John Ashcroft’s latest bid to curb abortion rights is a politically risky overreach. Why doesn't he pursue federal gun control laws with equal vigor?
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
Newsweek
Updated: 1:04 p.m. ET Feb. 20, 2004
Feb. 20 - Democrats love to hate John Ashcroft. Say his name on the campaign trail and it’s a guaranteed applause line. Plus, he’s always good for new material. His latest is to subpoena the medical records of women who have had late-term abortions. In a society that is paranoid about medical privacy, this is not smart politics, let alone wise public policy.
Ashcroft promises that the names of the women will be shielded. He says he needs their records to defend a legal challenge of the ban on the procedure known to its critics as partial birth abortion that President George W. Bush signed into law in November. But issuing government subpoenas to gain access to hospital records is unprecedented. A Chicago judge has already quashed one subpoena, and hospitals in New York and Philadelphia targeted by the Justice Department are weighing their response.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4327093/