West Virginians for Life Supports the Need for Comment
on the Oversight of West Virginia Abortion Facilities
West Virginians for Life supports the efforts of Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to initiate discussion on the need to protect the health and well-being of West Virginia women through state regulation and inspection of abortion facilities in the state.
“Contrary to the claims of the pro-abortion lobby,” said WVFL President, Wanda Franz, Ph.D., “it is not ‘pro-woman’ to subject women, with a problem pregnancy, to substandard and unregulated medical facilities that wouldn’t be tolerated in general medical practice.”
Attorney General Morrisey is justified in his concerns in light of the case of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell in Pennsylvania, who was convicted of murder and malpractice after being found guilty of presiding over a veritable “house of horrors” for many years. The Grand Jury in the case “found that Gosnell’s crimes could have been prevented if various state and city regulatory agencies had properly enforced the law.” The experience in Pennsylvania and in other states demonstrates that we cannot automatically expect the abortion industry to control itself in the complete absence of inspection and imposition of proper medical standards.
It is notable that a suit was filed on June 7, 2013, by the Family Policy Council of West Virginia on behalf of Itai Gravely, alleging that Women’s Health Center of WV and its abortionist, Rodney Stephens, committed medical malpractice by restraining Ms. Gravely, proceeding with the abortion against her wishes, and then leaving parts of the baby in her womb in a botched abortion attempt.
Given the lack of official oversight and this most recent malpractice suit, it is premature to assume that WV women are receiving safe medical care in abortion clinics. What makes this situation worse is that the pro-life taxpayers of West Virginia are subsidizing these abortion clinics under the state’s Medicaid program.
WVFL President Wanda Franz, Ph.D. pointed out that, “Our tax dollars are being funneled into an unregulated industry with no state oversight regarding the use of our money. It is well within the purview of the Attorney General to call for discussion on state oversight of the use of the people’s tax dollars.”