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Feb. 19th, 2004
New York Times
February 13, 2004
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - Attorney General John Ashcroft
rebuffed calls from Congressional Democrats and abortion
rights groups on Thursday to drop the Justice Department's
demands for abortion records from a half-dozen hospitals.
Mr. Ashcroft said the records were essential to the
department's courtroom defense of a new law banning what he
called "the rather horrendous practice of partial-birth
abortions."
A group of doctors have sued to overturn the law, which was
passed by Congress last November and signed by President
Bush. They say they have performed medically necessary
abortions that would now be banned.
Mr. Ashcroft told reporters that "if the central issue in
the case, an issue raised by those who brought the case, is
medical necessity, we need to look at medical records to
find out if indeed there was medical necessity." He refused
to say whether he had personally signed off on the
subpoenas for the records.
The department has subpoenaed at least six hospitals, in
New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Ann Arbor, Mich.,
to obtain medical histories for women who have had
abortions in the last three years performed by the doctors
now suing the government. A federal judge in Chicago has
thrown out a subpoena against Northwestern University
Medical Center because he said it was a "significant
intrusion" on patient privacy, and hospital administrators
in other cities are contesting the demand as well.
Government lawyers do not want the names or other
identifying information about the women, Mr. Ashcroft said.
He said the Justice Department was sensitive to privacy
concerns, "and so we took, I believe, every precaution
possible" to protect patient confidentiality.
But some Democrats in Congress, abortion rights groups and
civil liberties advocates condemned the records demand on
Thursday and called for Mr. Ashcroft to drop the subpoenas.
"It is clear from both federal and state laws that strong
privacy restrictions are in place to prevent the kind of
intrusive breach of medical privacy that these actions
represent," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois
Democrat who has written legislation restricting the public
use of medical records.
Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of the Bronx, said,
"All Americans should have the right to visit their doctor
and receive sound medical attention without the fear of Big
Brother looking into those records."
February 13, 2004
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - Attorney General John Ashcroft
rebuffed calls from Congressional Democrats and abortion
rights groups on Thursday to drop the Justice Department's
demands for abortion records from a half-dozen hospitals.
Mr. Ashcroft said the records were essential to the
department's courtroom defense of a new law banning what he
called "the rather horrendous practice of partial-birth
abortions."
A group of doctors have sued to overturn the law, which was
passed by Congress last November and signed by President
Bush. They say they have performed medically necessary
abortions that would now be banned.
Mr. Ashcroft told reporters that "if the central issue in
the case, an issue raised by those who brought the case, is
medical necessity, we need to look at medical records to
find out if indeed there was medical necessity." He refused
to say whether he had personally signed off on the
subpoenas for the records.
The department has subpoenaed at least six hospitals, in
New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Ann Arbor, Mich.,
to obtain medical histories for women who have had
abortions in the last three years performed by the doctors
now suing the government. A federal judge in Chicago has
thrown out a subpoena against Northwestern University
Medical Center because he said it was a "significant
intrusion" on patient privacy, and hospital administrators
in other cities are contesting the demand as well.
Government lawyers do not want the names or other
identifying information about the women, Mr. Ashcroft said.
He said the Justice Department was sensitive to privacy
concerns, "and so we took, I believe, every precaution
possible" to protect patient confidentiality.
But some Democrats in Congress, abortion rights groups and
civil liberties advocates condemned the records demand on
Thursday and called for Mr. Ashcroft to drop the subpoenas.
"It is clear from both federal and state laws that strong
privacy restrictions are in place to prevent the kind of
intrusive breach of medical privacy that these actions
represent," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois
Democrat who has written legislation restricting the public
use of medical records.
Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of the Bronx, said,
"All Americans should have the right to visit their doctor
and receive sound medical attention without the fear of Big
Brother looking into those records."