Life Links 4/12/12

The Morning Call has an article on the state of Pennsylvania's decision to pull the operating registration of Steven Brigham abortion clinic in Allentown.

The department pulled the registration after it learned that Allentown Medical Services lost its lease at 2200 Hamilton St. Since registrations for abortion facilities are specific to a location, losing the lease broke the terms of the registration, the state said.

Additionally, Brigham and clinic officials showed a "chronic inability … to comply with the most fundamental statutory and regulatory requirements," Deputy Secretary for Quality Assurance Anna Marie Sossong wrote in a revocation letter.

The soon to be closed abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama will stay open until May 18th. A group of prolifers protested outside the clinic.

So why doesn't the state shut the clinic down sooner than May 18? Attorneys for the state health department say that date was reached in a settlement with the clinic. They say had the department gone through a full out administrative hearing procedure, which was originally planned, it would have been at least June before the clinic would have had to close its doors.

At one point in the video, it appears that the abortion clinic turns it's sprinklers on the prolifers.


Speaking of the Birmingham clinic, Slate's Irin Carmon is playing defense the best she can. Not until the second to last paragraph does Carmon provide the reasoning for the clinic's coming closure.

New Woman All Women's most recent troubles started when Derzis called 911 on Jan. 21 because two women had accidentally been given 10 times the intended dosage of the drug Vasopressin. The protesters outside – whom Derzis had repeatedly battled in court – said they photographed the women getting into the ambulance and filed a complaint with the Department of Public Health. According to the subsequent report, "the registered nurse that made the medication error has had disciplinary action taken against her by the clinic. Medical records and interviews with clinical staff at the clinic did not indicate the patients were in immediate danger." But the subsequent investigation produced a 76-page report, which mostly details violations of documentation — such as failing to have clear job descriptions for various employees and adequate orientation procedures — and legibility of records. Other findings were more serious, such as a chart being signed off by a nurse who wasn't present in the clinic on that day and failure to document the monitoring of a patient who was given Pitocin. All added up to the surrender of the clinic's license, rather than go through protracted negotiations.

It's amazing how far abortion advocates will go to defend obviously below standard abortion clinic. To treat "failing to have adequate orientation procedures" aka "employees weren't properly trained to do their jobs" as if it is some minor detail is ridiculous.