A string of abortion clinics across the country continues to violate the law and jeopardize the health and lives of women by failing to keep clinics clean and train staff adequately, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
A slew of Whole Woman’s Health (WWH) abortion clinics miserably failed inspection reports between 2011 and 2017, the Free Beacon reported in conjunction with the nonprofit And Then There Were None (ATTWN).
“Anyone who cares for women’s health and safety should want abortion facilities to be frequently inspected, no matter what their position is on abortion. Because this is a health and safety issue, and just because it has to do with a hot button topic, does not mean that the abortion industry should get a free pass,” Arina Grossu, Center for Human Dignity Director at the Family Research Council, told the Free Beacon. “Restaurants and tanning salons and vet clinics, they’re all more closely regulated than the abortion industry.”
Medical instruments were unsterile and rusty, medication had expired, staff were inadequately trained, and the facilities were dirty enough to constitute health hazards, the inspection reports found. The inspections also discovered faulty patient records, disregard for informed consent, undercover calls and visits from minors, and waiting period violations. The Beaumont, Texas WWH clinic did not even have a registered nurse on staff in 2011.
A WWH abortion clinic in McAllen, Texas was in disrepair, with stains, cracks in exam tables and holes in the flooring, a 2016 study found. ATTWN’s 2017 report also found missing stocks of fentanyl, which has responsible for the rise hundreds of thousands of deaths in the ongoing opioid crisis. (RELATED: Opioid Crisis: A Daily Game Of Russian Roulette).
“I was appalled at the state of the Austin Whole Woman’s Health. It looked more like a prison than an actual facility where patients went for healthcare. Disgusting does not do it justice,” ATTWN founder Abby Johnson said. The WWH clinic in Austin even had blood on the walls, she noted.
“What we see in the abortion industry across the country is that inspections are done, people come in, they’re cited for violations, they make a temporary plan to improve, a year later an inspector comes in, they cite them for the same violations, they make a temporary plan to improve … it’s the same cycle, over and over again,” she said. “If we’re going to say that we’re for women, and we’re for protecting women, then this was sort of a common sense measure.”
More than 220 abortion clinics between 2008 and 2016 — including six WWH clinics — were cited for 1,400 health and safety violations, according to a 2016 Americans United For Life (AUL) report.
WWH was also involved in a lengthy lawsuit, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, regarding restrictions on abortion services.
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