Open Records Sought Concerning Destruction of Planned Parenthood Evidence
by Staff
October 31, 2011
TOPEKA, Kan., (christiansunite.com) -- Operation Rescue has filed the first round of open records demands with the Kansas Governor's office and with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) seeking public records that might reveal who was involved in shredding incriminating evidence against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri in 2005."There is no way that this was routine evidence destruction, as Planned Parenthood attorneys are so desperately trying to make us believe. This was a brazen act that was meant to destroy the evidence against Planned Parenthood in order to maintain Planned Parenthood's stream of public funding," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Nothing less than millions of dollars in tax funding and the future of Planned Parenthood as an organization are at stake in this case, because if Planned Parenthood is convicted, it will no longer qualify for Title X money."
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri faces 107 criminal charges, 23 of which are felonies related to the manufacturing of evidence. Proof of those felonies was found in Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) reports, which were submitted to the KDHE by Planned Parenthood in 2003.
District Attorney Steve Howe revealed at a hearing on Monday that only the Planned Parenthood TOP forms were destroyed and that the TOP forms submitted by George Tiller's Women's Health Care Services, a now closed late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, were maintained by the KDHE until at least 2010.
"Planned Parenthood's TOP forms contained evidence of felonies and were destroyed. The WHCS forms that did not contain such evidence were kept safe. That does not sound like routine document destruction to me. It sounds like a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice by the Sebelius Administration," said Newman.
"We believe there is a paper trail out there that will show exactly who is responsible for the selective evidence destruction. We intend to keep asking for records until the truth comes out."
Operation Rescue is seeking records from the Governor's office related to interactions between Sebelius and her staff and Planned Parenthood and the KDHE from May 26, 2004, when the TOP forms were subpoenaed and the originals destroyed sometime before the end of 2005.
Operation Rescue is also seeking records from the KDHE regarding policies involving the routine destruction of TOP forms, as well as any interactions KDHE may have had concerning those forms with Gov. Sebelius' office and Planned Parenthood.
Sebelius left office to serve as Pres. Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services, where she continues to promote abortion. Her appointees in the KDHE, who admitted earlier that they told late-term abortion clinics not to list on the forms the true basis for late-term abortions as required by law, have since been replaced.
Statute provides that the TOP records must be made available to the Attorney General for criminal matters and to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for physician disciplinary cases. The statute of limitations on criminal cases in Kansas is five years, but the Planned Parenthood records were destroyed after less than two years.
The destruction may rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice because the original records were destroyed just months after they had been subpoenaed and copies produced in a criminal investigation conducted by the Attorney General's office. Sebelius' KDHE aggressively opposed the subpoenas and only produced copies under court order. That investigation was well known to be ongoing when the documents were destroyed in 2005.
News of the evidence destruction surfaced last week after the Johnson County District Attorney's office asked for a continuance of an upcoming three-day preliminary hearing. The District Attorney's office had subpoenaed the TOP forms but was informed by KDHE that t he records had been destroyed sometime in 2005.
A status hearing has been set for November 9 to determine if there is enough evidence left for the criminal case to proceed.
About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.
