Pro-Life Advocates Want Probe of Nebraska Late-Term Abortion Practitioner Carhart
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 7, 2009
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) — A coalition of pro-life groups is calling on Nebraska officials to conduct an investigation of late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart. They have sent Nebraska Attorney General Jon Buning a letter asking him to open a probe into whether Carhart is following state law or putting women’s health at risk.
Carhart runs an abortion business in Bellevue, an Omaha suburb, and has said he will open a new late-term abortion business in Kansas.
That would raplce the one run by late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller, who was shot and killed weeks ago by an activist affiliated with militia groups.
The collection of pro-life groups expressed concerns about the legality of certain aspects of Carhart’s abortion business. They are also worried about the condition of Carhart’s run-down abortion facility that was damaged by an accidental fire earlier this year.
Carhart has also indicated he is interested in doing late-term abortions at the facility.
"There is concern that this decision will create an unacceptable safety risk to women," the groups say in their July 6 letter.
"The safety of the public is our paramount concern, thus we are requesting the most comprehensive investigation of Carhart and his Nebraska abortion business as possible from the Attorney General’s office," the groups write.
They ask Buning that "your investigation not be limited solely to the concerns listed in this letter. Women’s lives and future health literally depend on it."
The gorups also supplied Buning with a packet of documents including information about incidents of botched abortions involving Carhart that required emergency transport to the hospital along with photos of the ambulances involved in those incidents.
The information included a complaint filed in Kansas about Carhart’s part in the third-trimester abortion death of Christin Gilbert.
It also included photos of dilapidated conditions at his abortion clinic, the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska. The abortion center didn’t stay open long after the fire because repairs on it hadn’t passed a city inspection.
He was accused of putting women’s health at risk by reopening without the inspection and broke the law by operating the abortion center without an occupancy permit he needed to do so. Carhart later admitted to the Bellevue Leader newspaper that he operated without a permit for three days.
Meanwhile, local pro-life advocates, who described the exterior of the abortion building as dilapidated and says it is surrounded by rusted-out vehicles and other junk, say Carhart put women at risk a second way.
Carhart relied on a generator for power with an electrical cord running outside from the generator to the abortion facility to provide electricity. Should it have failed, women could have been in medical danger.
Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, Larry Donlan of Rescue the Heartland in Omaha, Nebraska and Ann Bowen of Nebraskans United for Life signed the letter.
He was employed until its closure at Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas and also licensed to operate in Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
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