Pennsylvania Democrat lawmakers say they want to “facilitate safe abortion access,” by reversing a 2011 state law requiring facilities that provide abortions to meet all the same regulations as ambulatory surgical facilities, including submitting to unannounced inspections.
State Rep. Tarik Khan this week announced a bill to remove these “needless mandates,” by no longer requiring abortion facilities to be classified as ambulatory surgical facilities and ending the requirement that abortion providers maintain admitting privileges or have transfer agreements at hospitals.
“We know that by getting rid of this law, we will ensure safe access to anyone who requires or needs abortion care,” Mr. Khan said during a Jan. 22 press conference.
Although he didn’t mention inspections, Mr. Khan referenced the 2011 state law that required abortion facilities performing outpatient surgical procedures to be regulated in the same way as ambulatory surgical facilities. That is Act 122 of 2011, which mentions inspections eight times.
“The Department of Health shall conduct, on an annual basis, at least one unannounced inspection of each abortion facility,” Act 122 reads.
In addition to abortion-related Act 122, the state requires the Department of Health to inspect all ambulatory surgical facilities to ensure ongoing compliance with regulatory requirements.
The law was passed after the discovery of the condition of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society Clinic, in West Philadelphia, where in 2009, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, an immigrant from Bhutan, died from a botched abortion. Dr. Gosnell’s staff gave her a lethal dose of anesthesia and painkillers.
“It was in her memory that the state legislature passed common-sense protections to ensure that abortion facilities would meet basic health and safety standards,” Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life, said in a statement.
“Gosnell’s abortion facility was not inspected for 17 years. Before these protections were put in place, hair and nail salons received greater scrutiny than abortion centers.”
Dr. Gosnell is now serving three consecutive life terms in connection with the murder of three newborn babies and the death of Ms. Mongar.
“We know that abortions are already overwhelmingly safe procedures,” Mr. Khan said at his press conference.
“These restrictive laws do not deter abortions. They do not decrease abortion rates. What they do is, they cause barriers to receiving abortion care and they cause delays which increase risks to patients.”
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that there were 625,978 abortions in the United States.
Between 1992 and 2018, the most recent data from the CDC, 201 women died from complications of abortion.
Pennsylvania inspection reports show many troubling incidents at abortion clinics.
In March 2021, an 18-year-old woman at the Allentown Women’s Center ended her pregnancy at 17 weeks gestation and returned following the operation bleeding profusely through her clothing. Eventually, she was transferred to the emergency room, where she underwent other operations, including the repair of a cervical laceration.
The patient was given a blood transfusion and transferred to the intensive care unit.
After the Health Department inspection, Allentown Women’s Center held training to emphasize the importance of transferring a patient to a medical facility immediately when a patient is deemed to have an emergency or life-threatening condition.
An October 2020 inspection found that the same facility failed to ensure that there were two signatures on the narcotic sheets at least 122 times from Feb. 29, 2020, to Oct. 7, 2020, for Ativan, Lorazepam, midazolam, and fentanyl.
A March 2023 inspection of Philadelphia Women’s Center found that the facility wasn’t in compliance with the requirements for an abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy—tissue removed is to be subjected to a microscopic examination to ensure there is no ectopic pregnancy.
Based on a review of facility policy, medical records, and interviews with staff, it was determined that the facility failed to ensure that the findings of tissue analysis were entered in the medical record reviewed.
“I am not sure if there is a process in place to confirm that [tissue pathology] reports are completed after they are sent out,” employees told an inspector, according to the inspection report.
In 2020, it was determined that Philadelphia Women’s Center failed to ensure that parental informed consent was received for medications used to induce an abortion in five of 10 pediatric medical records inspectors reviewed.
In January 2018, the Philadelphia Women’s Center failed to report serious events to the Department of Health in several medical records inspectors reviewed.
After her abortion, one patient had a 3-centimeter cervical laceration that was repaired with stitches, but she continued to bleed. She was transferred to the hospital and underwent surgery to repair the injury.
Another patient complained of severe pain in the recovery room. Based on her pain and ultrasound findings, the doctor performing the abortion thought there could be a uterine perforation and called 911 for transport to the hospital.
“An examination of inspection reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health has revealed that half of abortion centers in the Commonwealth failed inspection in a given year,” Ms. Gallagher said.
Abortion Is Political
Political observers have said that abortion will be a key issue in the 2024 presidential race. Voters got a glimpse of this in the 2023 elections, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice race became a one-issue contest.Reproductive Freedom for All, once called NARAL Pro-Choice America, endorsed winning Democrat candidate Daniel McCaffery, who had a steady stream of pro-abortion advertisements.
Pro-life Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio couldn’t change the conversation.
It was similar in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, where Democrat candidate Janet Protasiewicz promoted her pro-abortion views in advertisements calling her pro-life Republican opponent Dan Kelly an extremist on the issue.
During Mr. Khan’s press conference, one Planned Parenthood community organizer described how inconvenient it was for her to have an abortion in college.
“I frankly didn’t have motherhood in my sights just yet. I wanted to pursue my personal ambitions after graduating college and I wanted to invest in my life first,” she said.
“I couldn’t schedule any appointment less than 24 hours after my counseling session to give me time to think about it. The window was closing to get an abortion without traveling out of state, which was neither accessible nor affordable at the time.”
The woman said there was too much hardship placed in front of her with all the hoops she had to jump through.
“It was probably taking off a couple years off my life with all the stress,” the Planned Parenthood representative said. “But I did it because I had to. These laws around abortion just cause more duress for patients like me looking for care.
“I’m grateful Planned Parenthood was there. I’m grateful there are legislators who are working to repeal these medically unnecessary restrictions.”
But nothing she described would be alleviated by the law Mr. Khan wants to repeal.
State Rep. Gina H. Curry, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that imposing “unnecessary facility standards” that have been in place since 2011 “may lead to more closures” within the 17 abortion facilities in the state.
“We need the help of the Legislature to see that it is not about a personal opinion. It is about safety,” Ms. Curry said.
Pro-life advocates have said that removing regulations or inspections wouldn’t be helpful or safer for women.
“There is no sensible reason to subject women in Pennsylvania abortion facilities to anything less than the standards held by ambulatory surgical facilities,” Alexis Sneller, policy analyst at Pennsylvania Family Institute, said in a statement.
“It is greed on full display by the abortion industry to lobby for removal of these basic standards. Planned Parenthood has proven time and time again that they put profits above all else.”
