Pacific Views

Why was Ashcroft trying to get abortion providers' records?

On Monday, Chicago Business reported on an attempt by the US Justice Department to subpoena the records of at least 40 patients who'd received late term abortions. (These are the ones that the right-wing likes to call 'partial birth abortions.') The department also tried to get the records of seven doctors and four hospitals who were involved in treating the women who had the abortions. Luckily, these subpoenas were quashed by a federal judge.

But the question still remains: Why were Ashcroft's minions trying to get these records in the first place?

In a post today at Tapped, a reader offered a possible explanation for the Justice Department's interest in the abortion-related records:

I'm a lawyer (but I also pay my taxes, am a loving parent to my children and help little old ladies walk across the street, so shut the frick up). In fact, I'm a litigator. And I have to tell you that I can't begin to imagine the legitimate legal basis for seeking patient records in this case. It sounds to me more like something I heard about here in Wichita during our "summer of mercy" nightmare a few years back.

I knew a few of the lawyers representing the clinic blockers -- nice guys for the most part, by the way. Anyway, they desperately wanted George Tiller (our local abortion provider) to sue them so they could conduct discovery regarding his practices. I think that's what's happening here In other words, Ashcroft & Co. are using the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the "partial birth abortion" ban to try to dig up info of political value in their great crusade against abortion.