Planned Parenthood Violating Abortion Drug Laws in New Hampshire

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 17, 2012   |   5:58PM   |   Washington, DC

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is distributing abortion and other drugs at its six New Hampshire clinics in violation of state law, according to a complaint filed with the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy Tuesday.

Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Michael Tierney filed the complaint on behalf of New Hampshire Right to Life.

“No matter where a person stands on abortion, everyone should agree that Planned Parenthood has to play by the same rules as everyone else,” said Tierney, an attorney with the Manchester firm of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC. “In this case, that means it must obey state laws that say only licensed pharmacists may distribute prescription drugs when a clinic is not under contract with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.”

Since the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services terminated its contract with Planned Parenthood last year, Tierney says the six New Hampshire clinics have continued to distribute drugs, including abortion-inducing drugs, even though they apparently have no licensed pharmacists at the clinics.

The complaint provides communications by Planned Parenthood leaders indicating that they knew that dispensing such prescriptions without a pharmacist on staff was a violation of the state statute. State law provides for substantial fines and revocation or suspension of license for dispensing drugs in violation of the statute. The six clinics together dispense more than $4,000 of birth control and abortion-causing drugs every day. https://www.adfmedia.org/files/NHRTL-pharmacy-board-complaint.pdf

“Planned Parenthood does not currently have a contract with the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services and has not had one since July 1, 2011,” the complaint states. “Nevertheless, it appears that Planned Parenthood has been dispensing pharmaceuticals since September 14, 2011 and intends in June of 2012 to apply for a renewal of its Limited Retail Drug Distributor’s license to continue dispensing pharmaceuticals without a pharmacist in its six New Hampshire abortion clinics.”

The complaint requests “that the Board of Pharmacy take all appropriate action to prevent Planned Parenthood” from violating the state law that allows only licensed pharmacists to dispense prescription drugs.

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Michael Tierney is one of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance and a graduate of the ADF National Litigation Academy. He practices with the firm of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Tierney earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame and is admitted to the New Hampshire Bar.

In September,  the Obama administration made a decision to force New Hampshire taxpayers to fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business after the state’s Executive Council voted to revoke a $1.8 million contract. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it will provide the contract for family planning with Planned Parenthood directly from the federal government to the abortion business rather than routing the money through the state and letting New Hampshire officials determine who should receive the Title X grants. The council voted against funding because Planned Parenthood does abortions and its top officials earn big six-figure salaries.

The decision came after the Obama administration sent the state a strongly-worded letter to complain. The Health and Human Services Department is claiming the state broke federal rules in denying the Planned Parenthood contract and it alleges the state must provide family planning services to low-income women and that de-funding Planned Parenthood puts it at risk of losing federal funding by supposedly denying women access to family planning — even though other alternatives are available from other agencies.