Skip to main content

'The Red Light District of Health Care': 11 Women Killed or Injured at Abortion Clinics

Share This article

WASHINGTON — Those that support abortion often say states shouldn't regulate abortion clinics too much because if they're forced to shut down, women would be forced into dangerous so-called "back alley abortions." But a new 200-page report from Americans United for Life shows the legal clinics actually aren't all that safe.   

"Unsafe: How the Public Health Crisis in America's Abortion Clinics Endangers Women" documents more than 1,400 deficiencies at 227 abortion clinics spread across 32 states.

AUL President Catherine Glenn Foster told CBN News, "Americans United for Life gathered and analyzed government reports from coast to coast and we found terrible deficiencies. We found that abortion really is the red light district of health care. It endangers women. It is not safe."

DEFICIENCIES AND DANGERS

Foster mentioned inspectors have found, "Problems with drugs being expired, being mishandled. Equipment problems, not being maintained, even rusty. Problems with records, which can endanger and even kill women when the records aren't properly kept in terms of what drugs have been given for example."

She added that sometimes clinic personnel haven't been licensed or they're doing the duties of doctors or nurses without being trained for those duties.

"Some of the most shocking violations, I think to me, revolve around the sanitary issues," Foster stated. "There were problems where there was blood found, where there was one sponge being used to clean medical instruments that was filled with blood and hadn't been cleaned in a week. Just the same sponge over and over."

The AUL president also mentioned, "Employee lunches being stored in the same fridge as medications, as baby body parts.  Just terrible violations."

'UNSAFE' GETS PERSONAL

The "Unsafe" report documents personal examples of women who died or whose health was severely damaged during their abortion experience in today's clinics.

"Time and time again this has happened," Foster explained.  "We detail 11 women who tragically were injured or lost their lives to the abortionist. Women nationwide, and they had no idea what they were getting into."

One such woman died after an abortion close to Foster's home in Germantown, Maryland, where notorious late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart operated for years.

"A young woman diagnosed with a fetal anomaly who did not want an abortion, was so looking forward to having a child, but went through this multi-day procedure," Foster explained.  "Began to have problems with chest pain and breathing.   She and her family tried to contact the abortionist. Never got through to him. Went to the ER. The ER couldn't get through to him. And in the end she died, this 20-something young woman."

FEWER ABORTIONISTS MEANS MORE DANGERS

This is an increasing problem as more and more of these procedures are done by so-called "circuit rider" abortionists, who travel from clinic to clinic, some leaving immediately after they've done a day's abortions, often leaving no way for patients to contact them if problems erupt after.

"A lot of doctors don't want to perform abortions. So there's not that many abortion doctors. So they end up traveling around the country like circuit riders; in some cases traveling around the world," Foster explained.  "There's one abortion center in Alabama that had a doctor flying in from another continent. Would come to Alabama, perform the abortions, wouldn't even spend the night in Alabama. And that endangers even more women."

It also takes some of the validity out of the point pro-choice people often make that politicians shouldn't control abortions because that's something that should be left between a woman and her doctor.  

Many women never even see or talk to the doctor till he or she is actually doing the abortion on them, and in the age of circuit rider abortionists, will never see that doctor again or even be able to reach them in an emergency.

 

 

Share This article

About The Author

Paul
Strand

As senior correspondent in CBN's Washington bureau, Paul Strand has covered a variety of political and social issues, with an emphasis on defense, justice, and Congress. Strand began his tenure at CBN News in 1985 as an evening assignment editor in Washington, D.C. After a year, he worked with CBN Radio News for three years, returning to the television newsroom to accept a position as editor in 1990. After five years in Virginia Beach, Strand moved back to the nation's capital, where he has been a correspondent since 1995. Before joining CBN News, Strand served as the newspaper editor for