Last Abortion Clinic in Toledo, Ohio Closing on Wednesday

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 29, 2013   |   3:03PM   |   Toledo, OH

The last abortion clinic in Toledo, Ohio is closing on Wednesday. The Capital Care Women’s Center abortion business expects to close when its transfer agreement with the taxpayer-funded University of Toledo Medical Center expires on Wednesday.

This will make the third closing of an abortion clinic in Ohio this year — after state inspections found problems at the abortion centers.

From a story on the Toldeo closing:

The Center for Choice in Toledo, in operation since 1983, recently shut its doors after the clinic failed to obtain a transfer agreement with the publicly funded University of Toledo Medical Center. A state Health Department inspection this spring found the clinic actually had not had a transfer agreement since July 2010.

Health inspectors turned up several other violations, including failure to combat possible infections and to keep operating-room equipment — some of which had rust and mold — clean and safe, blank prescription forms already signed by a doctor, IV bags full of expired medicine, and 44 syringes containing an unidentified clear liquid.

A third clinic, Capital Care Network of Cuyahoga Falls near Akron, closed in April after failing a state health and safety inspection. That facility’s state license to dispense drugs had expired the year before and its federal license a year before that. The date on its bottle of disinfectant was more than a year old, some patients’ vital signs were not checked before a procedure, informed consent was not obtained from some of the patients, drugs were improperly stored and administered, and the transfer agreement was incomplete.

In response to concerns voiced by Copeland and others about new powers given the state health director to close clinics, current director Dr. Ted Wymyslo said, “We’re going to function the same way we always have — we’ll be fair. I will follow what the law tells me I’m supposed to do. My focus is on making sure women get their needs met by high-quality providers that I can trust.

“I’ve got 90 days to decide what all this really means, so we’re interpreting it and I’m using my experts internally to say, ‘How is this going to actually play out for us now when we apply it to what we have going on in Ohio?’ My goal is to make sure as many people as possible get access to high-quality care in the state.”

By next month, Ohio’s licensed abortion clinics will be limited to three in Columbus, three in Cleveland, two in the Cincinnati area, and one each in Dayton and Akron. According to state Health Department records, no other Ohio abortion clinic relies on a transfer agreement with a publicly funded hospital.

The other Toledo abortion facility closed amid scandal. The abortion facility had been operating since 1983.

Although abortion advocates frequently cite women’s health as the reason for supporting abortion, Ohio state officials exposed a cover-up involving Center for Choice of Toledo, a local abortion center. According to Ohio Department of Health documents, this abortion clinic operated without a transfer agreement resulting in a recommended closure and a $25,000 fine.

The transfer agreement is needed so abortion practitioners can quickly admit a woman who was injured in a botched abortion, so a local hospital or medical center could provide her with emergency medical treatment.

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“This is yet another case of the abortion industry disregarding women’s health and well-being. Center for Choice lied to the Department of Health in order to cover-up the fact that they were breaking Ohio law,” said President of Ohio Right to Life Mike Gonidakis at the time. “The abortion industry strives to paint a rosy picture of women’s healthcare, but the reality is that the abortion industry acts with callous disregard for women and of course their unborn babies.”

According to Ohio law, Center for Choice of Toledo exists as an Ambulatory Surgical Facility and because of this legal status, the clinic is not a full-service medical facility. In order for Center for Choice of Toledo to operate legally, the clinic has to have a transfer agreement with a full-service hospital to handle all cases of abortion complications against the mother. The clinic has not had a legal transfer agreement since 2010, according to Ohio Department of Health documents, Gonidakis said.

“It’s a crime that Center for Choice has performed illegal abortions for the last two years, jeopardizing women for the sake of profit, but we take hope in the fact that they will cease taking innocent human life,” he told LifeNews.