Associated Press: Kansas judge won’t dismiss suit over abortion rules

“A Kansas judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two doctors who are challenging new state regulations for abortion providers, enabling critics of the rules to present evidence at trial that they are unnecessary and burdensome. Attorneys for state officials who could be required to enforce the new rules had asked Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis to uphold the regulations as valid without a trial. The judge ruled against the state after an hour-long hearing, saying a review of whether the regulations will touch on medical questions “way beyond common knowledge.” The rules set minimum requirements for abortion providers’ staff and buildings, specify drugs and equipment they must have on hand, and require them to make their records available for inspection at the state’s request. The regulations apply to any office, clinic or hospital that performs five or more elective abortions a month. Attorneys for father-daughter physicians Herbert Hodes and Traci Nauser argued that a pretrial ruling in the state’s favor would unfairly prevent them from presenting evidence that could prove crucial when the Supreme Court reviews the case. Hodes and Nauser perform abortions at their office in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park and filed the lawsuit. The doctors’ attorneys said a quick pretrial ruling would bring legal issues to the Supreme Court ‘piecemeal’ and could result in the case moving back and forth several times between Theis and the high court. Also, Bonnie Scott Jones, an attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said Hodes and Nauser want to ensure that their evidence is in the record before the Supreme Court. ‘Before someone makes a big legal ruling, you want them to have the whole story,’ she said after Friday’s hearing.”

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