Lawyers claim Kline could ID Tiller patients
A Phill Kline spokesman counters that "No patient has ever been identified."
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle

Lawyers for Wichita abortion provider George Tiller began turning over names of clinic employees to a Sedgwick County grand jury Friday. They also began, under subpoena, compiling files on women who sought late-term abortions.

Although the women's names are to be removed from files to be turned over, Tiller's lawyers went back to district court Friday to argue unsuccessfully for more protection for the women's privacy.

Specifically, Tiller's lawyers argued that removing the names from medical records in an earlier investigation didn't stop then-Attorney General Phill Kline from discovering the patients' identities.

Those details emerged at a hearing Friday morning in which Tiller's lawyers asked retired Judge Paul Buchanan for more stringent privacy protections for women who sought late-term abortions. Buchanan denied the request, as he had other attempts by Tiller to stop the grand jury's subpoena.

The subpoena covers records relating to 2,000 women who have sought abortions after their 21st week of pregnancy in Wichita during the past five years.

Attorney Laura Shaneyfelt, representing Tiller, told Buchanan that Kline had been able to identify patients, even after the Supreme Court in 2006 ordered names removed from abortion records.

Kline's office denied those allegations.

"No patient has ever been identified," said Brian Burgess, spokesman for Kline, who now serves as Johnson County district attorney. Burgess declined to elaborate, saying details of Kline's three-year investigation into Tiller's clinic and a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park were still under seal.

Shaneyfelt produced a document from the attorney general's office, compiled while Kline held office, which matched guest registers at a Wichita motel with dates and details in abortion records.

The chart was introduced in court after deputy district attorney Ann Swegle said the grand jury wasn't interested in the patients' identities. Swegle is the prosecutor assigned to advise the grand jury.

Shaneyfelt said that Kline made the same claim, but that he started to search for the identities after trying to get the abortion clinic records.

A copy of the February 2005 subpoena obtained by The Eagle showed that Kline's office ordered production of guest registration records from the La Quinta Inn, which was located on Kellogg east of Tiller's clinic.

Kline's subpoena asked for the names, addresses and telephone numbers for guests "who received a medical discount."

It also demanded information on guests who stayed in rooms reserved by Tiller and his employees, and records of telephone calls placed to or from those rooms.

The records subpoenaed were for Jan. 1, 2003 through the time of the subpoena.

That came just four months after Kline had asked a Shawnee County judge for a subpoena of 90 abortion records -- also from 2003 -- for the clinics in Wichita and Overland Park.

Those clinics asked the state Supreme Court to block the subpoena for patient records.

After a two-year legal feud, the state high court ruled in February 2006 that Kline could receive the records only after a series of precautions were taken to ensure all identifying information of patients had been removed.

Kline received redacted records on Oct. 24, 2006.

The chart Shaneyfelt gave Buchanan Friday had the names of the La Quinta guests crossed out. But she told the judge that the original form from Kline's office had the names of the motel guests matched with dates and details from abortion files.

"This is the kind of abuse we know can happen, we have seen happen and these women are terrified will happen again," Shaneyfelt told the judge.

Tiller's lawyers also filed an appeal with the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday, arguing that the threat of identifying abortion recipients violated women's rights under the U.S. Constitution.

They had hoped that the state Supreme Court would postpone the grand jury investigation until the appeal could be heard. But the day ended with no word from the court, and Tiller's lawyers began turning over some records, including the names of doctors who have performed and served as consultants on late-term abortions.

Kansas law restricts abortions performed after the 21st week of pregnancy, when a fetus can survive outside the womb. In those cases, two doctors must conclude that a woman faces death or "substantial and irreversible" harm to a major bodily function.

At issue is whether Tiller has complied with state law.

Opponents of abortion initiated a petition that collected nearly 7,000 signatures to seat the grand jury earlier this month.

A spokesman for Kansans for Life said that Buchanan's orders against Tiller, and the production of records, shows their efforts are paying off.

"We did this, because we felt prosecutors had failed to prosecute the laws on late-term abortions," said David Gittrich. "We're glad in this state that people have another route to go for law enforcement if they believe there's a failing in the current system."

Friday was the 24th day of the grand jury's 90-day term.

Reach Ron Sylvester at 316-268-6514 or rsylvester@wichitaeagle.com