Kansas Attorney General Says Abortion Facility a Health Risk
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 30, 2004
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — Kansas’ attorney general told lawmakers at a hearing on Thursday that at least one abortion facility in the state presents health risks for women because of its unsanitary conditions.
Attorney General Phill Kline testified at a meeting of the House Federal and State Affairs Committeeand brought pictures of the inside of the abortion business that had been taken during an investigation into a theft at the facility.
"I believe all of us would oppose back-alley abortion," Kline said, according to the Kansas City Star. "The information we are going to present to you is truly demonstrating back-alley abortions. The only difference, in my opinion, is that you go through a door to get to this facility."
Attorney General Kline showed pictures of the Affordable Medical and Surgical Services abortion center in Topeka, run by Krishna Rajanna.
Although the abortion facility appears "clean and tidy" now, the Star reported, pictures taken last year reveal dirty carpets in the room where abortions were performed, rat poison and rat droppings in an adjacent room, and aborted babies and food kept in a fridge where medical supplies were stored.
Kline said current law gave him no options to use to close down the abortion facility. He said the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, which oversees abortion facilities, has yet to take action on Kline’s evidence.
Larry Buening, director of the agency, said it had received a complain against the abortion business in February and that an investigation should be completed next month.
He said he hopes his testifying would help move along legislation that would regulate abortion businesses in the state. A bill currently in the state legislature would require all abortion facilities to be licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and meet the same types of standards that apply to outpatient surgical care facilities.
An Associated Press reporter who toured the abortion business on Thursday told Kline that the conditions he described were no longer present.
"Then I’m glad some progress is being made," Kline responded, the paper reported.
Rajanna says the abortion facility has been open for six years and claims Kline is simply using his business in an attempt to make abortions illegal.
The abortion facility regulation bill has passed the state House but stalled in the Senate. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a similar bill last year and says she would veto this bill too.
