Several Maryland Abortion Clinics Lose Licenses, Woman Dies From Abortion

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 24, 2013   |   4:53PM   |   Washington, DC

Several Maryland-based abortion clinics had their licenses suspended today after the chain of abortion centers put women’s health and lives at risk by utilizing unlicensed and untrained workers.

The Baltimore Sun has more information:

State health regulators have suspended the licenses of several abortion clinics owned by Associates in OB/GYN Care for the second time after an employee with no health care license or certification gave a patient a drug to induce an abortion at the Baltimore facility.

The same employee also performed an ultrasound on the woman, who was found to be 22 weeks pregnant with multiple fetuses, although the employee wasn’t trained in the procedure, according to records released Friday by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. There was no physician at the clinic even though the woman had scheduled an appointment for a May 4 procedure.

The doctor who arrived at the clinic later that day refused to perform the abortion, saying “this facility is not equipped to do this procedure safely,” according to the state records.

The state’s Office of Health Care Quality investigated the facility and suspended its license after receiving an anonymous complaint about the patient’s treatment on May 7. The agency also looked into operations at clinics owned by OB/GYN Care in Frederick, Silver Spring and Cheverly and suspended the licenses of those clinics as well.

The investigation found that it was common practice to administer the drug Misoprostol to induce an abortion in patients 11 weeks or more pregnant even if the patient has not been seen by a doctor and there was no physician at the clinic.

The off the abortion facilities that are a part of the chain saw licenses suspended in March over multiple problems.

Inspections of the abortion clinics revealed they were continuing to violate state health and safety laws after the initial violations that prompted the state investigations in the first place.

The inspections were prompted by a letter from seventeen Maryland House Delegates raising concerns about abortion clinic safety after Jennifer Morbelli. Investigators discovered a second abortion-related patient death had occurred at one of Brigham’s abortion clinics in Baltimore that is located in a residential condominium complex. The woman was said to have had a previous health condition that contributed to her suffering cardiac arrest at the time of the abortion.

According to the Baltimore Sun, “The physician who performed the abortion at Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street wasn’t certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, state officials said in a letter Friday to the General Assembly.”

Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, who has been closely following Morbelli’s death and the aftermath, commented on the suspensions.

“Ignoring a health condition that might contraindicate abortion, one of Brigham’s shoddy abortionists proceeded with surgery at a residential condo unit without the necessary certification or emergency equipment required to treat the patient in the event a complication arose. Because of this negligence, he was unable to provide emergency care that could have saved her life. It is beyond belief that the State of Maryland would allow these dangerous Brigham affiliates to continue to operate in the state,” he told LifeNews.