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According to The New York Post, the Department of Health in New York has, for more than a decade, failed to inspect a number of abortion clinics that it is charged with monitoring.
The Post reports: “Eight of the 25 clinics were never inspected over the 2000–12 span, five were inspected just once, and eight were inspected only twice or three times—meaning once every four or six years.”
In comparison, the Post notes, other industries, like tanning salons and restaurants, are inspected every year or every other year.
Disclosure of the state’s failings came after a Freedom of Information request by the New York-based Chiaroscuro Foundation. The organization was concerned about the safety of the state’s abortion clinics following the trial and conviction of Philadelphia late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell.
Last May, Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who were born alive after botched abortions performed in his run-down West Philadelphia clinic. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old woman who died from an overdose of anesthetic drugs during an abortion procedure.
Prosecutors and former clinic workers had testified to the decaying, dangerous operating rooms of Gosnell’s clinic, stocked with “filthy, corroded” instruments and outdated machines. Yet, as the almost 300-page grand jury report noted, Gosnell’s clinic had gone uninspected by state department of health officials for over 16 years.
Unfortunately, Gosnell’s “house of horrors” is not unique in the abortion industry. Abortion clinics across the country are under investigation for dangerous, unsanitary conditions that jeopardize women’s lives and health.
“A surgical abortion is an invasive procedure, and safety is of paramount importance,” explains Chiaroscuro’s Molly O’Connor. “Women’s health is women’s health. Whether you are an abortion supporter or an abortion opponent, we should all stand firmly on the side of safety.”
Women seeking abortions, and all Americans, deserve to know the truth about abortion’s serious risks and the limited regulation of many clinics. Some states have begun requiring abortion clinics to meet basic safety guidelines for surgery centers and mandating that abortion doctors have local hospital admitting privileges—common-sense laws that the abortion industry routinely and vehemently fights.
Just a few weeks ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld recent Texas regulations that will require abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 minutes of their clinic. A state Planned Parenthood affiliate and other abortion providers had brought suit over the law, claiming it would cause numerous Texas abortion clinics to close, rather than comply with the regulations. This case could very well end up at the Supreme Court.
Reckless abortionists like Gosnell will continue to take innocent lives; unsanitary abortion clinics will continue to harm women; and policymakers will continue to send taxpayer funds to abortion providers—unless the American people are shown the reality of the abortion industry’s darkest corners. In New York, specifically, residents should be concerned that the state is apparently failing its duty to protect women from the harms of a neglectful abortion industry.