangs on a razor’s edge. Pro-abortion politicians have already wrongly ruined the career of one prosecutor who tried to enforce the law in order to protect Planned Parenthood’s interests. Now it remains to be seen if justice or corruption will prevail,” said Newman.
Background
