Monty Python once said: no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but in Missouri, when Kurt Schaefer talks everyone expects an inquisition to follow. For Planned Parenthood, the Senator from Columbia, Missouri who once declared himself as a “sensible moderate” has been done everything short of wear the red cape and cross in Jefferson City. His ongoing war on Planned Parenthood, healthcare, and LGBT groups pushed the KC Star Editorialist Barb Shelly to label him “The Scariest Person in Missouri Government”.
Now, the Senator from Columbia has a new plan — and one he hopes will get him elected Attorney General. Following in the footsteps of now disbarred Kansas former Attorney General Phill Kline, Senator Schaefer is asking Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, Missouri to turn over to the state all records and documents relating to their tissue practices in a full summary. When queried about this, Planned Parenthood noted that there were serious concerns about turning over all records in such a fashion, records that would potentially out patients and send a shockwave through communities who would believe their potential privacy would be impacted.
Barb Shelly, now at her new gig at The Pitch, a Kansas City alternative paper, follows up on the current happenings:
www.pitch.com/...
The Senate Rules, Joint Rules and Resolutions Committee wants her to appear before the full Senate on April 18 for a spectacle that has the makings of a full-blown inquisition.
[Mary] Kogut [head of St. Louis Missouri Planned Parenthood] declined to send documents and witnesses as requested to Sen. Kurt Schaefer’s “sanctity of life” committee hearing last November. This was understandable. Witnesses at several earlier hearings had been berated and threatened. R. Bowen Loftin, then the chancellor of the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus, was so rattled that he initiated a process that resulted in a halt to non-surgical abortions at Planned Parenthood’s mid-Missouri clinic because the doctor who performed them was stripped of admitting privileges at Mizzou’s hospital.
When Kogut refused to show, citing patient privacy and ongoing legal concerns over the issue, the Missouri senate moved swiftly with a 24-8 party line vote demanding Ms. Kogut come to the Missouri senate, explain her actions and produce documents. If she doesn’t? The Missouri Senate wants her to spend 10 days in jail.
Speaking in the capitol, Senator Jamilah Nasheed (Democrat, District 5 St. Louis) told the press: “We should be praising Planned Parenthood for their work. This should offend every woman who thinks their private lives are actually private.”
Rather than back down, though, Planned Parenthood St. Louis & SW Missouri has responded with a unique approach: if they show up, they want subpoenas to go out to other legislators, including Republicans who had cleared them of any wrongdoing multiple times.
Jason Hancock of the Kansas City Star covered the action today: www.kansascity.com/...
Among the six years’ worth of documents requested by the Senate include any consent forms that must be signed by a patient prior to an abortion at Planned Parenthood and all written communications related to the disposal of fetal remains.
Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a Columbia Republican leading the Senate investigation, said last week that Kogut and Miller would sit before the full Senate on Monday and answer questions as lawmakers determine whether to hold them in contempt.
According to the U.S. Constitution, Hatfield writes, “fundamental rules of fairness apply to a proceeding that could theoretically result in a fine or jail time.” As such, Hatfield says Kogut has the right to call witnesses on her behalf.
Schaefer, who hasn’t given up on the idea of throwing someone in jail for their refusal to violate patient confidences seems intent on fighting this issue as long and as hard as he can.
With no Republican willing to stand in his way, the brakes have come off the train and the Missouri Inquisition shows no ability to stop. The question for women in the state of Missouri is whether or not enough of them are willing to shove the train off the tracks in November. While national Republicans dismissed Donald Trump’s call to “punish women” for abortion, Missouri Republicans are prepared to do exactly that, by risking outing unknown numbers of individuals to outside parties with prying eyes.
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