Friday, February 25, 2005

The Not-So-Secret War on Choice

An update from the front lines of the culture war:

No battle is or has been more visible than that of abortion rights. Under a cloak of secrecy, the state of Kansas has opened a new front in the battle...

Kansas Attorney General Seeks Late-Term Abortion Records

TOPEKA, Kan. Feb 25, 2005 — The Kansas attorney general, a staunch opponent of abortion, has demanded the medical records of nearly 90 woman and girls who had late-term abortions, saying he needs the material to investigate crimes...

Let me translate from old German: "Ve vant ze records, Fritz."

This whole story is a chilling reminder that, over the next four years, America is going to be jackbooted by the legions of Bushbots™ who lurk in every nook and cranny in the country. The rabid fundie pro-life MEN who are mostly behind this movement will stop at nothing, including raising the specter of wholesale intimidation of an entire class of women by demanding the government be privy to private medical records.

The court situation in Kansas is mixed, so it's hard to predict the chances of success of the Kansas AG's demand. But what is clear is that he's 1) on a campaign of intimidation, and 2) embroiled in a good old fashion witchhunt that he has to inherently know is not going to be decided locally in Kansas. The issue will most certainly land before SCOTUS at some point in the future.

Chip, chip, chip...

Update, 1:30PM - Atrios writes more on the topic.

Update, 9:45PM - Ron Reagan Jr. thought enough of us to cite this post at the blog for the recently launched MS-GOP show, Connected Coast-to-Coast.