Operated by infamous abortionist Martin Haskell
By Dave Andrusko
Women’s Med Center of Dayton, Ohio, which specializes in late-term abortions, has suffered two major defeats in the past week.
“State Health Director Amy Acton denied a request from Women’s Med Center of Dayton for a waiver from Ohio’s law requiring a written transfer agreement,” according to Catherine Candisky of the Columbus Dispatch. “Without the variance, the clinic can’t be licensed and could be forced to close.”
Acton’s decision, which came in a letter Monday to clinic directors, came five days after the state Supreme Court “refused by a 4-3 vote to hear the clinic’s appeal of a lower court ruling upholding the Department of Health’s decision to close the clinic for failing to secure a patient-transfer agreement with a local hospital,” Candisky reported.
As NRL News Today has detailed in multiple stories, a 2013 Ohio law requires an “ambulatory surgical facility,” which includes abortion clinics, to have a written transfer agreement with a nearby hospital. The exception is if it is granted a variance by the state health director.
However, in 2016, state health officials revoked the center’s operating license “because it did not have a transfer agreement with a nearby hospital or name enough backup physicians for emergencies,” Candisky reported.
Dayton Right to Life noted that infamous late-term abortionist Martin Haskell, credited with inventing the hideous partial-birth abortion procedure, “has operated the Women’s Med Center, which specializes in late-term abortions, without a state issued license, waiver or transfer agreement with a local hospital for the last three years while the appeals of the license revocation have been pending. In that time, there have been incidents requiring emergency treatment of women injured during abortion procedures.”
Dayton Right to Life also said
The clinic’s supporters have attempted to use intimidation tactics to bully local provider Miami Valley Hospital, operated by Premier Healthcare, to sign a transfer agreement with the abortion facility. Such an agreement would be in lieu of the facility actually holding a valid license to operate. However, by law hospitals already must receive and treat emergency patients experiencing complications from Haskell’s facility, so Premiere has declined to contract with the abortionist.
“Premier Health should be commended for taking women’s healthcare seriously and refusing the pressure of Haskell’s supporters” noted Dayton Right to Life Executive Director Margie Christie. “Premiere’s board understands that abortion is not healthcare, and a woman’s well-being is not served by enabling Martin Haskell to continue his bloody business.”
In her letter to Women’s Med Center, Acton wrote that “now that the Ohio Supreme Court has declined jurisdiction in the litigation regarding the 2016 revocation, that revocation is final, and (Women’s Med Center’s) license is revoked,” the request for a variance was irrelevant. According to Candisky, Acton added that at this point, the clinic “may apply for a new ambulatory surgical facility license by submitting a complete application.”
But it’s important to note two things. First, as it pursues its legal options, the city’s lone abortion clinic is still operating, for now, according to Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.
Second, “The legality of state transfer agreements is being debated in Ohio and elsewhere,” according to Candisky.
Last year, a federal judge in Louisville found Kentucky’s 1988 law requiring abortion clinics to have written agreements with an ambulance service and hospital for emergencies was unconstitutional, deeming it unnecessary and a barrier to women seeking legal abortions. The 6th Circuit heard arguments in the case this month and could rule on it this year.
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