Tiller’s Attorney wants media banned from courtroom.
Topeka, KS — A hearing over medical record subpoenas in a criminal investigation into abortion mills continues to be on hold pending a ruling by Shawnee County District Judge Richard Anderson on whether to allow media to cover the proceedings.
The Associated Press and the Kansas Press Association are asking Judge Anderson for the ability to cover the court hearing in which Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has asked for 90 medical records from two abortion mills in his investigation into illegal late-term abortions and the concealment of child rape.
Kline has agreed to an order from the Kansas Supreme Court that the names of the abortion patients be redacted before being turned over to the Attorney General’s office. “We were never asking for patient names,” Kline has said in the past.
Attorney Lee Thompson, representing late-term abortionist George R. Tiller’s abortion mill, Women’s Health Care Services, is fighting both the subpoenas in the criminal investigation and allowing media into the courtroom.
“We think the press should not be present,” Thompson said.
“What is Thompson trying to hide?” asked Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It certainly is not about patient privacy, because the names of the abortion patients have been ordered redacted by the Kansas Supreme Court. This demand by Thompson for secrecy only gives the impression that some kind of nafarious back-room dealings may be in the works. This calls into question the integrity of the court.”
“With Tiller under investigation by a County Grand Jury in Wichita for the death of a late-term abortion patient, this secrecy on Thompson’s behalf raises the suspicion that he may be trying to conceal information that could be incriminating to his client,” said Newman. “Let’s open up the court hearings and let the public hear the facts for themselves.”