Late-Term Abortion Center Re-Opens in Nebraska in Appalling Health Conditions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 9, 2009
Bellevue, NE (LifeNews.com) — Late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart has reopened his Omaha, Nebraska-area abortion business following damage in an accidental fire. However, local pro-life advocates report Carhart is putting women’s health in jeopardy by operating the center in appallingly dangerous conditions.
The Nebraska-based center is one of the few in the nation to do late-term abortions and Carhart’s name became famous when the Supreme Court ruled for him against a partial-birth abortion ban.
Following repairs on his abortion business, known as the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska, Carhart reopened the facility on Saturday.
Larry Donlan, the director of a local pro-life group known as Rescue the Heartland, describes the exterior of the building as dilapidated and says it is surrounded by rusted-out vehicles and other junk.
He says women who get abortions are at risk because Carhart is relying on a generator for power with an electrical cord running outside from the generator to the abortion facility to provide electricity. Should it fail, women could be in medical danger.
Donlan says the generator "purred away all morning, making one question if they even had electricity."
"I’ve often wondered how anyone could patronize such a junk yard posing as a ‘health clinic,’" said Donlan.
Last month, the electrician working on Carhart’s fire repairs quit on moral grounds after he was informed by pro-lifers that he was enabling Carhart to continue to do abortions.
Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger tells LifeNews.com that Carhart has close ties to pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Carhart and his wife, Mary Lou, attended a secret party Sebelius hosted at the governor’s mansion in April 2007.
Sullenger has her doubts about Carhart’s abortion business.
"It is doubtful that Carhart could have opened with the proper permits, and may have been operating illegally," she said. "We can only assume that if Carhart’s friend, Gov. Sebelius, is placed in charge of our nation’s health care, that we will see an increase in horrific conditions throughout the abortion industry."
She criticizes Sebelius for opposing or vetoing several bills in Kansas that would have provided minimum safety standards for abortion facilities and would have forced them to clean up or close.
Former abortion clinic employees who have worked with Carhart at Tiller’s late-term abortion business in Wichita, Kansas, have told Operation Rescue that he has a reputation for sloppy personal and professional habits, and for laziness, which shows in his Bellevue abortion building.
Donlan says local pro-life advocates are reaching out with help to women who go to Carhart’s abortion center and reported one woman on Saturday changed her mind about her scheduled abortion thanks to their help.
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