You have probably already heard about the appointment of Susan Orr, a pro-abstinence anti-birth control nut to oversee federal family planning programs. I’m sure that we all remember the appointment of “Dr.” Eric Keroack, an anti-choice, anti-contraception nut who runs a crisis pregnancy center, to oversee Title X funding at the Department of Health and Human Services. In that light, this appointment really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bush might appoint raging misogynists to positions designed to provide health care to women. And yet, even Keroack’s replacement Mary Jane Gallagher said that her office is appalled at the appointment.
You can take action against Orr via Planned Parenthood. The sooner we get her out, the better.
But Planned Parenthood has more of its own problems right now. In Kansas, that microcosm of anti-choice nuttery, criminal charges have been filed against a local Planned Parenthood.
A county prosecutor in Kansas who waged a vociferous battle against abortion in his former role as the state’s attorney general filed dozens of felony and misdemeanor charges yesterday against a Planned Parenthood clinic, saying the facility provided illegal late-term abortions, among other crimes.
The prosecutor, Phill Kline, now the Johnson County district attorney, has a history of wrangling with the clinic, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. When he was the state attorney general, from 2002 until last year, Mr. Kline, a conservative Republican, developed a reputation for challenging abortion providers.
In a suit that brought national attention to Kansas as a battleground for abortion rights, Mr. Kline sought the names and personal information of women and girls who had had abortions at the Planned Parenthood clinic and one other medical facility. Early last year, the State Supreme Court restricted the investigation, ruling that personal information must be removed from the records Mr. Kline sought. Mr. Kline’s effort to prosecute the clinics ultimately failed.
In a statement posted on his Web site, Mr. Kline said he would not comment on yesterday’s charges, which included 29 felony counts of providing false information and 84 misdemeanor counts of failure to maintain records, failure to determine viability for a late-term abortion and unlawful late-term abortion.
Oh yeah. This isn’t just the guy who tried to get the medical information of all women who had abortions at the same clinic — and, thank god, failed — he’s also the guy most famous for the baseless legal harassment Dr. Tiller.
So, how do we know that the charges are bullshit? Well, because Planned Parenthood isn’t smart enough to blatantly break the law — especially when they know that they’re under surveillance. Even more than that, though, this is a guy who is infamous for leveling insane and unfounded charges against abortion providers and regularly losing his cases.
Of course, the goal is yet again to cost Planned Parenthood a lot of money, time and effort and to tarnish their image. I’m sure that Kline is very proud. Doesn’t he have, I don’t know, actual crimes to investigate? Because Planned Parenthood sure has a lot of actual patients to provide health care to. The guy may be bored and lonely, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to throw rocks at the other kids . . .
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At least Kline lost his position as state attorney general to a person more sympathetic to Planned Parenthood than he is, though I imagine almost everyone is more supportive of P.P. than Kline. Even the acting A.G. thinks these accusations are baseless; providing illegal late-term abortions would be completely idiotic for an organization that is watched like a hawk 24/7 by pro-lifers.
By the way, what is your opinion on the effectiveness of e-mail petitions, because I understand they are not exactly taken seriously, especially if the e-mail just gets forwarded to whitehouse.gov. Perhaps addressing them to a lobbyist group or sympathetic legal team might be slightly more effective? Maybe someone on the Hill that isn’t a Bush sympathizer? I only ask because I don’t know, and I don’t want to sound like a dick by being critical, as I did sign the petition, it’s just I wonder if there is a better means to sack Orr than this.
It’s doubtless that Planned Parenthood is going to actually go and lobby on this issue. They spend quite a great deal of time lobbying (in fact, I have been on a lobbying visit with them in NY state). I imagine that the petition, though forwarded to the white house inbox, is actually designed A. to raise awareness among pro-choice supporters, and B. more importantly to demonstrate the opposition to the nomination during lobbying visits by Planned Parenthood. As for a legal team, I’m honestly not aware of anything that they could do. That doesn’t mean that there might not be anything, just that I’ve never heard of it.
Online petitions, no, are not best. Letters to representatives are more important, and calls even more important than those. But this isn’t an issue that’s under the control of Congress, which means that individuals are limited to how they can help. Other than a mass protest — which I imagine would be difficult to put together for this kind of issue that flies under the radar — I don’t have any ideas for more effective action, in this case.
As always, Cara, thanks for keeping me painfully informed. Isn’t Kansas also the only-creationism-in-public-schools state?
“I imagine that the petition, though forwarded to the white house inbox, is actually designed A. to raise awareness among pro-choice supporters, and B. more importantly to demonstrate the opposition to the nomination during lobbying visits by Planned Parenthood.”
I too had some misgivings about the effectiveness of an online petition campaign. The above are certainly great reasons to participate, and I do want to give P.P. the ammunition that they need to make their case. Yet, I worry that petitions sometimes give people a false sense of having done something pro-active and keeps them from writing letters to the editor or to their representatives or protesting in other, more meaningful, ways.
just a heads up – i don’t think keroack was the head of NFPRHA – they represent Title X providers – i think he was within HHS in their office of population affairs that overses Title X itself.
i think this is how it was…we do a lot of work with NFPRHA, so i’m pretty sure they’re the good guys and gals!
You’re right! I looked it up yesterday and that source said president of NFPRHA, but I just wikied it and it seems that you’re correct. My bad, fixing it now.
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