Klopfer Not in Compliance with Indiana Abortion Laws
Editor’s note. The following update was provided by Indiana Right to Life, NRLC’s State affiliate.
Abortionist Ulrich Klopfer
SOUTH BEND, IND. – On June 26, the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) filed a complaint with an administrative law judge to revoke the abortion facility license for Women’s Pavilion in South Bend, Ind., operated by Dr. Ulrich Klopfer. Klopfer’s facility is charged with violating Indiana Code 16-21.
This revocation complaint follows a January 28 revocation complaint by the state against Klopfer’s facility.
According to the complaint, the ISDH surveyed the abortion facility on Oct. 29, 2014 and found 27 deficiencies. On Dec. 9, 2014, the ISDH sent a notice of noncompliance to the facility and requested a formal plan of correction for each deficiency.
With no response from Klopfer, the ISDH issued a second notice on January 6.
When the ISDH had not received a plan of correction by January 28, it filed a complaint to revoke the facility’s operating license (currently pending).
On June 3, the ISDH conducted a licensure complaint investigation of the facility, revealing multiple additional deficiencies. The main deficiency revealed on June 3 was that Klopfer was not abiding by Indiana’s 18-hour notification law that requires a woman to give her voluntary and informed consent, view the fetal ultrasound. and hear the fetal heartbeat, at least 18 hours before an abortion.
Included in the complaint:
“The deficiencies…show that Women’s Pavilion is not in compliance with the laws governing the conduct of abortion clinics in this state, and that such noncompliance is willful, intentional, and detrimental to the welfare of clinic patients.”
In a statement, St. Joseph County Right to Life said,
“Our organization has been monitoring Dr. Klopfer’s Women’s Pavilion for decades and has filed numerous complaints to both local and state officials over the years. This complaint for revocation by the state validates our concerns. The inordinate number of code violations for this facility is incredible, as has been the pattern year in and year out. After allowing his license to lapse in his resident state of Illinois in 1990, for more than 25 years Dr. Klopfer has gotten away with maintaining substandard clinic conditions and not adhering to a normative standard of medical care that is customary in St. Joseph County. This translates to a clear danger for women who are seeking abortions in South Bend.
“In addition to the main deficiency cited in this most recent complaint, failure to abide by the 18-hour notification law, Dr. Klopfer has had numerous alleged failures in this and previous complaints. They range from failing to ensure that patients were monitored by qualified personnel when using conscious sedation to failing to report abortions done on girls under 14 years of age in the time required by law, among other violations. In light of these and numerous other violations, we at St. Joseph County Right to Life expect that the law will finally be upheld and that the administrative law judge will agree with the ISDH in the revocation of the Women’s Pavilion’s operating license.”
“We are pleased that the ISDH is holding Dr. Klopfer accountable,” said Mike Fichter, President and CEO of Indiana Right to Life. “Laws are no good unless someone is willing to see that they are being followed. Hoosiers should be encouraged that their government, the Pence administration and the ISDH consider patient health and safety to be priorities.”
Klopfer was the longtime abortion doctor in Gary, South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana, though he currently only does abortions in South Bend. He surrendered his Gary abortion facility license earlier this month and admitting privilege laws prevent him from doing abortions in Fort Wayne. In Dec. 2013, Klopfer’s back-up doctor severed the relationship after learning of Klopfer’s alleged criminal activity in untimely reporting of underage girls.
An administrative law judge will now review the case and make a final decision.