Abortion Business That Illegally Dumped Records Under Fire

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 9, 2011   |   2:08PM   |   McAllen, TX

A McAllen, Texas abortion clinic that was the subject of a three-month investigation by Operation Rescue and the Survivors pro-life group is denying any wrong-doing and is clearly in damage-control mode after a local television interview.

Despite claims from the abortion business, a reporter from KRVG Channel 5 in the Rio Grande Valley was unable to verify that the Health Department has cleared them.

Last week, Operation Rescue released information documenting widespread abortion abuses at a dozen Texas abortion clinics. Among the worst offenders was Whole Women’s Health, which operates five abortion facilities in Texas. The McAllen office discoveries were particularly disturbing and dumped in the trash were the bloody refuse of several abortions along with the names of patients and other private information.

Tuesday evening, KRVG ran the story that showed the reporter digging through the trash and questioning a clinic official.

“Certainly, this abortion clinic will have modified their behavior because they have been caught red-handed,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We have not been notified by the Health Department of the outcome of our first complaint. We are still processing some of the information from our investigation, and have filed additional complaints with the health department. More will be coming. We are also preparing complaints that we plan to lodge with the medical board next week. This is far from over.”

Patient logs and other records were discovered on Whole Women’s Health forms and the bloody remains of abortions came in bags with other documents bearing Whole Women’s Health’s name. Operation Rescue has made examples of this evidence public.

In another development, Youtube.com pulled the short video that showed evidence of abortion abuses along with recordings of phone conference calls that violated the 24 hour waiting period and informed consent laws. The video was put on Vimeo.com, which also yanked the video Monday afternoon. Operation Rescue has protested the blocking of the video as censorship.

“Our investigation focused on what the average woman would experience if she sought an abortion in Texas, and how the abortion clinics appeared and operated on an everyday basis,” said Newman. “From what we found, women are subjected to a variety of abortion abuses as a matter of routine. Violating the law is standard operating procedure for abortion clinics in Texas.”

During one conference call recorded on January 10, 2011, abortionist William West of Whole Women’s Health can be heard mocking the information he is required by law to tell women. After he says that he is required to say that abortion presents a risk for breast cancer, he launches into a mocking rebuttal of the information he just told them.

The anti-abortion folks have waged this fear campaign for years now, um, making numerous false charges about the quote dangers of abortion, and uh, one completely fictitious this is drummed up spread all around is that there is an increased risk of breast cancer and interfernce with future childbearing and so forth. None of these are true. It’s their attempt to scare you out of having an abortion.

“If this does not violate the letter of the law, it certainly undermines the intent of the legislature, which determined that women should have certain information on which to make an informed decision,” said Newman. “It is his remarks that are grossly untrue, and he should be held accountable for misleading women about abortion risks.”

Later in that same call, one woman expresses concern that her appointment is not 24 hours from the time of the conference call, as required by law.

Caller: Hello?
West: Yes.
Caller: My appointment is tomorrow morning and if I called now, is this enough time? It’s less than 24 hours.
West: Yes.
Caller: And that’ll be okay?
West: Um-hm.
Caller: Thank you.