O'Reilly Abortion Sources To Be Investigated?

Bill O'Reilly, a conservative author, talk show commentator, and host of Fox New's O'Reilly Factor, has accused a Kansas abortion doctor of abortion crimes. The doctor, Dr. George Tiller, has been accused of performing late-term abortions when the patient was depressed, a practice that O'Reilly calls "executing babies". O'Reilly has also charged the doctor with performing illegal abortions on children ages 10 to 15 that have been victims of rape. The doctor did not report those cases, charges O'Reilly. Now the doctor is fighting back, demanding an investigation into O'Reilly's sources.



This is interesting on several levels. First, if the investigation is launched, O'Reilly may be forced to reveal his sources, or face legal action. Secondly, this brings into play the whole issue of whether the "whistleblower" should be commended and protected, as has been done with others who have leaked secrets that damage elements of the government.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by UM_Gazz]

I am not sure if I am correct or not, but isn't a whistleblower someone who blows the whistle on something true? This doesn't seem like it would require a "blowing" of the sources unless it was found to be untrue, and then it would be slander against the doctor.

Abortion is of course a divisive issue for many, but the bottom line is that if this doctor did not perform these abortions, and the destructive comments led to loss of business that is by law legal, then the sources should be looked into in order to determine who exactly made up these stories to attack a doctor.

Just my .02

Then again, it could be true, there are doctors that do all sorts of insane things, this would not be any different for a doctor that happens to perform abortions.

Point is, it seems that the sources wouldn't have to be investigated until the doctor himself, and his patients were investigated.

You know, this case sounds like one that was going on back a few months ago, the attorney general office of the state was trying to get the doctors records of patients under the same claims.

But nothing came out of it, because they were trying to do it under a new law that was recently passed on the state, to criminalize late term abortions and abortion done on minors.

But the whole think just didn't work under the privacy rights of the patients.

And because anything prior up to the time the law was passed was not legal.

So I wonder if is the same doctor again and the same case.

I have to wonder how this will play out as the O'Reilly Factor is a "Commentary" and therefor the content would be considered O'Reilly's opinion.

I remember a law suit some time back, I can't remember the exact details, but Hannity was sued for some comments. The suit was thrown out, if I recall exactly, due to just that. It was and is considered opinion.

Semper

There is much more behind this story.

• Phill Kline, the Kansas Atty. General who is investigating Dr. Tiller, is in a heated election race against Paul Morrison. Morrison, a practicing Catholic, has promised to drop all investigations into Kansas abortionists if elected.
  
• Kansas voters have been subjected to a flood of mailings from PACs and "charity organizations" that can be traced directly back to Dr. Tiller, to the tune of more than $1million. These mailings accuse Atty General Kline of invasion of privacy, and refer to him as "Snoop Dog Kline".
  
• Dr. Tiller was recently under investigation by a Sedgwick County Grand Jury for the abortion death of Christin Gilbert, a 19 year old Down's Syndrome patient who had a third-trimester abortion. Charges of grand jury corruption and cronyism have been lodged after it failed to return a criminal indictmet against Tiller.
  
• Two of Kansas' largest newspapers have refused to cover the issue at all. These same newspapers endorse Morrison, Kline's opponent for the Atty General position.
  

Kansas abortion doctor

So, corruption, collusion, and cover-ups seem to be coming to light here. And this in a conservative area of the country.

Js when it comes to politics and social and moral issues the parties involved wants to hide as not to damage their political image.

Perhaps after today the issue will be in high gear and we may hear more of it.

When in comes to people's opinion and their privacy rights and invasion of it, conservatives and liberals get a littler bit too uneasy about how much of their privacies they are willing to give away.


[edit on 7-11-2006 by marg6043]