OLATHE, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor has dropped all criminal charges against a Kansas City-area Planned Parenthood facility accused of performing illegal late-term abortions. The decision ended a nine-year legal battle initiated by then-Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to prosecute the abortion giant in criminal court.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that 32 misdemeanor charges against Planned Parenthood had been dismissed.
Those charges were the last part of a criminal case Kline filed in 2007 that initially included 107 criminal charges, 23 of which were felony charges of “false writing” for faking abortion reports.
Howe said his decision to end the case came after consulting current Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. All three are Republicans.
The just-dropped charges dealt with allegations that the Planned Parenthood facility had in 16 cases violated a state law that restricted late-term abortions after an unborn child was viable, or could survive outside the womb. The facility was accused of not properly determining whether an unborn child was viable, but Howe said “extensive research” by his office led it to conclude that Planned Parenthood had met the tests spelled out in the law.
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