The Women’s Pavilion abortion business in South Bend, Indiana will close its doors tonight for the foreseeable future. The closing follows the Indiana Department of Health revoking its operating license due to numerous code violations and after its main abortionist was caught failing to provide a timely report to the state about teens who were victims of rape.
The clinic’s troubled owner, abortionist Ulrich Klopfer, will surrender his facility license now that he has dropped his appeal of a decision issued in June by the Indiana State Department of Health to revoke the Women’s Pavillion’s operating license.
The ISDH notified Klopfer of its intent to revoke the Women’s Pavillion facility license in June after he failed to adequately correct numerous deficiencies discovered by inspectors.
Tom Gill, president of Saint Joseph County Right to Life, told LifeNews.com: “We remember those today who have lost their lives at the Women’s Pavilion and for all women and men who have been affected by abortion in our community for so many decades. We encourage women with crisis pregnancies to seek the many avenues of assistance that are available to them in St. Joseph County that can help them find true healthcare without limiting their choice to abortion.”
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Abortion advocates are scheduled to hold a vigil at the time of the closing, which local pro-life advocates find ironic.
“While we disagree with any effort to memorialize a business that has brought so much pain and harm to women and their unborn children in our community, we chose not to organize a counter protest and thereby avoid a confrontation that would not benefit either side. We hope that any pro-life presence at this event will be peaceful and prayerful,” Gill said.
Klopfer still faces possible revocation of his medical license or other discipline for hundreds of violations related to failing to include required information from state reporting forms and failing to report suspected cases of statutory rape.
Women’s Pavillion was raided by police serving a search warrant in March, 2014. Klopfer was criminally charged with failing to report suspected child sex abuse.
“Years of shoddy abortion practices have finally caught up with Dr. Klopfer,” said Cathie Humbarger, Indiana Right to Life’s Vice President of Policy Enforcement. “Klopfer compromised the health and safety of women who sought abortions from him in Gary, Fort Wayne and South Bend, and we’re relieved he is finally being shut down. Hoosier women deserve better. We extend our appreciation to the Pence administration and the ISDH for refusing to sweep Klopfer’s shady practices under the rug. It’s a good day for the health and safety of Hoosier women.”
Klopfer’s troubles began when volunteers with Indiana Right to Life filed 1,200 complaints against him for not reporting child sex abuse and other information required by the State based on Termination of Pregnancy reports obtained by the pro-life group through a public records act request.
The complaints prompted St. Joseph County Prosecutor Mike Dvorak to ask the Police Special Victim’s Unit to conduct a criminal investigation into the abortionist’s activities. This raid on Klopfer’s South Bend abortion clinic was part of that investigation.
Violations at that time included: Failure to comply with the 18 hour waiting period between the signing of consent forms and the abortion; Remains from an aborted baby stored in the same refrigerator as medications; and oxygen tanks and other emergency equipment lacking proper maintenance or just not working, among other violations.
In January 2014, Klopfer was criminally charged by Lake County, Indiana, prosecutors with failing to file a timely report, a Class B Misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The charge is related to an incident of statutory rape on a 13-year-old girl. Klopfer, who did an abortion on the girl at his Gary, Indiana, abortion clinic in September, 2012, filed the report nearly four months later than state statute requires, leaving the girl at risk of further sexual abuse.
Klopfer was forced to temporarily close his Fort Wayne abortion clinic due to his inability to obtain a required hospital transfer agreement or an emergency care pact with another physician.
Previously, Klopfer was found to have stored the remains of an aborted baby in the same refrigerator as medicine. After they found the remains, Indiana state health officials filed a formal complaint seeking to revoke the operating license of the Women’s Pavilion abortion clinic in South Bend. Papers from the state indicated the abortion clinic is charged with violating Indiana Code 16-21 and multiple health and safety rules.
