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Key Evidence Destroyed in Kansas Planned Parenthood Criminal Case

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Oct 26, 2011

A Kansas district judge postponed a pre-trial hearing in the state's criminal case against Planned Parenthood after prosecutors revealed that Kansas health officials shredded key records and documents, WORLD News Service reports. The organization faces 23 felony charges for manufacturing the records of clients who had late-term abortions and for failing to report cases of child rape in 2005 -- when current U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius was head of the Kansas Department of Health -- and the destroyed documents were evidence central to the prosecutors' case. It was revealed last week that the state health department had shredded the documents in a "routine" purging, but some Kansas pro-lifers believe the evidence was deliberately scrapped. Now, prosecutors have until Nov. 9 to gather other evidence, and depending on the outcome, the trial could still proceed. Planned Parenthood also faces 87 misdemeanor charges for failing to keep proper records and not determining the viability of a late-term baby before performing an abortion, but the abortion provider has long denied any wrongdoing.