Tag Archives: Abortion clinic

Kentucky trial could make state first in U.S. with no abortion clinic

Kentucky trial could make state first in U.S. with no abortion clinic

By Chris Kenning

(Reuters) – Kentucky’s “unapologetically pro-life” governor and the state’s last abortion clinic will square off on Wednesday in a federal courtroom in a case that could make it the first U.S. state without an abortion provider.

In a three-day trial, the state will argue before a U.S. District judge in Louisville that EMW Women’s Surgical Center does not have proper state-required agreements with a hospital and an ambulance service in case of medical emergencies.

The clinic, which earlier this year filed suit to stop the state from revoking its license, wants to overturn the regulations it says are unnecessary and create an unconstitutional barrier to abortion.

“In 37 years providing abortion, I’ve seen more than a dozen clinics close down in our state, and now ours is the last clinic standing in the entire state,” Ernest Marshall, a doctor and EMW clinic founder, said in a statement.

“The very right to access legal abortion in the state of Kentucky is on the line,” he added.

The case could test court interpretations of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of a Texas law that required clinics to meet hospital-like standards and for clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

Despite that ruling, conservative legislatures and Republican governors such as Kentucky’s Matt Bevin have continued to tighten new regulations on abortion clinics.

U.S. state legislatures enacted 41 new abortion restrictions in the first half of 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank that supports abortion rights.

Abortion rights groups say that has reduced access to abortion, particularly in rural areas of the South and Midwest. Kentucky is among seven U.S. states with just one clinic left.

Bevin, whose administration waged a licensing battle in 2016 that led to the shutdown of a Lexington clinic, argued the transfer agreements in question were meant to protect women.

“It is telling that the abortion industry believes that it alone should be exempt from these important safety measures,” said Bevin spokeswoman Amanda Stamper.

EMW, which is the site of almost daily protests, argues that hospitals are already legally bound to accept any patient in an emergency and local EMS will transport patients without such agreements.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky joined the suit because it said the same transfer agreements were used to block a license for a facility in Louisville. The American Civil Liberties Union is providing legal help to the clinic.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Mississippi Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Abortion Law

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking them to hear the case involving a Mississippi law regarding admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.

The law passed the Mississippi legislature in 2012 that would require abortionists to have board certification and obtain hospital admitting privileges.  The second part was aimed to allow women who are injured by the abortionist to be rushed to local hospitals for further treatment.

Supporters say the bill is aimed to protect the lives of the women who choose to have an abortion.

The state’s lone abortion center, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, immediately filed suit saying they would not be able to meet the law’s requirements.  Eventually they said that the state did not have the right to pass laws that would close all abortion facilities in the state.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans struck down the law.

Mississippi Attorney General Hood says a similar law was upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, so the Supreme Court needs to weigh in to fix the conflict.

Supreme Court Blocks Texas Abortion Law

The U.S. Supreme Court has stepped in to block a law that was designed to protect the health of women seeking to end the lives of their babies via abortion in Texas.

In an unsigned order from the court, they supported abortionists and those who advocate the killing of babies via abortion by suspending the October 2nd ruling of an appeals court that said that Texas law could take effect while appeals take place.

The court also put on hold a part of the law that requires doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals for abortionists near the Texas/Mexico border.

“This does not protect the health and safety of women who are undergoing abortion,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life. “”This is definitely a short-term loss, but not necessarily a long- term loss.”

Texas state attorneys say that the law is not a burden on women who want to kill their babies, because nearly 9 in 10 women still live within 150 miles of an abortionist.

Appeals Court Upholds Texas Abortion Law

A Federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law that will close many of the state’s abortion facilities.

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed the decision of Judge Lee Yeakel, the second time his rulings to keep abortion clinics from having to meet cleanliness standards for surgical centers had been overturned by the appeals court.

“Without any evidence on these points, plaintiffs do not appear to have met their burden to show that the ambulatory surgical center provision will result in insufficient clinic capacity that will impose an undue burden on a large fraction of women,” the appeals court ruled.

While those standing for the lives of unborn children were pleased with the ruling, they were disappointed that abortions will still continue in the state.

“The reality is that elective abortions will continue to remain readily available in Texas; that’s not our preference, but that’s the reality,” Joe Pojman, executive director of the Alliance for Life, told reporters. “Because there are seven very large ambulatory surgical centers that provide abortion in the major metropolitan cities women will still have ready access to elective abortions.”

Appeals Court Rejects Texas Appeal Of Abortion Ruling

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott regarding a ruling that blocks parts of the state’s strong abortion law.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal on the grounds that Abbott was too late in filing the appeal.

“[Abbott] waited until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 to file the stay motion; a corrected version was sent at 12:08 a.m. Monday, Sept. 1,” decided the Fifth Circuit.  “This did not allow time for a response, or for the court adequately to consider the motion, before the scheduled effective date, though the appellants claim irreparable harm from the statute’s not being enforced.”

Abbott had appealed a decision that stops the regulations regarding abortion clinics having the same safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers.  Judge Lee Yeakel, who had attempted to strike down the law previously before being overruled on appeal, said the requirements clinics have health standards like surgical centers makes it too hard for a woman to kill their child via abortion.

The ruling now will stand pending a full appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Texas Abortion Law Struck Down

A Federal judge has ruled that because a majority of abortion clinic providers refused to make changes to their clinics as required by a Texas law and thus would have to close, the law is unconstitutional.

District Judge Lee Yeakel, who had previously ruled against the law in a case that was quickly overturned by an appeals court, said that requiring clinics to widen doors so paramedics could bring in a stretcher for a woman in distress is “too costly for abortion clinic owners” and therefore puts an undue burden on women wanting to kill their baby via abortion.

“The court concludes that the act’s [House Bill 2] ambulatory surgical center requirement, combined with the already-in-effect admitting privileges requirement, creates a brutally effective system of abortion regulation that reduces accesses to abortion clinics, thereby creating a statewide burden for a substantial number of Texas women,” Yeakel wrote.

The clinics had a year to bring their clinics up to the new standards but some abortion providers just refused to make the changes.  That did not matter to the judge.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state will appeal the decision.

Suit Filed Against Louisiana Abortion Law

Abortionists have filed a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana over a law that the claim will force them to close.

HB 388 passed the Louisiana House of Representatives 88-5 and the Senate 34-3.  The bill would require abortionists to obtain admitting privileges if a woman is injured during an abortion and require further medical care.

“On the date the abortion is performed or induced, a physician performing or inducing an abortion shall have active admitting privileges at a hospital that is located not further than thirty miles from the location at which the abortion is performed or induced and that provides obstetrical or gynecological health care services,” the bill reads.

The lawsuit claims that there is not a sufficient amount of time from the passage of the law until it goes into effect for the clinics to obtain the approvals necessary to stay open after September 1st.

Laws similar to the Louisiana law have been upheld in most other states including Texas, where at the end of 2014 it’s predicted only 6 of 41 abortion clinics will remain open.

Infamous Abortionist Ordered To Close Clinic

A judge has ordered an infamous abortionist to close his clinic.

Martin Haskell, a notorious late-term abortionist, was ordered to close his Lebanon Road Surgery Center because it would not comply with state health regulations.  The initial order to close the clinic was issued at the end of last year but had been delayed because of litigation.

“We are gratified to see yet another late-term abortionist shutting down,” said Mike Gonidakis, Ohio Right to Life president and member of the state medical board. “As a result of this Health Department order, Martin Haskell, a strong proponent and former practitioner of the controversial and deadly partial-birth abortion procedure, will no longer be able to abort children and jeopardize women’s health in Hamilton County.”

The order to finally close the clinic was issued by Democratic state judge Jerry Metz who said all the previous orders by state officials and judges to close the clinic were legally valid.

Haskell’s wife has been attempting to keep the clinic open by appealing to Christians, saying the Bible endorses the killing of children through abortion, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

Ohio Cracks Down on Abortion Clinics

The state of Ohio has been carrying out a crackdown on abortion clinics.

Two of the clinics are at risk of losing their licenses to end babies’ lives.  Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Cuyahoga Falls and Capital Care Network of Toledo have been recommended to lose their licenses by the Ohio Department of Health.  If the clinics do not contest the action by the ODH, they would have to close August 12th.

A Planned Parenthood office in Bedford Heights was fined $25,000 after a March inspection of the facility.

“One of the reasons Planned Parenthood was fined is because the facility was improperly storing containers of human tissue, which brings the name of notorious abortionist Kermit Gosnell to mind,” Katherine McCann of Ohio Right To Life told the Christian Post.  “Another was because of improper follow-up documentation for two abortion patients who were hospitalized for bleeding and a perforated uterus. How is any of this ‘healthcare’? The real war on women is being waged by Ohio’s abortion facilities.”

McCann said that the crackdown is part of actions taken by the state’s governor to hold clinics accountable for unsanitary conditions.

“Before Governor Kasich’s administration, it was a struggle to ensure that Ohio’s abortion facilities were being held to common-sense health and safety standards. That’s really what we’re talking about here, common-sense standards,” said McCann.  “ODH isn’t holding these facilities to extra special standards — any inspection a clinic undergoes is in line with the Ohio Revised Code. But Ohio’s abortion industry can’t even meet these basic requirements. Thankfully, for the last four years, abortion mills haven’t been allowed to skirt the law like they used to.”

Another Texas Abortion Facility Closes

A major abortion facility in Austin, Texas closed last week as a result of the pro-woman legislation that was passed last year.

Whole Woman’s Health of Austin, which has been ending the lives of babies via abortion for over ten years, announced the immediate closure of the facility. The abortionists said they had to close because of House Bill 2.

“House Bill 2 … has forced us into yet another closure, this time because we’re unable to meet the standards of an ambulatory surgical center at this location,” a statement read.

The closing of the center comes two years after the center was fined $22,000 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for dumping babies killed at the facility in a landfill.

A report from the University of Texas at Austin says the number of babies in Texas who have died from abortion has fallen 13% over the last year.