CA Hospital Refuses DOJ Subpoena, Ashcroft Appeals Chicago Ruling (Partial-Birth Abortion Ban)

LifeNews.com ^ | February 18, 2004 | Paul Nowak

[WildReeling]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- San Francisco General Hospital is refusing to turn over records related to partial-birth abortions performed under its roof -- the latest in a string of hospitals that are refusing to cooperate with the Bush administration in its effort to defend the federal ban on partial-birth abortions.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice dated Tuesday, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera refused to comply with a subpoena for the records, calling it "a gross violation of our patients' privacy rights."

The National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and several abortion practitioners, filed lawsuits the same day President Bush signed the partial-birth abortion ban into law. The suits argue that the scope of the law is too broad and that it does not provide an exception for when such abortions are supposedly needed to protect women's health.

Federal judges, responding to the lawsuits, issued restraining orders to prevent enforcement of the law.

U.S. District Judge Richard Conway Casey of New York was one of the judges temporarily blocking the law, but he has scheduled a hearing on March 29 to review the ban.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking hospital records regarding the number and nature of the abortions, but not the patient's information. The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to seven major hospitals, and several are refusing to comply.

Ashcroft is not seeking to identify patients, but is looking to verify what pro-life groups say and some abortion advocates have admitted -- that most partial-birth abortions occur on healthy women and healthy babies.

"We sought from the judge authority to get medical records to find out whether indeed the allegation by the plaintiffs -- that it's medically necessary -- is really a fact," Ashcroft told reporters at a conference last week.

Judge Casey agrees, and has upheld the subpoena in New York.

"I will not let the doctors hide behind the shield of the hospital," said Casey in conference with parties involved in the lawsuit on February 5. "I will take all necessary guarantees to comply with the law and protect – and that is very important – to protect the privacy of the patients, but the information relevant to this case will be produced."

When the legal representatives argued that the documents would take too long to prepare, Judge Casey was not sympathetic.

[WildReeling]

FYI, LifeNews.com is now the #1 abortion-related site on the internet, beating out Planned Parenthood! (according to Alexa.com) Alexa link

Considering the difference in budgets, it's quite a feat.

[mrsmith]

"From: hospitals
To: government

It's none of your business what we're doing.

Signed,
Doctor (Baron) Victor Von Frankenstein, Doctor Josef Mengele, and friends.

PS: Send more money!"

[Digger]

So gang, what's going to happen here? Ever heard of a conservative group to not heed to honor a supoena? These lib/commies abstruct & virtually NO consequences happen. In fact the pubbies will issue a statement usually that their tactics were probably too extreme. GW says gay marrages are troubling & Ahrnold sits on his a$$ w/o any action to stop it all the while he pushing a bond to cover for his ineptness to cut spending. At the same time the people here are supporting both & again getting the same type of government that we has cause this extremism to flourish. Plus they all will get re-elected. There's not words to describe this lunacy.

[drypowder]

Right out of the Clinton play book: deny, refuse, lie, stall in order to gain time to destroy records. Then, lie again and play dumb.

[claudiustg]

Why should they obey the law? No one else in California does.