Lawyers for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the attorney general want to prevent two abortion clinics from learning how the [licensing] rules were crafted, as well as the mind-set behind them, according to their court filings. They are asking a judge to limit the scope of what is shared with the clinics’ lawyers to prevent overly broad requests that don’t lead to relevant evidence, the court documents say. The state also has denied open-records requests from The Kansas City Star and The Associated Press, which asked for documents that could have shed light on the drafting of the rules.

These "licensing" requirements passed by the rabidly anti-woman legislature, with the equally rabidly anti-woman Gov. Sam Brownback all too happy to sign this crap into law, establish regulations for, among other things, lighting and bathrooms used in clinics that provide health care to women. And gosh, if the state sends in one of its investigators and finds out they've got the wrong light bulbs in there or the toilet paper isn't folded just right, well, shucks, they're just going to have to shut down that clinic. Because, you know, it's all about making it safe for women. And the governor just loves women so much, he appointed the attorney for the terrorist group Operation Rescue to serve on the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, which monitors and licenses health care professionals in the state. Because certainly he wouldn't have an agenda that just happened to deny licenses to women's health care providers, right?

And lest you forget, this is the same state that, under the former ethics-challenged attorney general and all-around asshole Phill Kline, sought to obtain the very private medical information of patients of Dr. George Tiller, by, among other things:

"staking out the clinic, following visitors and employees to their vehicles and recording automobile license plate numbers." "Attempts were made to run the numbers through state agencies in order to identify the name of the driver," the complaint said.



Because it was sooooooo important for the state to invade its citizens' privacy back then. For their own good. But now, well, the state of Kansas is singing a different tune. Oh no, sorry doctors, but we just can't tell you how we decided your clinic should be shut down if you use the wrong hand soap because, well, that's private. And how can we possibly protect women put you out of business if we have to be all, like, open about it? And why is it any of your business how we concluded that any of these obstacles we've pulled directly out of our asses are actually going to make this already extremely safe medical procedure somehow safer?

You know, maybe the better question is, what isn't the matter with Kansas?

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Atrocities and victories below the fold.