Abortion Business in California Closed For Operating Without License

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 2, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 2, 2005

West Covina, CA (LifeNews.com) — An abortion business in California has been shut down by state officials who accuse it of operating illegally without a stand-required medical license. The state Department of Health Services closed the Family Planning Medical Center in West Covina, an eastern Los Angeles suburb.

Norma Arceo, spokeswoman for the department, told the San Gabriel Tribune newspaper that the abortion business is closed while state officials investigate whether it operated without the license.

Such a license is required by state law if an abortion center is not run by a licensed physician.

"We did a cease-and-desist order to Win Management (management company for the clinic) for illegally operating a clinic," Arceo said. "The doors are in fact closed."

Eva Winchell, an officer of Win Management, told the Tribune that the abortion business is managed by her company but owned by a doctor.

"The whole thing could have very easily been fixed," Winchell said. "It’s an administrative problem. I was shocked when they came with a cease-and-desist order. They hadn’t completed the investigation when they just shut the doctor’s office down."

Winchell told the San Gabriel newspaper she believes the investigation was triggered by the abortion facility’s landlord, who oppose abortion. She said they told her they disagreed with abortions being performed there and worried other tenants in the building would move out.

The Tribune could not confirm that with Clear Creek Holding, the landlord’s company.

Winchell said the abortion business received the order at the end of October and would move at the end of the month. Since it received the order it has been sending women seeking abortions to a Los Angeles abortion center.