107-Count Grand Jury Indictment Against Planned Parenthood Could Open “New Front” in US Abortion Fight

By Hilary White
 
  TOPEKA, Kansas, October 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life advocates in the US have asked for the suspension of taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, the largest and richest abortion organization in the world. Citing a criminal case against the group, pro-life leaders will send a letter to all members of Congress urging suspension of the more than $300 million Planned Parenthood receives as a tax free organization.
 
  A grand jury indictment is pending against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri on 107 counts, 23 felony and 84 misdemeanour, of unlawful late-term abortions and other abortion-connected crimes. The case is set to go forward since a judge ruled there is “probable cause” to proceed. The allegations were brought by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline.
 
  Robert D. Novak wrote in the Washington Post that the action brings up a “new front” in the US abortion fight and that the case may end by bringing Planned Parenthood under the legal gun throughout the country.
 
  Charges include “unlawful failure to determine viability for late-term abortion,”“making false information” and “unlawful failure to maintain records.” Should the case succeed, pro-life advocates could use it as a means to stop Planned Parenthood throughout the US. Forty other states have laws similar to those in Kansas that say abortion is legal only if it has been established that the child could not survive outside the womb.
 
  Concerned Women for America is among the groups signatory to the letter to Congress that says,“We urge you to act to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing abortion clinics that perform possibly illegal abortions.”
 
  The charges were based on 29 patient’s abortion records dating to 2003 and some Kansas legislators are asking why the same information has not been brought to bear in the last four years. This week, three legislators sent a letter to Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison demanding to know why the same charges were not filed earlier. Morrison had cleared Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri of any criminal wrongdoing earlier this year.
 
  Dr. David Stevens, the head of the Christian Medical Association asked, “If just 29 records from one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kansas have produced 107 criminal charges, isn’t it possible that similar abuses are also occurring at other of the 860 Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide?”
 
  Stevens asked, “Why does the abortion industry remain the most unregulated medical operation in this country? Is political correctness stifling investigations and enforcement of the law?”