Web posted
Monday, February 25, 2008
Courts key to abortion debate
By JOHN HANNA
AP Political Writer
TOPEKA -- Legislative debates about abortion generate plenty of noise and attention, but what happens in courtrooms is likely to matter more.
The Legislature's annual hearings and votes on the issue have become the political equivalent of shows from touring companies for ''Cats'' or ''Oklahoma!'' However differently they're staged, the ending remains the same -- a veto by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
Meanwhile, prosecutors, judges, regulators and jurors probably will have more effect on how clinics operate and whether they stay open. Two criminal cases against abortion providers are pending, and abortion opponents have forced two grand juries to begin their own investigations.
Over the past decade, both sides have come to see enforcement of existing laws as perhaps the most pressing issue with abortion in Kansas.
''The real issue is, does the current law work, and if it doesn't work, why doesn't it work?'' said Sen. Phil Journey, an anti-abortion Haysville Republican. ''It appears that it doesn't work because some people who are in charge choose not to enforce it.''
The state's abortion laws have changed relatively little since Sebelius took office in January 2003. She's a strong abortion rights supporters who massaged the issue during her first campaign for governor in 2002 by promising not to seek major changes. But she's also prevented new restrictions sought by anti-abortion groups.
The current law allows abortions for any reason until a fetus can survive outside the womb. After a fetus is deemed viable, two independent doctors must conclude that a woman's life is at risk or that she faces an irreversible and serious health problems for an abortion to be performed.
Women must wait 24 hours between consulting an abortion provider and undergoing the procedure; they must give ''informed'' consent. Also, doctors in most cases must notify a parent or guardian of a minor seeking an abortion.
There's some agreement among national groups on both sides of the abortion issue about the shape of Kansas' abortion laws and its political climate.
In its 2008 assessment of states, Americans United for Life ranked Kansas as the fifth-best anti-abortion state in the nation. Meanwhile, NARAL Pro-Choice America's latest report card gave Kansas a grade of D minus.
Legislative debates eventually could become important again, of course. Sebelius is term-limited, meaning a new governor will be elected in 2010. Pedro Irigonegaray, a Topeka attorney who represents a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park, said the law already is restrictive.
''Who's to say what the next governor's going to be like? What if that governor happens to fall in line with these ideas?'' Irigonegaray said. ''The truth is there are some who will stop at nothing to see abortion banned altogether.''
But abortion opponents have long complained that there's lax enforcement of existing restrictions on abortion.
Their two biggest targets have been Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, one of the few U.S. doctors who performs late-term abortions, and Planned Parenthood's clinic, Comprehensive Health. They've argued for years that both have repeatedly violated Kansas law; the providers' attorneys say such allegations are unfounded.
Anti-abortion groups have gained a reputation for a fearsome ability to get supporters to the polls and pressure legislators. But Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said the rewriting the law means little, ''If you have people who are working against you who don't want to enforce the law.''
''Who the enforcers are is everything,'' she said.
Abortion rights advocates have been slower to reach the same conclusion, but Phill Kline helped make the case for them.
Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, won the attorney general's race in 2002 and within a few months of taking office was investigating Tiller and the Planned Parenthood clinic.
Tiller helped form and finance a new political action committee, ProKanDo, in 2002, and that year it was the most generous PAC in state races, giving $271,000 to candidates, party groups and other PACs. In 2005 and 2006, it raised more than $650,000.
ProKanDo helped defeat Kline in 2006, in favor of abortion rights Democrat Paul Morrison.
Frustration with Morrison -- and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston -- led abortion opponents to petition for grand juries in Sedgwick County and Johnson County. Even though Morrison, who resigned last month, filed a criminal case against Tiller, abortion foes didn't think he was being aggressive enough.
After Kline left the attorney general's office, he became Johnson County district attorney. Even as abortion opponents circulated petitions to force the county to convene a grand jury, Kline filed 107 criminal charges against Planned Parenthood.
''We now have a district attorney who is willing to attack with the awesome power of a state prosecutor,'' Irigonegaray said.
Thus, Kline continues to demonstrate for both sides why enforcement has become the key issue and courtrooms, the most important arena, in the abortion debate.
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