While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia
has shocked
many [1], the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains
a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration
of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular
inspections of abortion clinics--a policy that continued until just last
year.
According to the grand
jury report [2][PDF] released this week by Philadelphia
prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce
laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other
medical service providers.
The District Attorney's office this week charged an abortion doctor, Kermit
Gosnell, with murder and infanticide. Nine other workers at the abortion clinic,
the Women's Medical Society, also face charges. According to the prosecutors,
Gosnell and his associates not only broke state law by performing abortions
after 24 weeks--they also killed live babies by stabbing them with scissors and
cutting their spinal cords. Law enforcement officials found blood-stained
furniture, unsterilized instruments and fetal remains scattered about the
clinic. At least one woman, a refugee from Nepal, had died under Gosnell's care
after being given repeated injections of a dangerous sedative. Prosecutors said
Gosnell made millions from treating and sometimes maiming his patients, who were
mostly low-income,
minority women [3].
But perhaps most frightening of all? The atrocities were discovered
by accident [4], as the Philadelphia Inquirer points out.
Warnings--from patients and their attorneys, a doctor at a Philadelphia
hospital, women's health groups, pro-choice groups, and even an employee of the
Philadelphia Department of Public Health--failed to prompt state and local
authorities to investigate or take action against the clinic.
The grand jury report said that one look at the place would have detected the
problems, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health hadn't inspected the place
since 1993. Here's the grand jury report, in surprisingly strong language:
The Pennsylvania Department of Health abruptly decided, for political
reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. The politics in question
were not anti-abortion, but pro. With the change of administration from Governor
Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be "putting
a barrier up to women" seeking abortions.
Reported by Huffington Post
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