Across the country, activists are pursuing private abortion details using public records laws: [View all]

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Rio Slade ‏@RioSlade 14m14 minutes ago
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@LeahNTorres This is alarming.

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ProPublica @ProPublica
Across the country, activists are pursuing private abortion details using public records laws: http://propub.ca/1JXZvjH



http://www.propublica.org/article/activists-pursue-private-abortion-details-using-public-records-laws?utm_campaign=sprout&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=1440543670


Activists Pursue Private Abortion Details Using Public Records Laws

Across the country, those who support abortion rights and those who oppose them are feuding in court over how much information should be disclosed about women undergoing abortions. Supporters say there’s no margin for error. Opponents say it’s about ensuring quality care.

This story was co-published with the Washington Post.

by Charles Ornstein
ProPublica, Aug. 25, 2015, 7 p.m.



.........................The legal skirmish, and others like it nationwide, reveal a quiet evolution in the nation’s abortion battle. Increasingly, abortion opponents are pursuing personal and medical information on women undergoing abortions and the doctors who perform them. They often file complaints with authorities based on what they learn.

Abortion opponents insist their tactics are generally not aimed at identifying women who have abortions but to uncover incidents involving patients who may have been harmed by poor care or underage girls who may have been sexually abused. They say they are trying to prevent situations such as the one involving Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in 2013 of murdering three babies after botched abortions and of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman.

“This is about saving the lives of women,” said Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is based in Wichita, Kansas. “A lot of people don’t understand that. It’s a systemic problem within the abortion industry today for abortion providers to cut corners on patient care.”

But those who support abortion rights say the ultimate aim of these activists is to reduce abortions by intimidating women and their doctors — using the loss of privacy as a weapon. They say their opponents are amassing a wealth of details that could be used to identify patients — turning women, and their doctors, into pariahs or even targets. In a New Mexico case, a woman’s initials and where she lived became public as part of an investigation triggered by a complaint from activists......................