Kan. abortion rules face test in federal court

[Casino67]

Witchita Eagle:

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas still has one abortion provider, but two others that have had to halt services because they don't have state licenses hoped Friday to persuade a federal judge to block a new licensing law and health department regulations they consider burdensome.

The state attorney general's office argued before a Friday hearing in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., that a license granted to a Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri clinic disproves critics' contention that the new Kansas rules are designed to cut off access to abortion.

The licensing law was part of a wave of anti-abortion legislation enacted across the nation this year, but had none of its three providers received a license, Kansas would have been the only state in the nation without a clinic or doctor's office performing abortions.

Its regulations tell providers what drugs and equipment they must stock, set acceptable temperatures for procedure and recovery rooms and set minimum sizes for some rooms. Supporters believe those rules will protect patients. But abortion-rights advocates have called the licensing process a "sham" because Gov. Sam Brownback is an anti-abortion Republican, and abortion foes pushed the law through the GOP-controlled Legislature.


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I happened to catch Rachel Maddow last night, you would have thought Obama ran off with a white woman. For a lesbian who will never need an abortion, she was livid. May have been the best hour of TV yesterday.

Two of her guests were a father/daughter team. The father said some of his 'clients' said they were treated so well for the abort, that they came back when they had a live delivery. Couldn't believe no one laughed at that.