Texas Abortion Docs Face Hearing for Massive Violations

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 24, 2011   |   10:45AM   |   Austin, TX

Five Texas-based abortion practitioners are the first of a group of 10 total who will face disciplinary hearings for massive violations of state abortion and patient laws following an undercover investigation launched by two pro-life groups.

Operation Rescue and The Survivors conducted a statewide investigation that consisted of recorded phone calls to abortion businesses and combing through dumpsters located outside them. In total, the probes found abortion practitioners and their staff violated informed consent laws and the state’s 24-hour waiting period before an abortion. They also found staff coached minor girls to cross state lines to avoid Texas parental notification laws, ignored cases of child sex abuse, illegally disposed private patient information in violation of HIPAA, improperly handled and disposed of controlled substances and the remains of aborted babies, and maintained their facilities in substandard conditions.

Five of the abortion practitioners are scheduled to appear before the Texas Medical Board on Friday to answer to allegations of wrongdoing based on complaints filed by the groups following their three-month investigation. Robert Hanson, Alan Molson, William W. West, Jr., Franz Theard, and Douglas A. Karpen are slated to appear.

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, who is the official complainant for all appearing Friday except Karpen, will attend the hearings and provide a statement to the medical board. Cheryl Sullenger, of Operation Rescue, is the complainant in Karpen’s case and will submit a written statement for the Board’s consideration.

“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.”

Newman informed LifeNews today that his group was notified last week that the hearings of the remaining five abortion practitioners will take place at a later, yet to be determined date and those abortion doctors include Pedro J. Kowalyszyn, Sherwood C. Lynn, Margaret Kini, Robert L. Prince, and H. Brook Randal.

The state medical board is expected to issue rulings in February 2012 once all 10 abortion practitioners have appeared before the panel.

In addition to the ten Medical Board cases, Whole Women’s Health abortion centers in Austin and McAllen were cited by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality for the improper disposal of the remains of babies victimized by abortions. Stericycle, a disposal company used by abortion clinics nationwide, was also cited for their improper disposal of human remains in Austin.

“Currently, abortionists all over the country are facing hearings in the coming weeks with state disciplinary boards and criminal courts,” Newman has said. “While we are encouraged by the recent trend in several states to finally enforce the abortion laws on the books, we know that this is only a beginning.”

“In all our years of studying the abortion cartel and working to expose their misdeeds, we have never found an abortion clinic that complies with all the laws they should,” he said. “Abortionists are out there right now endangering the lives of women and wrongfully or illegally taking the lives of innocent pre-born babies that laws have been enacted to protect, yet there is so little accountability that abortion clinics openly operate as if the laws do not exist. That is why we investigate, expose wrongdoing, report it, and demand enforcement.”

Operation Rescue recorded one of Theard’s employees coaching a caller who claimed to be a minor seeking an abortion, to cross state linesto avoid having to comply with the Texas parental notification law.

The caller posed as a 17-year old minor who wanted an abortion and the receptionist quickly scheduled an abortion for her for the following Saturday at 9:00 am and told her to bring and I.D. and $460. Then the abortion center staff helps the caller evade Texas law.

Caller: Can I get a note for the doctor? Um…
Lupa: Why?
Caller: For school?
Lupa: [Unintelligible]—school?
Caller: ‘Cuz I’m still in high school.
Lupa: How old are you?
Caller: Seventeen.
Lupa: If you’re 17, your parent needs to come with you.
Caller: Oh, uh, I don’t want the–
Lupa: Do they know you’re pregnant?
Caller: No. No.
Lupa: We have another clinic. It’s in Sunland Park in Santa Teresa–
Caller: Santa Theresa where?
Lupa: Uh-huh. There you don’t need an appointment and you don’t need your parents. You could go on Tuesday.
Caller: On Tuesday? Oh.
Lupa: Yes, and it will be at 1:30.
Caller: 1:30? With the same doctor?
Lupa: Yes, ma’am.
Caller: Okay. So on Tuesday, in Santa Teresa I can go–?
Lupa: –address?
Caller: I need the address.
Lupa: It’s 5290 McNutt Road.

Lupa then assures the caller that she will see Dr. Theard and that she does not need to tell her parents.