Tag Archives: State: Kansas

AP: Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that 32 misdemeanor charges against the clinic had been dismissed . . .

Life Legal Defense Foundation Declares Phill Kline’s Predicament “Outrageous”

Collin Levy at Wall Street Journal (via Google): Kansas Governor Sam Brownback is smiling this morning after yesterday’s GOP primaries in his state delivered a fresh batch of conservative lawmakers. In a state where Republicans heavily dominate the House and Senate, groups of liberal Republicans have lately formed coalitions with Democrats to derail the Governor’s agenda, including pro-growth tax cuts.

AP: Conservative Republicans who’ve been working to push GOP moderates out of state legislatures in a large section of the country have scored big victories in Kansas . . .

LifeNews: Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis denied a motion on Friday asking him to dismiss a state challenge to an abortion clinic licensing law that has been brought by two Kansas abortionists.

AP: The clinic’s attorneys argued that the charges – covering 13 abortions in 2003 – were filed beyond a two-year deadline for pursuing charges in effect when the pregnancies were terminated.

LifeNews: The State of Kansas will ask for summary judgment at a hearing on Friday, August 3, 2012, in a suit brought by Kansas abortionists challenging a clinic licensing law passed last year.

Jewish Journal: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described a plan by Evangelical pastors in Kansas to build a replica of the Western Wall as part of an anti-abortion shrine as “an outrageous affront to the Jewish people.”

AP: The State Board of Healing Arts ratified an administrative judge’s earlier decision to strip Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of her license.

AP: The State Board of Healing Arts will review an administrative judge’s February recommendation that it strip Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of her license.

Washington Post: Kansas does not, by any measure, have the most liberal abortion laws. NARAL Pro-Choice America gives the state an “F” on access to abortion. But what it did have, in 2008, was Dr. George Tiller . . .

LifeSiteNews: The man who became the first prosecutor in America to take on Planned Parenthood in court has revealed new details in the astonishing story of how the Kansas Supreme Court colluded with prosecutors and the Kathleen Sebelius administration to halt his investigation and turn the media against him, culminating in an effort to end his legal career.

Religion Clause Blog: Last year the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against Kansas resident Angel Dillard under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act . . . Yesterday AP reported that Dillard has now filed a counterclaim, contending that “she was inspired by God” to send the threatening letter.

How Appealing links to the report and motion for recusal.

USA Today: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a law aimed at keeping the state’s courts or government agencies from basing decisions on Islamic or other foreign legal codes, and a national Muslim group’s spokesman said Friday that a court challenge is likely.

Hutchinson News: The Reno County Commission attempted to put to rest a controversy over prayer at the start of its meetings on Tuesday by unanimously approving a policy calling for non-sectarian prayers or a moment of silence in the future.

ProLife Blogs: Just four days after former Kansas prosecutor Phill Kline filed a motion asking for the recusal of two biased State Supreme Court Justices who were slated to decide the outcome of a politically motivated ethics complaint against him, five out of seven of the Justices recused themselves from hearing the case.

CJOnline.com: The medical definition of abortion is termination of pregnancy after the fertilized egg has implanted in the uterus. But the Catholic Church defines pregnancy as the termination of pregnancy after fertilization — regardless of whether the fertilized egg has successfully implanted.

El Dorado Times: Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is asking two Kansas Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from ruling in his ethics case, contending the judges hold biases that could influence their decision . . .

KansasCity.com: Gov. Sam Brownback has signed into law a bill that will allow pharmacists to refuse to provide drugs they believe might cause an abortion . . .

One News Now: Officials in a Kansas county are ending their tradition of mostly Christian prayer before meetings.

Religion Clause Blog: The Kansas state Senate on Friday, by a vote of 33-3 joined the House which by a vote of 120-0 earlier in the week approved the Conference Committee version H Sub SB 79, popularly known as the Sharia law bill.

LJWorld: Senate President Steve Morris on Wednesday sent back to committee an anti-abortion bill, citing concerns about what the proposal’s impact would be on the accreditation of the Kansas University Medical Center.

Kansas City Star: The Kansas attorney general’s office paid outside lawyers almost $628,000 through April to defend anti-abortion laws enacted last year.

Miami Herald: The tax code is becoming the new weapon in the war against abortion with Kansas pioneering the way. The Kansas House passed a bill Monday that would further restrict abortion by rewriting state tax law. “Nobody on the state level has gone through their tax code in this manner,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health issue.

The Hays Daily News: The Kansas House on Monday approved a bill designed to prevent the state from subsidizing abortions even indirectly through tax breaks, but the measure’s chances in the Senate appeared uncertain.
The bill was adopted by an 88-31 vote.

Christian Newswire: Documents leaked to Operation Rescue by a confidential informant contain proof that Central Family Medical, a Kansas City abortion clinic also known as Aid for Women, routinely does not report suspected abuse on women and minors who seek abortions.

Salina Journal: A bill giving more legal protection to Kansas health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions was on its way Wednesday to Gov. Sam Brownback, despite concerns it would limit access to birth control and allow some professionals to block life-saving care.

Christian Post: Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, also believes the law is unconstitutional. He told CP in an emailed statement that Hutchinson appears to want to “force churches back into their own four walls.” “It is the church that decides what is acceptable for itself under its religious doctrine and it is not the government’s role to force a church to violate that doctrine,” he said. “This ordinance should never pass because it is unconstitutional. But if it does and Hutchinson attempts to force churches to violate their religious beliefs, ADF will not hesitate to use the legal process to protect the constitutional rights of churches.”

Todd Starnes at Fox News: Religious liberty groups are blasting a proposed ordinance that would force churches in Hutchinson, Kan. to rent their facilities for gay weddings and gay parties.

LifeSiteNews: Planned Parenthood in Kansas moved to silence certain details of their abortion business while facing accusations of aborting babies beyond the gestational age legal in the state, according to documents unsealed last week.

KC Star: Kansas regulators have postponed deciding whether a doctor should lose her license over allegations of substandard care for young patients she referred to the late George Tiller for late-term abortions.

NECN (AP): Defense attorneys are asking a Kansas judge to dismiss the remaining criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood clinic accused of performing illegal abortions, saying the allegations stem merely from differing medical opinions about how such procedures should be handled

AP: The Kansas state board that oversees doctors is working on an agreement with a former abortion provider over the permanent custody of patient files still in his possession . . .

LifeNews: A hearing in the criminal case against a Kansas Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, which was scheduled for last Thursday, has been put off indefinitely. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the District Attorney’s office made a brief appearance in court last week to ask for the continuance.

Lawrence Journal World: Two Lawrence representatives attacked the bill, called the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, as an attempt to destroy a city of Lawrence anti-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation.

NECN: The American Civil Liberties Union has won a legal round in its efforts to overturn a Kansas law restricting abortion insurance coverage.

AP: A Kansas district attorney says he doesn’t expect to file criminal charges against a former abortion provider who discarded patients’ private medical records . . .

Sacramento Bee reports.

Dodge Globe: A push by abortion opponents to ensure Kansas doesn’t have even indirect involvement in terminating pregnancies has legislators focusing on the state medical school, whose officials worry lawmakers could endanger its accreditation.

LifeNews: There is no reason that Kansas should succumb to the desire of the University of Kansas (KU) to continue decades of facilitating, promoting and paying for abortion trainingin their post-graduate residency program.

One News Now: Returns from 89 percent of the state’s precincts showed Santorum with 51 percent support, far outpacing Romney, who had 21 percent.

Dodge Globe (AP): But the Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/wKmbYl ) Thursday that a provision in the bill keeping any state employee from performing abortions has implications for medical residents at the University of Kansas.

LA Times: Since Tiller’s slaying, there have been other halting attempts to bring abortion providers to Wichita. One doctor even agreed but then backed out, spooked by the climate.

MySantAntonio.com: House Majority Leader Arlen Siegfreid has introduced a bill to set aside space in the Kansas Statehouse for prayer, meditation and reflection.

The Republic (The Salina J.): Mott, chairwoman of the Kansas Equality Coalition, is backing a proposal to add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes to the city’s equality ordinance.

One News Now (AP): Kansas House committee has endorsed legislation that backers say would protect religious freedom but opponents believe would allow discrimination based on sexual orientation.

KansasCity.com: A Kansas House committee has postponed its vote on a bill aimed at preventing the state from subsidizing abortions even indirectly through tax credits or deductions.

LifeSiteNews.com: Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor issued a statement Friday saying that there would be no criminal charges filed against Sebelius-era appointees in the destruction of critical evidence in a massive criminal case against Planned Parenthood.

The Republic (AP): Kansas abortion providers who won a federal injunction to keep temporary clinic regulations from taking effect are asking a judge to award them attorneys’ fees and costs.

MSN.com: . . . including requiring doctors to tell women that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer and eliminating tax credits for post-secondary medical institutions that perform abortions.

OneNewsNow.com: Personhood Kansas spokesman Bruce Garren says it will take a two-thirds’ vote of both houses of the legislature to get the measure on the fall ballot.

CJOnline.com: More than two dozen House members endorsed Friday a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that sponsors believe could trigger a ban on abortion in Kansas.

Wichita Eagle: The American Civil Liberties Union is planning to question Kansas insurance providers about the impact of a new law restricting abortion coverage.

KansasCity.com: School districts wrestling over how to control a potential wave of students transferring out of Kansas City schools feared some parents might sue.

LifeNews.com: A new video produced by a national pro-life organization shows the role pro-abortion HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had in a document shredding scandal that saw her administration’s Attorney General shred documents important to a case concerning Planned Parenthood.

Center for Reproductive Rights: A Kansas state judge has blocked enforcement of a recently enacted state licensing statute and regulations that reproductive rights advocates say would cut off women’s access to constitutionally protected medical services, including abortion and other important OB-GYN care.

CBS News (includes video): And, as CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports, new laws aimed at limiting abortions are adding even more fuel to the fire — though their implementation is being held up by court challenges.

MSN Money: Two lawsuits challenging attempts by Kansas to impose special regulations for abortion providers are moving more slowly than initially expected, with the state still blocked from enforcing its rules by judges in federal and state courts.

MSN Money: Two lawsuits challenging attempts by Kansas to impose special regulations for abortion providers are moving more slowly than initially expected, with the state still blocked from enforcing its rules by judges in federal and state courts.

CJOnline.com: Topeka Unified School District 501 board of education members Thursday night voted 6-1 to include sexual orientation and gender expression in the district’s anti-discrimination policies regarding students and staff . . . Cindy Kelly, the district’s attorney, said the policy additions were recommended by the U.S. Department of Education in an advisory noting that bullying and harassment of students due to sexual orientation or gender identity is rising.

LifeNews.com: It’s very interesting that the abortion business’ legal team has changed venues, having filed this new case in a state court, presumably so if they lose in the first round, they can get their appeal up to the abortion-leaning, Sebelius-stacked state supreme court.

Taiwan News Online: Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe told the judge he had no choice but to ask that 49 of 107 charges against the clinic be dismissed because documents central to the case were destroyed.

LifeNews.com: Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has asked the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office to launch an investigation into the scandal surrounding the destruction of abortion records during the administration for former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

LifeNews.com: A Kansas judge ordered some of the 107 charges filed against Planned Parenthood for engaging in illegal abortions and covering up those cases thanks to the destruction of records that took place during the Sebelius administration.

LifeNews: Open records received by Operation Rescue from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment raise more questions than they answer about the recent revelation that documents containing critical evidence against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri were shredded under the Sebelius Administration.

Dodge City Daily Globe: An abortion rights advocate who once worked for the late Dr. George Tiller says plans to open an abortion clinic in Wichita next year are still on track.

KansasCity.com: A Muslim mosque in Wichita that was heavily damaged by fire early Monday had received anti-Islam letters in recent months.

LifeNews.com: A leading pro-life organization is seeking more information on the public records destroyed by the former administration of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in connection with a case the state attorney general filed against Planned Parenthood.

A national abortion rights group announced Thursday that it will sue over revised regulations for abortion providers in Kansas . . .

LifeSiteNews.com: Alliance Defense Fund senior legal counsel Steven Aden told LSN, referencing the Kansas disciplinary board case against Kline. “Intentional destruction of evidence is a serious charge, and if Planned Parenthood has been complicit in this criminal act, it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

LifeSiteNews.com: Today came the bombshell news that the administration of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, now the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, destroyed critical evidence in 2005

The Associated Press: Kansas officials are easing contentious new regulations governing abortion clinics, but the move may not be enough to placate abortion providers who have already persuaded a federal judge to block earlier versions, The Associated Press has learned.

OneNewsNow.com: Phill Kline angered pro-abortion politicos by conducting a probe of Planned Parenthood when he was attorney general, finding that the abortion provider was performing abortions on minors without parental involvement and without reporting the crimes to authorities.

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Kansas to restore federal family planning funds to a Dodge City clinic that claims it is “collateral damage” to a new law aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, saying that the U.S. Constitution trumps state law.