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Iowa high court to hear Planned Parenthood appeal in slain baby case

(Court TV) -- A legal battle pitting medical privacy against the pursuit of justice is headed to the Iowa Supreme Court.

The search for the killer of a baby found just outside the town of Storm Lake has sparked a legal controversy .The court decided last week to hear Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa's appeal of a lower court ruling that it must turn over pregnancy test records. The records were requested by local authorities looking for the mother of a newborn found dead in May.

"We are obviously pleased with the court's decision because it takes us one step closer to where we want to be," said Sandra Suarez, staff attorney for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa.

The ruling was a setback for the Buena County attorney Phil Havens, who had argued that Planned Parenthood did not file an appeal in time. Havens could not be reached for comment.

Planned Parenthood contends the pregnancy test results are medical records protected by law. Havens disagrees, saying that no doctor-patient privilege exists because employees who administer pregnancy tests are not required to be doctors or nurses.

The controversy began May 30 when the two-day-old baby boy was found dismembered at a county recycling plant just outside of Storm Lake in northwestern Iowa.

As the investigation stalled, Buena County authorities sought the pregnancy records in a last-ditch attempt to find the infant's mother. District Court Judge Frank B. Nelson ordered area hospitals and clinics to turn over the names of women whose pregnancy tests were positive between August 15, 2001, and May 30, 2002, the period of the mother's pregnancy. Planned Parenthood refused and appealed the case to the state Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court could uphold the order, reverse it or send the case back to the lower court for further hearings. The court will hear arguments in the case during the week of December 9, according to a court clerk.

"We are confident that at the conclusion of its review, the court will agree that women's medical privacy must be protected from such a broad and invasive fishing expedition," Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

The Iowa Civil Liberties Union and the American Nurses Association have filed amicus briefs in support of Planned Parenthood's position. The ICLU brief includes a statement from an unidentified woman who says that another medical clinic in Storm Lake invaded her privacy when it disclosed her pregnancy to authorities.

The woman, called "Janice Roe" in court documents, said she tested positive for pregnancy 11 months ago at a medical clinic in Storm Lake. The woman subsequently suffered a miscarriage. In July, she learned that her name and address has been given to authorities even though her doctor was not consulted.