The KC Star moves to intervene in Kansas abortion lawsuit over hidden court records
Reality Check is a Star series holding those with power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email our journalists at RealityCheck@kcstar.com. Have the latest Reality Checks delivered to your inbox with our free newsletter.
The Kansas City Star has intervened in a lawsuit over access to records in a civil dispute between Planned Parenthood and the state of Kansas regarding abortion.
In its filing, The Star asked a Johnson County District Court judge to unseal all exhibits filed under seal as a result of an agreement between lawyers representing Attorney General Kris Kobach and abortion providers, while allowing appropriate redactions to exclude patients' names and personal information.
The suit, filed in 2023, challenges strict state requirements mandating that providers survey patients seeking an abortion, share medically inaccurate or unproven information with people considering the procedure, and require them to wait at least 24 hours before receiving an abortion.
Enforcement of the new restrictions adopted by the Legislature has been halted while the suit works its way through the courts.
'The public has a right to know what is happening in judicial proceedings,' Star Executive Editor Greg Farmer said. 'The efforts in this case to hide records from public view are an attack on long-established democratic principles.
'Our goal with this motion is to fight for our readers and all Kansans and to ensure and advocate for transparency on their behalf,' Farmer said.
Lawyers representing the state filed their own motion seeking for certain records to be unsealed after attorneys for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Hodes and Nauser Women's Health and the Center for Reproductive Rights designated them as 'confidential' or 'attorneys' eyes only.'
Among those records are two videos that are shown to patients at Planned Parenthood who are considering an abortion. Plaintiffs said in their response that 'patients can only watch the videos in the office.'
'When Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit, they issued a press release which quoted Emily Wales, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, as saying that 'people deserve facts and honest conversations' about a woman's right to an abortion,' The Star's attorney, Bernie Rhodes, wrote in the motion.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to block the enforcement of the full policy, which requires physicians to obtain detailed information from patients about their pregnancy 24 hours before the procedure.
The law also requires physicians to listen to the fetus' heartbeat 30 minutes prior to an abortion. It would also require providers to, without evidence, post information in their clinics and websites that abortions could increase their risk of breast cancer and premature birth in future pregnancies.
The law would also mandate abortion providers survey women, asking them to choose the most important reason for getting an abortion. Included as options as part of the survey are the following potential reasons: financial stress, rape, fetal disabilities, or the health of the mother.
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Popovic added that anyone who believes they have been charged for an OHIP-covered service can contact the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act program to ask for a review, and that those who have been found to have been billed will be reimbursed. After coming home from the private eye clinic, Purdey changed his mind; he wasn't going to pay for the laser measurements or other add-ons. 'I was told that the laser measurement stuff was better,' he said, 'but they didn't really tell me how much better it was.' He called up the clinic to ask for the OHIP-funded procedures and in late May he had the first round of publicly funded surgery on one of his eyes. 'I'm quite satisfied,' Purdey said the day after his surgery. 'I feel like I narrowly missed getting trapped into spending a whole lot of money.'
