The Kansas Supreme Court made a balanced ruling Tuesday that a Wichita grand jury investigation of abortion doctor George Tiller is constitutional but that it needs oversight by a local judge. The court said that while the grand jury can issue subpoenas seeking abortion records, Judge Paul Buchanan needs to make sure that those subpoenas meet relevance thresholds, don’t create an undue burden and aren’t issued out of malice with an intent to harass. Buchanan also needs to make sure the privacy of the patients is protected.
Kansas is one of only six states that allow citizen-petitioned, taxpayer-financed grand juries. The previously little-used process has been a favorite of late by anti-abortion activists. A Johnson County grand jury, upset about wasting three months on an anti-abortion crusade, recommended in March that the state increase the standards for impaneling grand juries. But until that happens, local judges need to make sure this process isn’t abused.
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realize that when the eagle speaks out about right-to-life issues that it is the voice of the culture of death
If I could decipher the first sentence in the topic article, maybe I’d be able to answer.
I expect this kind of writing in Middle School, not from a so-called journalist.
“The Kansas Supreme Court made a balanced Tuesday that a Wichita grand jury investigation of abortion doctor George Tiller is constitutional but that it needs oversight by a local judge.”
Again, Phil Kline did not follow the Law. He did not have any “Prima Facia”. This is Greek/Latin for, primary fact. All cases need this. It is the “Probable Cause” in any and all cases. Without it, thtere is no cause or reason to proceed. Example, “An Officer walks into Walmart and asks for your Drivers License. Your are issued a ticket for speeding. You go before the Judge. They find out you have a prior ticket for speeding. You are asked to pay a fine and answer to the charge. Downside, you rode the bus to Walmart. You did not even drive that day. Your allegid, prior Driving Record cannot be jusification for the 2nd ticket. The Officer did not have a “Prima Facia”, a “Primary Fact”, “Probable Cause”. There is no case and the Ticket has to be dropped”. Imagine just walking and being stopped because of indiffernce. You are treated different because you are, black instead of white, male instead of female, gay instead of straight etc:.. I dont agree with any abortion. I do agree and will allways push and demand “Constitutional Law and Rights in any and all cases”!! Herbert West III west.herb@yahoo.com
“balanced ‘decision’”
“balanced ‘ruling’”
Oh my God, that was just soooo hard to figure out! Glad you folks never make mistakes…
Herbert I agree, in many of these that is what seems to be lacking. There seems to be more a suspicion of wrongdoing based on a dislike of the practice then an actual known act. Kind of like, “He must being doing something legally wrong since I find it morally wrong!”. Such actions do nothing to help the cause and only ends up making their cause seem to be more a witch hunt then an actual reasonable effort to correct it.
a woman, her doctor and her god
and her baby.
This decision was about the Grand Jury NOT about Phill Kline.
god with a little “g” eh lindainks? What kind of “god” would that be?
tiki god?
Rhonda Holman was originally going to write this column, but I hear she got tied up over at Tillers picking aborted babies apart for her new lampshade.
Reggie,
God is a generic noun referring to a class of paranormal beings of great strength, longevity and wisdom in some cases. It is not the name of any being. The judeo-christian god is named Yahweh or Elohim. In the islamic tradition, the same god is named Allah. The word god is not capitalized except by people intent on attempted flattery of an omniscient diety.
The Johnson County jury didn’t receive any evidence to evaluate. The judge in the case was a Sebelius appointed pro-abort and the two lawyers who “represented” the grand jury were both ringers picked by the same pro-abort judge. One was a former Democrat judge who currently sits on the nominating commission with the trial judge, and the other was a substantial contributor to Paul Morrison’s campaign. Magically, the only question they ever answered was one they were never asked, their opinion of the grand jury system. Isn’t that just too cute by far?
This is one reason why Johnson County is now trying to get to elect judges so they can clean up the corruption on the Johnson County bench.
The word God is a title and is capitilized by those who use it because it is a proper noun referring to a specific deity. It is NOT an attempt at flattery. Specificaly, the God (Elohim in Hebrew) of the Bible is called Yahweh (Yahweh is his actual name, God is is title).
When we say the President, we are commonly talking about the President of the United States. We are not flattering the President by capitilizing the title but following a common precedent to show that we are talking about a specific position.
If the anti-abortion protesters do have evidence that Tiller is breaking any laws, then let them have their day in court.
Let the grand jury decide, as long as the medical records are kept as confidential as possible and there is no possibility of the patients names and addresses being provided to these anti abortion protesters to harass later.
But aren’t these the same medical records that somehow got into Bill O’Reilly’s hands? If I was on the grand jury, I would want to know how many copies of these records have been made and then who had access to them.
If the grand jury is to investigate everything about this case, then they need to investigate how Phill Kline handled these medical records.
But in the end, the abortion debate will not be resolved. This debate has been going on for years and will continue to go on for years.
Herbie,
Pro-Abort? That means anybody that can’t or won’t give you everything you demand, doesn’t it?
We will have balance when dangerous, criminal abortionist quacks are locked away in prison, their filthy, unsafe abortion mills shut down. Then we will have justice.
parkay - do you really believe there would be no abortions if you got your ’so-called justice’? What about those years before Roe vs Wade? Abortions were being performed. The only difference was that it was a not talked about. I’m sure there were medical doctors that performed abortions and simply called them miscarriages.
It was only when Operation Rescue made abortion their hot-button issue that people have chosen sides. And this debate will not be resolved until both sides stop their game playing and start to work on the reasons for abortions. And we all know about the back alley abortion clinics. Would you really want to go back to those days?
I personally feel that anti-abortion protesters need to be prosecuted for their harassment of Tiller at his personal residence and his church and the harassment of Tiller’s family and the workers at Tiller’s clinic. Where is justice for them? Or is justice only for those you deem ‘worthy’?
Isn’t it interesting how the concept of “justice” changes from person to person? I would tend to think that basic concepts of justice are embodied within the Constitution of this great country, and Roe v. Wade is the law of the land when interpreting the Constitution.
Kelly-
Careful now. Are you insisting that since the Supreme Court ruled in the way that they did in Roe that dissension or seeking change should stop?
“It was only when Operation Rescue made abortion their hot-button issue that people have chosen sides”
I don;t know for sure, I could look at a timeline, but I suggest it was when the Supremes decided Roe, not when OR made abortion their hot button issue.
” this debate will not be resolved until both sides stop their game playing and start to work on the reasons for abortion”
I couldn;t agree more
LJ - of course not, at least I’m not opposed to legal means of dissenting or pursuing a change in the law. I was simply commenting that “justice” is so often “in the eyes of the beholder” sorta like the idea of “activist judges”. According to the Kansas Supreme Court, Judge Buchanan apparently was not active enough in providing oversight to the grand jury. We’ll see what happens next. But comments on this thread about what the judge in Johnson County did or didn’t do, and why, are predicated upon a patently self-serving and arrogant idea of justice.
Wow you can tell Operation Rescue called out their attack bloggers today.
The grand jury investigations have been nothing but a fishing expedition, we believe that there has been a crime and we’re going to pick apart every record until we find one!
I tell you what…I beleive that Operation Rescue falsifies their tax records, and I want to call a grand jury to investigate.
And if they’re cleared the first time, I’ll call another grand jury..and another…and another…
Thanks writerdog. Jed, your post/responce is confusing. Herbert West III west.herb@yahoo.com
Political Mama–
If you can get enough signatures, I say go for it!
As is Tiller’s arguments, and in fact, most arguments. They are most always “patently self serving”
Only six states allow this kind of abuse, and of course Kansas would be one of them!
When referring to the president, I just use bush.
There is no right to contract the mangling, dismembering, poisoning, or beheadng of babies in the U.S. Constitution. Leftist, activist, baby-hating “judges” made up the Roe v. Wade ruling out of thin air, and the voters and lawmakers of America let them get away with it. If there are any emanations and penumbras from the actual text of the Constitution, they will come from the Right to Life words in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and not from any right of privacy outrageously and unjustifiably broadened to include murder for hire.
See Bill of Rights page
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html
When you give up the right to dictate your own decisions for your body let me know Newman. In the meanwhile keep your Rosaries off my Ovaries.
As long as that tissue is inside someone’s body, they have the right to make healthcare decisions for themselves.
I neither agree or disagree, but looking at all the options offered, it’s no mystery our governmental processes are so ineffective.
lj,
Previous to 1869, abortion in America was perfectly legal and at the discretion of the mother up until quickening. Usually it was done with a commercially prepared abortifacient, but there were also various traditional plant preparations in the folk Pharmacopea, passed down from mother to daughter.
The draconic abortion laws before Roe v. Wade were originally the product of Anthony Comstock, the 19th century’s answer to Jerry Falwell, who was on a crusade to make over the country into a theocracy, and got many laws passed to that end, banning pornography, coffee, tobacco, businesses that remained open on Sunday, many laws intended to end the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, and banning any discussion or advocacy of birth control or abortion.
That’s not to say that he was in any way successful in ending abortion. The folk remedies were always available, usually labeled as treatment for “Female Trouble” and doctors performed “prophilactic dialation and curettage” for the ostensible purpose of cleaning out the woman’s uterus to promote good health and prevent “Hysteria.” For women who couldn’t afford a doctor, countless chiropractors, nurses and some downright butchers opened shop to supply the need. Being that such establishments were necessarily underground, regulation such as providing for adequate training and sterility and providing hospital backup in the event of a punctired uterus or other complications were simply ignored and many desperate women died as a result. Regardless of the stories Troy Parkay concocts for Operation Rescue (something about not bearing false witness?), conditions in clinics now are astronomically better than what took place during the Comstock era on up to 1973!
Hey Troy-boy,
How about a law allowing the mangling, dismembering, poisoning and/or beheading of those who harass, scream hateful things at women who have already been through emotional hell, and run around in cockroach suits to promote their religios agenda? I could vote for that one!
PS, Please be sure to notify Bill O’Reilly that a new batch of women’s private medical records is on it’s way for his entertainment show. He’ll get his jollies soon.
If government is permitted to tell us that we must give birth, then we are only small steps away from government also being permitted to tell us when to get pregnant, or what gender of child to bear, or how many children we can have. No thanks. I’ll take Roe v. Wade, and the constitutional guarantee of individual autonomy when making intensely personal decisions.