This abortion chain continues to fail inspections. Why is it still open?

An abortion facility chain which recently closed its facility in San Antonio, Texas, has a history of health inspection deficiencies and violations in the state. The Whole Woman’s Health (WWH) franchise has locations in several states, including Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, and Illinois. It was founded in 2003 by Amy Hagstrom Miller, who recently supported late-term abortion measures like those attempted in Virginia. Interestingly, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion vendor, has since swooped in to take WWH’s business, announcing the expansion of its San Pedro facility to commit abortions. (This will be Planned Parenthood’s second abortion facility in the city. Last year, Planned Parenthood aborted over 1700 babies at its South Texas Medical Center facility, according to media reports.)

Whole Woman’s Health gained notoriety as the lead plaintiff in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which successfully challenged Texas’ abortion facility requirements (HB2) at the Supreme Court. During this time, WWH was propped up by the pro-abortion philanthropy organization, TARA Health Foundation, which issued $433,000 in grants to WWH and has granted hundreds of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood, among others.

Despite positive media coverage, health inspection reports reveal that, in Texas, the abortion chain has not always complied with basic requirements. In 2016, Live Action News detailed a long history of health violations by WWH. And since 2016, this abortion chain continues to prove it has no business staying open. Communities who care about women and children would do well to pay attention and do all they can to provide life-affirming options in their communities.

READ: Indiana Department of Health denies license to notorious abortion chain

The pro-life group And There Were None reviewed inspection reports conducted at various WWH abortion centers from 2011-2017 and found that the abortion chain:

• Failed to properly disinfect and sterilize instruments that were used from woman to woman
• Failed to provide a safe and sanitary environment – products of conception were being examined in the same room where contaminated instruments were being washed
• Had expired supplies and medications on its emergency cart
• Had cracks, rips, and tears on the vinyl covers of exam tables
• Had a hole in the cabinet flooring that had “the likelihood to allow rodents to enter the facility”
• Had suction machines with numerous rusty spots having the “likelihood to cause infection”

Live Action News requested 2018 inspection reports from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and discovered that several health deficiencies were noted as follows:

Whole Woman’s Health, Fort Worth, Texas, March 20, 2018:

• Failed to ensure that staff responsible for sterilization of critical surgical instruments were trained to meet requirements and demonstrate competency to perform sterilization procedures at the facility
• Failed to maintain a safe and sanitary environment, properly instructed, equipped, and maintained to protect the health and safety of patients and staff at all times
• Failed to store hazardous cleaning solutions and compounds in a secure manner. These dangerous chemicals were located in patient care areas unsecured throughout the facility.
• The physician or agent did not make “a reasonable effort” to ensure that patients who received the abortion pill returned to the facility for follow-up visits as required.
• Failed to ensure that all personnel providing direct patient care were certified in basic life support

Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, Austin, Texas (where Dr. Daniel Grossman is on the board), October 15, 2018:

• Failed to be responsible for implementing and enforcing written policies governing the facility’s total operation and ensuring these policies are administered
• Failed to ensure a safe and sanitary environment, properly maintained to protect the health and safety of patients and staff
• Failed to provide a patient with name and telephone number of nearest hospital in case of emergency. According to the report, despite the fact that a patient lived in Houston, the facility provided them with hospital contact information for Austin.

READ: Long history of health violations at abortion chain suing over pro-life law

Whole Woman’s Health, San Antonio, Texas, October 16, 2018:

• Failed to be responsible for implementing and enforcing written policies governing the facility’s total operation and ensuring these policies are administered
• Failed to ensure that policies on decontamination, disinfection, sterilization and storage of sterile supplies were implemented
• Failed to ensure each sterilizer was monitored during operation for pressure, temperature and time at desired temperature and pressure
• Failed to provide a patient with name and telephone number of nearest hospital in case of emergency. According to the report, the patient’s driver’s license indicated she lived in Mesquite, Texas, but the facility gave her contact information for a hospital that was not the nearest hospital to her home.
• Failed to schedule a follow-up appointment as required for a patient who was given the abortion pill
• Failed to make a “reasonable effort” to ensure several additional patients, also administered the abortion pill, returned for their scheduled follow-up visits

In December of last year, an Indiana State Department of Health appeals panel denied granting WWH a license for an abortion facility in South Bend because, according to the South Bend Tribune, WWH “failed to meet requirements of having “reputable and responsible character” and that it “failed to disclose, concealed, or omitted information related to additional clinics.” WWH has since reapplied for a license in Indiana.

 

Then, in December of 2018, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, WWH in San Antonio “voluntarily closed.” Despite the abysmal inspection, a report by the San Antonio-Express News blamed the closure on “a 42 percent drop in patient volume between the third and fourth quarters of 2017.”

Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, told the Rivard Report he was “pleased” WWH’s San Antonio abortion clinic closed. “It was a very poorly run facility, as are all Whole Woman’s Health providers in Texas,” he said. “Their most recent health inspection reports were very troubling, showing the [provider] was unable to keep track of its narcotics properly. They failed to provide information to women about where to find help if they have complications, and they failed to sterilize instruments properly.”

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