Pro-Lifers to Meet Nebraska Attorney General to Discuss LeRoy Carhart, Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 2, 2009
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) — Several pro-life advocates have scheduled a meeting with Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning on Thursday to discuss allegations of illegal and unsafe activities taking place at the abortion business of LeRoy Carhart. He does early and late-term abortions at his business in Bellevue, outside Omaha.
This week, a handful of employees who were laid off from Carhart’s abortion business have come forward.
Independently, they each noted what they called illegal an unsafe conditions taking place at his abortion business. The former abortion facility employees say they participated in abortions that were done without proper licensing.
Two of the unnamed women who assisted in Carhart’s abortions say they started IVs for him even though they are not registered nurses or certified licensed practical nurses, as required by state law.
A third former employee, who was fired about six years ago, also confirmed that she frequently administered medication intravenously although she wasn’t a certified LPN.
Representatives from Operation Rescue, Nebraskans United for Life, Rescue the Heartland, and other pro-life groups will present that evidence to Bruning and renew their call for him and the state health department, which may have already started a probe, to investigate.
"The situations described by the brave women who have come forward prove that Mr. Carhart lacks sound medical judgment and is incompetent to continue the practice of medicine," OR president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com today.
"The allegations made transcend standard of care issues. They show a pattern of criminal conduct that has endangered the lives and safety of women over a period of several years. Because of this, we felt it was important to meet with the Attorney General’s office," he added.
Julie Scmit-Albin of Nebraska Right to Life and a representative of the state Catholic conference will also join them.
Schmit-Albin told LifeNews.com that she worries the state health department will do nothing more than give Carhart a slap on the wrist, as happened with problems at a Planned Parenthood abortion business.
"If these affidavits provide credible evidence of the allegations that Carhart falsified records to perform late term abortions and had unlicensed staff performing medical procedures, it is our feeling that the Attorney General could be more aggressive in pursuing the truth behind the allegations," she said.
"We do not want to see what happened in 2002 when the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services was handed allegations about Lincoln’s Planned Parenthood abortion facility and those allegations resulted in no real sanctions against that abortion facility," she added.
‘The Lincoln clinic subsequently produced two botched abortions that we know of, in 2007 and in 2008," she explained.
The groups filed a formal complaint about the alleged illegal and unsafe practices at Carhart’s abortion business and were notified by the Nebraska Attorney General’s office that the complaint had been forwarded to the Department of Health and Human Services, (NHHS), and that the Attorney General would monitor their investigation.
Once news of the investigation spread, former employees came forward with information about past problems.
Other allegations include missing narcotics and the alteration of the fetal age of unborn children so late-term abortions Carhart would do would comply with state law.
The pro-life groups also note that Carhart did the late-term abortion on the baby of 19-year old Christin Gilbert that was botched and resulted in Gilbert’s death.
Carhart has faced disciplining from state health officials before.
The NHHS has ordered Carhart to stop certain unprofessional conduct such as interrupting abortion procedures to take personal phone calls, falsifying entries on patient charts, and failing to protect his staff and patients from contagious diseases.
"In light of Carhart’s nefarious history of endangering women, we call on the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Health and Human Services to enforce the law and close Carhart’s abortion clinic in the interest of public safety," Newman said.
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