Privacy at issue in Iowa baby corpse mystery

Planned Parenthood ordered to turn over pregnancy tests

(CNN) -- A grisly discovery has ignited a tug of war over privacy in a small Iowa town that could lead to the jailing of a top Planned Parenthood official this week.

The controversy began May 30 when workers at a Storm Lake, Iowa, recycling facility found a newborn boy discarded among trash. Officials said they believe the infant was no more than 48 hours old.

"One Dumpster was full, and they were moving it out and replacing it with an empty one when they found -- saw the baby in the chute," said Buena Vista County Sheriff Chuck Eddy.

Investigators are trying to determine who dumped the baby and whose child he was. To date, no witnesses have come forward, and requests for tips via the Internet have generated nothing.

Stymied in the search for answers, authorities requested that local clinics and hospitals provide files of women who had been in the latter stages of pregnancy. All complied, except for a Storm Lake Planned Parenthood clinic. Now that clinic and the law are tussling over privacy rights and solving a possible murder.

"The sheriff admits himself in the interviews that he does not have a suspect, that they're at a loss, so we feel that his loss should not be the loss of women throughout the community by having their rights violated," said Jill June, director of Planned Parenthood of Iowa.

According to The Associated Press, Buena Vista County Attorney Phil Havens said the pregnancy tests are not medical records because lay people can administer them.

Havens told The Des Moines Register he will file contempt-of-court charges and that the Planned Parenthood director would be jailed if the organization fails to hand over the records. The agency has until Friday morning to cooperate, the AP reported.

"When you go to see a physician, you can expect that your information is protected and that it is not accessible by the public," said Teri Ann Lawyer, a health law attorney.