Dr. Ulrich Klopfer died on Sept. 3. An attorney representing his family told authorities they found the fetal remains while looking through his house in Illinois after the death.
Approximately 2,246 medically preserved remains were found.
Klopfer, who used to perform abortions in Indiana, once performed abortions on a 10-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl.
Klopfer testified during a hearing triggered by a complaint filed by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office and told those present that he performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped by her uncle.
He said he let the girl go home with her parents, who were aware of the rape but did not want the uncle prosecuted.
Board members also said they were disturbed that Klopfer didn’t give pain medication to all women, only automatically to those under the age of 16 and then to adults who could pay him extra money. When he did give the medication to women, his staff weren’t qualified to follow best practices for the drugs.
Besides the 10-year-old, the board found that Klopfer failed to report a second abortion on a girl under the age of 14. Klopfer originally stopped performing abortions in Fort Wayne in 2014 when he failed to meet the county’s laws, and the last of his three clinics closed in 2015.
Klopfer said he had never lost anyone he performed an abortion on and his attorney said the case was about documents, not medical care.
“He provided good medical care for his patients and did his best to follow the law,” Mary Watts told the Tribune. “It’s a question of documentation.”
Indiana law requires such an abortion to be reported within three days.
The charge was eventually dismissed by prosecutors. Klopfer agreed to pay fees and other court costs, perform 24 hours of community service, and not commit a crime for a year.
Abortion Competition
According to a 1978 Chicago Sun-Times report (pdf), Dr. Ming Kow Hah and Klopfer would compete to see who could perform abortions the fastest while working at the Chicago Loop Mediclinic in the 1970s.“When Hah is here, Klopfer really zips,” a nurse said at the time. “Hah marks the patients on his leg, and if Klopfer sees that Hah’s got a leg full, he goes like wildfire to catch up.”
“They compete to see who can get the most patients done,” another nurse added. “They‘ll ask each other, ’How many have you done?‘ or they’ll ask the staff how many the other guy has done.”
“Klopfer would be having a cup of coffee and be on his last sip when he‘d jump up and say, ’I'd better get going or Hah will have the whole recovery room full,” the ex-Loop nurse said.
Hah was accused of performing abortions without anesthetic, which was “a sadistic approach to medicine,” gynecologist Dr. David Zbaraz told the paper.
Hah lost his license in 1992 and had his license revoked in at least one other state. His license was suspended multiple times.
“Furthermore, the annual abortion rate for Indiana as a whole has dropped for eight consecutive years,” she added.
Right to Life
Pro-life groups reacted to the findings of the fetal remains at Klopfer’s home.“We are horrified by the reports of over 2,000 fetal remains being found on the property of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, a man who operated abortion facilities in Gary, South Bend, and Fort Wayne,” Mike Fichter, president of Indiana Right to Life, said in a statement.
“These sickening reports underscore why the abortion industry must be held to the highest scrutiny. We are calling on Indiana authorities to join in the investigation to determine if these fetal remains have any connection to abortion operations, or personnel, in Indiana.”
Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson said that the findings highlighted the darkness of the industry.
“This abortion doctor died not long ago ... and look what they found,” she said in a statement.
“Evil always hides secrets, and there is nothing more evil than abortion.”
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