Clinic Legislation Moves Forward

A bill changing the way Pennsylvania’s abortion clinics are regulated has cleared the Senate on a 38-12 vote.

The legislation reclassifies abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical facilities. Supporters say the change will provide stricter oversight, and help prevent another clinic from turning into a “house of horrors,” like Kermit Gosnell’s Philadelphia facility. “It is time for abortion centers to play by the same rules that govern ambulatory surgical centers,” said Maria Vitale, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation’s education director, in an emailed statement. “For far too long, abortion facilities have been operating in the dark. For the sake of women’s health and safety, it’s time for abortion centers to be held accountable.

But abortion rights supporters worry the reclassification will lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs for clinics scrambling to adapt to new codes. Republican Pat Vance, who wrote the initial bill increasing state scrutiny of clinics, said she’s concerned many will shut down, but still voted “yes” on the measure. “My original bill will still apply, since the Mensch amendment went in, for at least the first nine weeks,” she explained. “I think it’s important, if any clinics are able to survive and stay open, that there will still be health care for poor women.”

Vance, who ended her comments by declaring, “I reluctantly rise to say that I will support my own legislation,” wasn’t the only hesitant “yes” vote. Democrat Lisa Boscola blasted the measure, saying, “We’ve had nearly 40 years of activism by women and men. The courts in this country have allowed a woman’s right to choose. And this amendment in this bill basically strikes all those years of activism – all those years have been washed away in just a couple weeks.” Boscola ended up supporting the bill, though, because post-Gosnell, she thinks abortion clinics need stricter oversight.

The Senate vote came a bit more than a month after the House approved a similar measure, making abortion regulation the latest issue this year to see redundant House and Senate action. (Both chambers have passed their own versions of Castle Doctrine legislation and bath salts bans, to name two examples.) It’s not clear which chamber will act next, or which measure will move forward.

Legislation to Change How Abortion Clinics Are Regulated

Abortion rights advocates says the state Senate is trying to drastically scale back the number of procedures that take place in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, the chamber amended a bill responding to Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” Philadelphia clinic. The measure would reclassify abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical facilities, which means the clinics would need to drastically change their codes and equipment. Sari Stevens, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, said the fixes would be prohibitively expensive, and would lead many clinics to simply close their doors. “Facilities would need to triple their procedure room size,” she said. “This has no implications on public safety, but is incredibly costly, and may be impossible for a facility either to afford or to accomplish within their existing building.”

Cumberland County Republican Pat Vance wrote the initial bill, but objected to the changes. “Now, there are a lot of arguments that I believe are sort of a façade, to say, ‘oh, we need to get these women this standard of care.’ Not true. We are using this as a façade to close down these clinics.”

The legislation – there’s a similar House bill, as well – is a response to Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” clinic, where prosecutors allege viable infants were delivered, and then killed, and several women died from botched procedures. “This is a priority,” said Republican Jane Orie during Wednesday’s debate, arguing for the amendment. “Quite frankly, it’s about life or death issues, and is a priority that deserves preference over the budget at this time. Especially when [the lack of new regulations] can cause more deaths.” Orie has kept her floor speeches and public appearances to a minimum, after being charged with using state resources to conduct campaign work. Policies put in place by Governor Corbett require more frequent inspections of Pennsylvania’s clinics.

The Senate also passed a bill barring people from using the state new health care exchanges to fund abortions. The exchanges are part of last year’s federal health care law, and go into effect in 2014.

Legislation Would Re-classify Abortion Clinics

A bill changing the way Pennsylvania’s 22 abortion clinics are regulated will likely see a House vote this week.

The legislation is a response to the murder charges filed against Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell, who allegedly killed women and viable infants during procedures carried out in squalid conditions. It had been years since the last inspection from state officials, at the time of the 2010 raid on Gosnell’s facility.

Republican Matt Baker’s bill would re-classify abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical facilities. “Those that are performing surgical procedures,” Baker explained. “There are 112 ambulatory surgical centers currently licensed in Pennsylvania under the health care facilities act. And regrettably, the abortion clinics are not.” He argued abortion providers are providing complicated procedures with, “some… various levels of anesthesia involved. Some could lead to substantial complications, depending on the abortion. And it could jeopardize the health and welfare of women.”

The change would mean tougher guidelines and more inspections for clinic, though new policies Governor Corbett put in place after Gosnell’s arrest already require annual inspections of clinics, and closer scrutiny than state regulators previously provided.

Opponents of the measure, including Pennsylvania’s American Civil Liberties Union, say it would lead to “unreasonable” new regulations, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in changes for clinics. “Abortion clinics already follow a long list of statutes and regulations that monitor their activity, and put certain requirements on those clinics. So this bill, House Bill 574, alters the legal playing field for abortion clinics,” Hoover argued. “The Gosnell house of horrors was a failure of government, not a failure of the law. The state government made a choice under various administrations to not do the inspections rigorously, and as a result, a Gosnell was able to exist.”

Baker argued he’s simply following the guidelines of the Philadelphia grand jury that investigated Gosnell, though last week, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said the bill “goes beyond the scope” of the jurors’ report. In a letter to lawmakers, he wrote, “The intent of the grand jury's recommendation was to assume that women who seek the services of an abortion provider are afforded the same protections as those who go to other medical providers.”

Corbett Fires 6 State Workers Over Clinic Controversy

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is making 18 changes to Health and State Department policies, in response to an investigation of why state inspectors ignored warning signs about a Philadelphia abortion clinic where a doctor allegedly killed live babies.

The governor calls Health and State Department regulators’ failure to follow up on complaints about Kermit Gosnell’s clinic “despicable.”
The Administration has fired six state workers, and action is pending against eight others.

"People died because people did not a) follow the law, and agencies of government did not do their job and inspect to protect those individuals."

"We boiled it down to this: people need to do their jobs. It’s not enough to prosecute the wrong-doing. We need to change the culture. That starts here. That starts now."

Corbett’s new policies will require annual inspections of abortion clinics, and the public posting of the reports on the Department of Health website.
Regulators will need to review complaints of serious events at any clinic within 48 hours of an initial report, and then visit the facility on-site within five business days.
Corbett is also ordering the Health and State Departments to share information with each other on a monthly basis, and work toward conducting joint investigations of facilities.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says he applauds Corbett’s actions.

Senate Hears About Horrific Conditions at Clinic

The State Senate held the first of several hearings into why state regulators ignored warning signs about a West Philadelphia abortion clinic investigators have described as a “house of horrors.”

The hearing was filled with graphic details about Kermit Gosnell’s clinic, where authorities say babies were born alive and then killed. Conditions inside the facility were so bad, according to Philadelphia Homicide Unit Chief Ann Ponterio, that the Grand Jury had to wear hazmat suits during their visit to the clinic.

Ponterio says state regulators share the blame for what happened there. "Despite complaints, repeated complaints over years, they ignored them. The Department of Health and Department of State never once set foot in this clinic. And the grand jury found they didn’t do their jobs. They had the authority and the responsibility, and they chose not to act."

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says police officers and inspectors were shocked at what they saw inside the clinic, which they raided as part of a prescription drug sting. "Bloodstained walls, bloodstained beds and unclean sheets. Women walking around almost in – like zombies. They had been drugged to the state of being zombies."

Health and State officials are expected to testify at future hearings. Several bills are in the works. One would change regulation standards for abortion clinics, and another would force inspectors to visit facilities where complaints have been filed. Gosnell is to appear in court today.

Legislative Investigations into Clinic

A grand jury report on the arrest of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell is prompting hearings and new bills in Harrisburg.
The report paints a picture of a dingy corner abortion clinic, filled with stray cats, dirty medical equipment and the remains of fetuses.
The Department of Health hadn’t inspected the site since 1993, and allegedly failed to act on complaints about the clinic.
In a response to what the grand jury calls a “total abdication” of the department’s responsibilities, Republican State Senator Pat Vance, who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee, is drafting a new bill.

"It would just make it mandatory for the Department of Health to immediately respond to any complaints, in addition to doing much more timely inspections, and just closer closer watch on those."

Vance says she’s equally appalled by allegations the Department of State never acted on complaints about Gosnell filed by other Philadelphia doctors.
Her committee will hold hearings on the matter this year.
Vance’s House Counterpart, Republican Health Committee Chair Matthew Baker, says he’d support her measure.

"It’s really not about the issue of the traditional debate about whether you support abortions or not. What this is about is public health safety for anyone going into such a clinic, and that public health safety protocols be adhered to."

Baker says he’ll draft additional bills of his own.

Governor Calls Grand Jury Findings "Horrific"

Governor Tom Corbett has ordered his acting Secretaries of Health and State to investigate why neither department acted on numerous complaints about a Philadelphia abortion clinic.
In a special report, the grand jury that indicted abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell on murder and other charges said there was a “total abdication” of the Health Department’s duties.
Inspectors visited Gosnell’s clinic just three times between 1979 and 2010, and neither Health nor State officials followed up on complaints about infected and injured women, or squalid conditions.
The clinic head, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was not certified to perform abortions, was charged with criminal homicide in the deaths of 7 babies who were born alive but then had their spinal cords cut with scissors. Gosnell is also charged in the death of a woman who received a lethal dose of painkillers during a 2009 procedure. Gosnell's aide Steven Massoff of Mount Lebanon was also charged with homicide and other counts.
Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley says after reading the report, the governor met with acting Health Secretary Eli Avila and acting Secretary of State Carol Aichele.

"And asked them to do an investigation of what went wrong, based on the findings of a grand jury. And to develop a plan – recommendations – of how this type of activity, behavior by a doctor – can be prevented."

Corbett will wait until the investigations are complete before deciding whether to back any specific legislative reform, according to Harley, who says the governor found the case’s details “horrific.”

Former Governor Ed Rendell says he was "flabbergasted" by regulators' inadequate inspections of that abortion clinic. Rendell said he ordered increased inspections after a raid last year on Gosnell's clinic yielded gruesome accounts of conditions there.

Sen. Casey Speaks About Gov. Casey

Democratic US Senator Bob Casey says his party has become more receptive to anti-abortion candidates since his father, Governor Robert Casey, was in office. Casey made his comments last week as part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s ongoing series about former governors. Governor Casey stepped into the national lime light by not being allowed to address the National Democratic Convention in 1992 because of his prolife view. Sen. Casey spoke about his father’s book “Fighting for Life.” In the memoir, Governor Casey makes the case Democrats should be more receptive to anti-abortion candidates. Sen. Casey, who also opposes abortion rights, says things have changed over the past 14 years. “In terms of the Democratic Party nationally, my election, and others, but my election was evidence that they weren’t going to use a litmus test on abortion to prevent you – on being pro-life – from running for the US Senate. So I think there was substantial progress made on that.” Casey spoke at length about his dad’s early career, saying he reinvented the office of Auditor General, hiring certified public accountants and making reports public for the first time. “School district audits – the results of a school district audit – in the newspaper for the first time. Maybe in state history at that time. The results of state programs, in the newspaper for the first time. It created a structure of accountability that had never been there before,” says Casey. Casey also praised a bill his father sponsored as a state senator. The measure required hospitals to test newborns for a condition that can lead to mental retardation, if not properly treated. “It was both a simple test, and the test was inexpensive to administer. So they passed a law. And he said that simple test, and the law that undergirded that simple test, saved lots of children from that fate.”

Mosher: Gender Selection Abortion Spreading

Longstanding cultural desires and China’s continued one child policy have created a world where more and more unborn girls are being aborted according to Population Research Institute President Steven Mosher. Mosher is in Pittsburgh this week to speak to the National Right to Life Committee Annual Convention being held near the airport. Mosher says he has been in classrooms in china where of the 30 or so students more than 20 are boys. He says he has also seen too many mysterious deaths among newborn girls. “ The little boys always seem to do just fine, “ says Mosher, “and so I went and asked elderly midwives what was happening and they said they were being given instructions by some parents that any girls children being born should not be allowed to survive.”
Mosher says it is not just a problem in China. A recent study in the Indian state of Punjab found that 130 boys are born for every 100 girls. The normal birth rate is 106 boys for every 100 girls. Mosher says it is not just a rural issue. He says the worst rate seen anywhere in the world is among the upper caste in Punjab where there are 300 girls in every 1,000 live births. “That means 7 of 10 unborn baby girls are being killed,” says Mosher. India has a law against sex selective abortions but it is rarely enforced. Most European countries have similar laws that are enforced with the exception of Sweden. Mosher says that has lead to “abortion tourism” to Sweden.
With the lack of women of marrying age in some Asian countries it could be assumed that the value of those remaining females would be great. Mosher says that is not the case. He says the lack of females has turned women into a commodity rather than desirable humans. He says girls are being married younger and the number being sold into sex slavery is increasing. Mosher says the lack of women has also lead to increased violence among single men, increased gang populations as men look for a surrogate family and he claims it has increased the incidence of homosexuality and rape as men look for an outlet for their sexual desires.
Mosher says sex selection abortion is now being seen stateside. Recent data shows some Asian American communities are using abortion to choose the sex of their children. Mosher says the first-born children of these populations show normal sex ratio however, “if the first child was a son, the sex ratio of the second born children was also normal. But what happened if the first child was a girl? The number of sons outnumbered daughters by 50-percent.” Illinois has had a law on the books since 1975 making sex selection through abortion illegal. Pennsylvania followed suit in 1989 and Oklahoma has just approved such a ban. Mosher says he expects Georgia to follow suit soon and then other states may follow.

NLRC Open Convention in PA

The National Right to Life Committee opened its three-day national convention Thursday morning and the group’s leadership is optimistic about the future. NRLC President Wanda Franz says recent studies show more Americans are calling themselves “pro-life” and the number of abortions performed in the US continues to fall even as the number of women of childbearing age increases. She says it all points to a changing mood in the nation. A mood they hope to be able to tap into in the November elections. NRLC Political Director Karen Cross says that new mood is already showing up in the political arena. She says the last few months have been exciting to watch. “Every week its almost like Christmas for me,” says Cross. She says many of the races pit candidates with clearly defined differences when it comes to abortion issues. That includes the US senate race in Pennsylvania between Joe Sestak and Pat Toomey. Toomey is strongly Pro-life, Sestak is Pro-choice.

The National Right to Life Committee leadership is also praising some state level gains made in the last year including a law in Oklahoma that will force those performing abortions to display the ultrasound in a place where the woman can see the image. Other states with ultrasound viewing laws only force the procedure provider to offer the pregnant woman the opportunity to see the image. NRLC State Political Director Mary Spaulding-Balch says that is a slight difference from other ultrasound viewing laws but one that clearly makes a difference. “In the states where they are offered the opportunity to view there has not been a single challenge and yet when Oklahoma simply changes the language to the point that the ultrasound must be displayed it is challenged by our opponents,” says Spaulding-Balch. That law is to go into effect in October.

The group is also taking an interest in the confirmation of Elena Kagan. NLRC Executive Director David O’Steen says his organization will “very actively oppose” the nomination of Elena Kagan to the US Supreme Court. Hearings for Kagan begin Monday. The Committee has already sent a letter to all members of the Senate asking that Kagan be rejected. The letter lays out an argument that Kagan was key in defeating the partial birth abortion bill during the Clinton administration. He says Kagan’s writings show she strongly argued with the president that he should not support the bill saying it was unconstitutional and that pro-choice groups “will go crazy.” O’Steen says those writings also show that Kagan is a “social engineer” and will be more interested in driving change if she is added to the court rather than defending the constitution. The letter to the Senators reads in part, “she believes that ‘it is not necessarily wrong or invalid’ for appointed judges ‘to mold and steer the law in order to promote certain ethical values and achieve social ends.’” O’Steen says the NLRC Federal Legislative Department will be lobbying members of the Senate Judicial Committee but they will be, “choosing people to speak with based on, of course, the anticipation of success and Arlen Specter (D-PA) is history… it seems he has been rejected by both parties now.” The letter says Kagan will “treat the US Constitution not as a body of basic law that truly constrains both legislators and judges, but rather, as a cookbook in which may be found legal recipes that will allow the imposition of the policies that Ms. Kagan deems to be justified.”

Anti-abortion Activists Protest Casey

Anti-abortion protesters disrupted an event sponsored by Senator Bob Casey in Harrisburg Monday, but the pro-life Democrat says the Senate’s health care bill would reduce the number of abortion procedures in the United States.
The event in the main rotunda was meant to highlight hunger and poverty in Pennsylvania, but as soon as Casey began to speak, a protester stood up to confront him.

"Do not trust this man! He’s funded abortion in other counties – China, Africa and America. You can’t feed the hungry if you kill them. Why are you killing children, sir?"

Four people yelled at Casey, and Capitol police took them all away. Afterward, Casey argued he’s led the effort to make sure federal dollars aren’t spent on abortion in the new health care bill. He also backed a pregnant women’s support fund and pushed for adoption tax credits.

"Now some are not interested in reducing the number abortions, they just want to fight about the issue. I’m interested in reducing the number."

The protesters said they were from the group Insurrecta Nex, which labels itself online as a hard-line anti abortion group devoted to overturning Roe V. Wade. The organization also picketed Casey’s house in December.

Pro-Life Group Exhorts Pro-Life Representatives

As part of a nine city tour, pro-life women met in Pittsburgh this morning to demand that pro-life Congressional representatives oppose the Senate version of health care reform.

The group outside Cong. Mike Doyle’s office also had a message for Pennsylvania representatives Kathy Dahlkemper, Jason Altmire, and John Murtha. Marilyn Musgrave is a former Congresswoman from Colorado and director of the Susan B. Anthony List Votes Have Consequences program. She says the representatives who voted for the Stupak Amendment in the House of Representatives health care reform bill must not sell out, as did Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who ended up supporting a bill that she calls "abortion on demand" funded by the federal government.

Musgrave will also appear with local pro-life leaders in Ohio and Indiana.