Texas Abortionist William West Tries to Remove Expose’ Video

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 3, 2011   |   4:26PM   |   McAllen, TX

William West, a Texas-based abortion practitioner caught in an undercover investigation discovering him engaging in numerous violations and problematic activities, has been trying to get the video removed exposing the abuses.

West came under investigation from the Operation Rescue pro-life group that found via recorded phone calls that indicate West may have violated informed consent and 24-hour waiting period laws. A brief clip of one of those recordings was included in the 3½ minute video that was produced by Operation Rescue to give an overview of the investigation’s findings.

Operation Rescue placed the video on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com and now, West has admitted publicly that he has pressured both video-sharing web sites that he has been trying to get them to remove the Operation Rescue video detailing findings of a 3-month investigation of abortion practitioners in the state. West complained about Operation Rescue’s investigation and video in a lengthy, often rambling, note printed by the pro-abortion Daily Kos website on May 30. In the article, he describes how he faxed and e-mailed YouTube.com and Vimeo.com until they removed the video.

West wrote, “In response to my FAX. . .You Tube removed the video containing the audio recording and other specious OR allegations as violating their standards of conduct, which also resulted in its deletion from the OR website. . .OR then reposted the video through another online video venue, Vimeo. By email I then convinced that service, too, to remove the OR video. OR then turned to a video service they could control, Pro-life tube, so I gave up.”

West complained that audio files that indicate informed consent and 24 hour waiting period violations were heavily edited. However, Operation Rescue has submitted the entire, unedited recordings to the Texas Medical Board along with other evidence prompting the Board to open its own investigation of West, which is active and on-going.

“William West obviously does not want the public to see the video summary of the incriminating evidence we gathered at Texas abortion clinics, but has failed in his attempt to remove the truth from the Internet,” OR president Troy Newman said. “Could it be that the evidence is so compelling that he has no legitimate defense except to try to remove and cover up the evidence?”

He added, “We continue to cooperate with the Texas Medical Board in their investigation of West and 13 other Texas abortionists that have come under Board investigation as a result of our research.”

The Texas Medical Board has notified Operation Rescue that it is conducting an investigation into the wide-ranging abuses the pro-life organization found when it conducted an undercover probe of several abortion businesses in the state along with another group called The Survivors.

The complaints were filed after a three-month undercover investigation of abortion clinics across Texas revealed numerous violations, including illegal dumping of private patient medical records and biohazardous waste, a disregard for informed consent and 24-hour waiting period laws, mishandling of drugs and prescription forms, and a willingness to help minors evade parental notification laws.

The pro-life group also says another abortion practitioner is in the spotlight. It notes that, on May 3, authorities inspected the Abortion Advantage clinic operated by Lamar Robinson in Dallas. he is one of the 14 under investigation and local pro-life advocates tell OR that, since the Medical Board started the investigations, abortion practitioner John Brock has not been seen at that abortion clinic, where he routinely worked.

“The last thing abortion clinics want is public exposure,” says OR president Troy Newman. “They want women kept in the dark about the development of their babies, and they want the public kept in the dark about the unsafe and illegal practices that are rampant in Texas and at abortion clinics around the nation. Operation Rescue will continue to work with the authorities to expose the abuses that the abortion cartel wants to keep secret, and bring those responsible to justice.”

Among the worst offenders was Whole Women’s Health, which operates five abortion facilities in Texas run by West.

The McAllen, Texas discoveries were particularly disturbing and dumped in the trash were the bloody refuse of several abortions along with the names of patients and other private information. Patient logs and other records were discovered on Whole Women’s Health forms and the bloody remains of abortions came in bags with other documents bearing Whole Women’s Health’s name. Operation Rescue has made examples of this evidence public.

During one conference call recorded on January 10, 2011, West can be heard mocking the information he is required by law to tell women. After he says that he is required to say that abortion presents a risk for breast cancer, he launches into a mocking rebuttal of the information he just told them. “The anti-abortion folks have waged this fear campaign for years now, um, making numerous false charges about the quote dangers of abortion, and uh, one completely fictitious this is drummed up spread all around is that there is an increased risk of breast cancer and interference with future childbearing and so forth. None of these are true. It’s their attempt to scare you out of having an abortion.”

“If this does not violate the letter of the law, it certainly undermines the intent of the legislature, which determined that women should have certain information on which to make an informed decision,” said Newman. “It is his remarks that are grossly untrue, and he should be held accountable for misleading women about abortion risks.”

Later in that same call, one woman expresses concern that her appointment is not 24 hours from the time of the conference call, as required by law.

Caller: Hello?
West: Yes.
Caller: My appointment is tomorrow morning and if I called now, is this enough time? It’s less than 24 hours.
West: Yes.
Caller: And that’ll be okay?
West: Um-hm.
Caller: Thank you.

“This investigation shows that violations of the law at abortion clinics are a widespread crisis of epidemic proportions,” said  Newman.

“The evidence we uncovered of illegal activity reveals a systemic problem throughout Texas that is not confined to one particular clinic or group of clinics,” he explained. “These violations endanger the heath of women, violate the rights of women to be informed and have their medical records protected, and present health hazards to the general public.”

“We also found disturbing evidence of attempts to evade parental consent laws and child sex abuse reporting laws. This illegal activity endangers the safety and welfare of children throughout Texas,” Newman said.

“Our investigation focused on what the average woman would experience if she sought an abortion in Texas, and how the abortion clinics appeared and operated on an everyday basis,” said Newman. “From what we found, women are subjected to a variety of abortion abuses as a matter of routine. Violating the law is standard operating procedure for abortion clinics in Texas.”