TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Unanswered questions persist about the shredding by Kansas officials of documents that became key evidence in a criminal case against a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Shawnee County authorities will investigate the shredding, following Wednesday's dismissal of 49 of 107 criminal charges against the clinic in Overland Park.
The destroyed records were reports on individual abortions the clinic filed with the state health department in 2003.
The health department destroyed its copies in 2005 during the administration of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat who supports abortion rights and is now U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The state attorney general's office obtained a set of copies in 2004, but destroyed them in 2009 during the tenure of Steve Six, a Sebelius appointee.
Six declined to comment Thursday. Sebelius also isn't commenting.