Ashcroft Wants Medical Files in Abortion Cases

Re “U.S. Seeks Late-Term Abortion Records,” Feb. 13:

By demanding that hospitals release the private medical records of women who obtained abortions performed by doctors who are now challenging the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the administration reveals that it is no better than the Taliban. Will cloaking, veiling and public beatings of women come next?

Mary Batten

Los Angeles

*

It is simply outrageous that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft is attempting to subpoena patient medical records at the same time that Vice President Dick Cheney’s discussions with his fat-cat cronies are being protected so vigorously all the way to the Supreme Court. Justice Antonin Scalia had it right, didn’t he? A big “quack, quack” to all of you out there who care deeply about this democracy and cherish its disappearing freedoms.

Brian Harman

Aliso Viejo

*

The Justice Department has run amok. A few weeks ago it was seeking records of people who went to an antiwar demonstration. Now it is seeking medical records from hospitals. These invasions of privacy are outrageous.

The Justice Department’s actions, Scalia’s refusal to recuse himself from the Cheney case and the administration’s end-run (with the appointment of its intelligence commission) against the public finding out just how it made the decision to go to war are very, very scary. We are in a constitutional crisis, and nobody seems to be paying attention to anything more than Justin Timberlake’s exposing Janet Jackson’s breast for a millisecond. What’s next?

Barry Greenfield

West Hollywood