An Abortion Clinic's Worst Nightmare....

 Before I even begin - this blog is not about abortion and whether you think it should be legal or illegal. There are plenty of other blogs where you can post those opinions. So if you reply with "it should be banned" or "it should stay legal" you will be ignored. Post those thoughts where they belong.

For right now in most of America, abortion is legal provided there are certain criteria met; for example, it cannot be during the late term of the pregnancy except under extreme circumstances. If an abortion doctor suspects child abuse (ages 10 - 15) or rape (any age), he must contact the police and confidentiality goes out the window. Except in cases of rape or child abuse, records of abortion must remain confidential for a number of reasons: to spare the patient from undue discrimination, violence, and stress from anti-abortion groups being a main concern.

During Friday's broadcast of the O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly claimed that an "inside source" told him that a doctor working at an abortion clinic in Kansas repeatedly performed illegal, late-term abortions when the patient was "depressed". O'Reilly also accused two abortion clinics in Kansas of failing to to report suspected rapes to the police.

How is this an abortion clinic's worst night mare? I have posted the story below, but first, let's think about this. There's no proof that O'Reilly ever saw any records, or was ever given and "inside account" of what's going on. So it's quite possible that the conservative powers-that-be have just completely ruined the reputation of these two abortion clinics. This damage could be irreversible. Pedro Irigonegaray (representing the two abortion clinics) maintains that there is no way O'Reilly could have received any records from an inside source. Even Phill Kline - the countries foremost opponent to abortion and Friday nights interviewee - said, "I don't know whether you have that information or not...but that's what it says." They don't even know if O'Reilly had this information? But they broadcast the idea, potentially putting these abortion clinics out of business when there is a possibility that nothing out of the ordinary was even taking place?

On the other hand, if they do have such information, shouldn't the "inside source" be facing charges as well? Let's be reasonable. If the abortion clinics in Kansas were "executing" babies as described by O'Reilly, performing illegal abortions, and failing to report cases of suspected rape, he should have gone to the police first of all and not some twisted talk show host. Secondly, if he worked in one of these abortion clinics, there's a serious breach of patient confidentiality by going to a talk show host.

How far should confidentiality be maintained? If you were a patient and you found your doctor being the subject of a television show, would you be angry? Would you trust that doctor ever again?

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Dr. George Tiller said he will ask the Kansas Supreme Court on Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and take possession of the records of 90 patients from two clinics.

Attorney General Phill Kline obtained the records recently after a two-year battle that prompted privacy concerns. He has said he sought the records to review them for evidence of possible crimes including rape and illegal abortions.

During a Friday night broadcast of "The O'Reilly Factor," the conservative host said a "source inside" told the show that Tiller performs late-term abortions when a patient is depressed, which O'Reilly deemed "executing babies."

O'Reilly also said his show has evidence that Tiller's clinic and another unnamed clinic have broken Kansas law by failing to report potential rapes with victims ages 10 to 15.

A spokeswoman for Kline, who received redacted copies of the records Oct. 24, said Saturday he doesn't know how O'Reilly obtained the information.

"We don't know anything about Mr. O'Reilly's inside source," spokeswoman Sherriene Jones said. "I assumed he was talking about somebody on the inside of the abortion clinics."

Kline, an abortion opponent and Republican in a tight race with Democrat Paul Morrison, was interviewed by O'Reilly during the segment.

"Our information says that on almost every medical sheet -- and obviously we have a source inside here -- it says, 'depression,"' O'Reilly told Kline during the broadcast. "I don't know whether you have that information or not -- I don't know -- but that's what it says."

Pedro Irigonegaray, who represents Tiller and the clinics, said it was "preposterous" that the information would come from an insider at one of the clinics.

"This has been our concern from the beginning, that if he ended up with these records, that just this type of event would occur. Our worst nightmare has happened," Irigonegaray said. "Women in America deserve better than this."

It wasn't clear Saturday whether O'Reilly's source had broken state or federal laws by divulging patient information or whether O'Reilly or his staff had viewed any records themselves. A request to Fox in Washington to interview O'Reilly or someone associated with his show wasn't answered Saturday.

Kline, one of the nation's foremost abortion opponents, has said the targets of his investigation are rapists, sex offenders with child victims, and doctors involved in illegal abortions. Those could include doctors performing illegal late-term abortions or those failing to report abuse of a child.

The clinics had argued that giving the attorney general access to the records would invade patients' privacy.

Shawnee County District Judge Richard Anderson subpoenaed the records at Kline's request in September 2004, concluding there was probable cause to believe they contained evidence of crimes. The documents Kline received were edited so that individual patients could not be identified.