Americans United for Life recently released a report entitled “UNSAFE,” which documents health code violations at abortion facilities. AUL reviewed over 25,000 pages of public documents containing 1200 inspection reports. They were able to access records from 39 states. The omitted states didn’t inspect abortion facilities at all. You can download the full 200-page report here. AUL found many violations of informed consent — cases of abortion facilities not properly informing women about the risks of abortion or about abortion alternatives.
The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the following about informed consent (as quoted by UNSAFE):
[C]onsent is based on the Disclosure of information and a sharing of interpretations of its meanings by a medical professional. The accuracy of disclosure, insofar as it is possible, is governed by the ethical requirement of truth-telling.
Many abortion facilities failed to meet this standard.
READ: Planned Parenthood deceives woman considering abortion, breaks informed consent law
The Unsafe reports found that at least 86 abortion facilities in at least 21 states were cited for failing to provide or post all required informed consent information. The states where violations occurred included Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
To see if the abortion facility near you is one of those that was cited for violating informed consent laws, check the full list of offending facilities here.
The list includes 27 Planned Parenthood facilities and four facilities from the Whole Woman’s Health abortion chain. As previously reported by Live Action News, Whole Woman’s Health lists inaccurate information about abortion’s risks on its webpage.
The informed consent violations documented by UNSAFE fall into the following categories, according to the report:
- Failure to obtain required informed consent at the required time, such as on the same day of procedures or within the state’s required window of time;
- Failure to have the appropriate licensed staff member obtain the required informed consent;
- Failure to post or provide patients with contact information for complaint hotlines;
- Failure to post clinic’s license information in a place where patients could easily see it.
Another incident happened at the abortion facility New Woman All Women Health Care, which recorded in its paperwork the following conversation with a woman having an abortion:
Q: Do you think having this abortion is in your best interest?”
A: No.
Q: Are you sure you want to have an abortion?
A: No.
Q: Do you think you will most likely be able to go on with your normal activities without emotional or psychological problems because of the abortion?
A: No.
Q: Why do you want to have the abortion?
A: Because my mother want[ed] me to.
Despite this clear evidence of coercion, the abortion facility aborted this young woman’s child. There is no indication that they gave her any extra counseling, nor is there indication that she was informed of the fact that no one can legally coerce a woman into an abortion.
Source: Catherine Glenn Foster, Steven H. Aden, ed. UNSAFE: America’s Abortion Industry Endangers Women (Americans United for Life, 2021) 122, 57, 183
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