By Dave Andrusko
As we discussed last month, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson is hearing a lawsuit brought by the Falls Church Healthcare Center, the Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood, and “Dr. Jane Doe” against four Virginia laws on abortion.
The Abortion Lobby is challenging requirements that (1) only physicians perform abortions; (2) second trimester abortions must be performed in a hospital; (3) medical facilities providing more than four first trimester abortions per month must undergo strict licensing requirements; and (4) women undergo an ultrasound and counseling 24 hours before an abortion.
On Friday, reporting for a local NPR station, Whittney Evans offered example after example of how inspectors found unsanitary and, in some cases, unsafe condition in abortion clinics prior to 2011 when the Virginia Board of Health began regulating them.
Aside from the physicians-only requirement, nothing more upsets the abortion industry than mandatory inspections. Wonder why?
When the regulations were initially implemented, Debbie Wintermantel, a clinic inspector for the Virginia Department of Health, testified, “We were writing almost every citation that there was,” Evans reported.
“The waiting area was very dirty. There were holes in the walls,” another inspector testified. “There was graffiti on the walls,” Deborah Marion said. “There was some confusion over who was in charge.”
Dr. Mary Catherine Slusher is an OBGYN who was appointed to the Virginia Board of Health by Republican Governor Bob McDonnell. She testified this week that she previously cared for a woman in the emergency room who had had an abortion that was infected and incomplete.
“It underscores the importance of what we were trying to do with the abortion regulations,” she said.