US Abortion Row Hots Up With Court Fight Over Medical Records

The Kansas state attorney general has demanded the medical files of women who have had late-term abortions for potential criminal investigations, it was reported yesterday.

In the latest escalation of America's abortion war, attorney general Phill Kline, a conservative Republican, has argued he needs to see the files for investigations involving underage sex and child abuse.

But he also hinted he will investigate doctors carrying out late-term abortions, beyond the 22nd week of pregnancy, which are illegal in Kansas except when they are performed to prevent substantial and irreversible harm to the pregnant woman.

Abortion rights supporters believe the country's right-wingers are pursuing an incremental strategy ultimately aimed at criminalising abortions altogether, and that this is simply the latest step in that campaign.

The Kansas ban was passed in 1998, but a doctor practising in the state, George Tiller, has continued to carry out hundreds of late-term abortions each year, claiming they are legal under the exemption.

Anti-abortion activists routinely picket both Dr Tiller and his Wichita clinic, and follow its employees home and around town.

Yesterday, his lawyer issued a statement saying he stuck to state laws scrupulously but objected to Mr Kline's subpoena because it represented an invasion of his patients' privacy.

The subpoena was filed last year but only came to light this week when it was challenged in the Kansas courts by the two clinics targeted, reportedly including Dr Tiller's.

They claimed the attorney general was asking for "the entire, unredacted patient files of nearly 90 women who ob tained abortions at two Kansas clinics in 2003".

Those files would include names and "the most intensely private information a woman can disclose", the clinics argued.

"These women's rights will be sacrificed if this fishing expedition is not halted or narrowed."

David Saldin, a spokesman for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), said: "We think it's outrageous.

"We think state governments have no business prying through people's sexual histories to forward the partisan agendas of rightwing politicians... I think it's certainly part of a broader campaign... There is a very aggressive far-right wing of the Republican party in America that is committed to the goal of stopping a woman's right to choose without government interference."

In a press conference at his office, Mr Kline argued that his subpoena was primarily focused on statutory rape, but did not rule out prosecutions for late-term abortions.

"I have the duty to investigate and prosecute child rape and other crimes in order to protect Kansas children," he said.

In his two years as attorney general, Mr Kline has campaigned to force doctors to report underage sex, but has been blocked in the courts.

He was applauded by anti-abortion groups in the state, who argue that clinics routinely cover up proof of sexual assaults that go beyond doctor-patient privilege.

"The attorney general is doing the right thing in recognising that a woman's health and life are endangered by some of the activities of these abortionists," Olivia Gans, the director of American Victims of Abortion, said yesterday.