Abortion Activists Want Head of Pro-Life Group Removed From Ohio Medical Board

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 23, 2016   |   6:44PM   |   Columbus, OH

Abortion activists are trying to push a pro-life leader off the State Medical Board of Ohio after the board received a recent complaint involving an alleged forced abortion at a Dayton abortion facility.

Mike Gonidakis is the chairman of the medical board and president of Ohio Right to Life. Gonidakis recused himself from the case on Monday to avoid the appearance of impropriety, but abortion advocates in the state still are trying to force him to leave the position.

The Dayton Daily News reports 10 liberal groups recently signed a letter to the medical board calling for Gonidakis’s removal. The groups claimed that he “has a professional conflict of interest so profound that it cannot be remedied as long as he continues in the two posts he now holds.”

Sandy Theis, executive director of ProgressOhio, was the person who organized the letter-writing effort. Theis also filed a formal complaint against Gonidakis with the Ohio Ethics Commission in another attempt to force him off the board, according to the newspaper.

The groups pushing for his removal include the National Organization for Women, the Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus, Common Cause Ohio, Doctors for Health Care Solutions, Democratic Voices of Ohio and ProgressOhio, according to WRAL.

Gonidakis has served on the medical board for four years already. Gov. John Kasich appointed him for a five-year term in 2012. He is one of three health care consumer members on the board, the other nine are doctors.

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“It’s standard operating procedure for pro-abortion industry to attack pro-life people for political view points, and that’s what’s happening here,” Gonidakis told LifeNews.

He said the abortion case before the board involves some “very serious and horrific allegations.” Gonidakis said by calling for his removal, abortion advocates are trying to draw the public’s attention away from the actual case.

The Ohio Department of Health already cited the Women’s Med Center near Dayton for violating Ohio Administrative Code 3701-83-07 (A)(2), which states, “Each patient shall be allowed to refuse or withdraw consent for treatment.”

The state medical board will consider whether the doctors employed at the abortion facility should face disciplinary measures as well.

The case involves an alleged forced abortion at the Women’s Med Center in July 2015. Dayton Right to Life, which filed the complaint to the medical board, uncovered state records indicating that the facility performed an abortion on a patient who appeared to be suffering from a drug overdose and could not consent to the procedure.

State records indicate that the woman could not walk on her own or hold her head up when she arrived at the abortion facility, and her speech was slurred and slow. The abortion center staff recognized signs that the woman had overdosed on recreational drugs, according to the state records. After the abortion, staff gave the woman a drug used to counter opioid overdose and later took her to the hospital for more treatment, the documents revealed.

The abortion facility did not have any documentation indicating whether the patient was asked if she would like to withdraw her consent due to her altered state, according to the report.

It is unclear who performed the abortion. Dayton RTL filed its complaint against all three abortion doctors working at the facility: Martin Haskell, Roslyn Kade and Jeffrey Glazer.

Dayton Right to Life Executive Director Paul Coudron previously said the woman clearly was not able to consent to the abortion.

“This facility clearly violated the very choice the abortion industry claims to stand for,” Coudron said. “Informed consent is a crucial ethical principle in the practice of medicine, no matter the procedure. Women’s Med Center, Martin Haskell and the abortionist who performed this abortion need to be held accountable for violating such a basic and fundamental medical ethic as informed consent.”

Click here to review the Ohio Department of Health’s inspection report for Women’s Med Center.
Click here to review Dayton Right to Life’s formal complaint to the State Medical Board.

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