Botched procedure shuts down abortion business

Another abortion business has been closed down, this one while an investigation is conducted into the treatment of a woman who suffered two strokes, a collapsed lung and neurological damage as a result of her abortion, officials say.

The woman also has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Medical Associates of New Jersey and the two abortionists who treated her, alleging "negligent, careless and reckless care."

It brings to 18 the number of abortion businesses closed over the past year because of investigations of deaths or injury, as well as investigations into unlicensed and other inappropriate activity.

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The newest closure happened over just the last few days – after Rasheedah Dinkins went to Metropolitan Medical Associates on Jan. 27 for what she thought would be a routine abortion.

However, a report from Operation Rescue, one of the nation's front-line pro-life organizations, said after Dinkins returned home that day, she collapsed.

"Family members summoned an ambulance to transport her to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center where she slipped into a coma lasting four weeks. When she awoke, Rasheedah learned that she had suffered massive blood loss, two strokes, a collapsed lung, neurological damage, and the removal of her uterus. She finally regained her ability to speak on Tuesday," the report said.

She remains hospitalized in critical care, officials said.

The Metropolitan Medical Center was closed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services for the investigation after a hospital worker reported to authorities the botched abortion, officials said.

The business also had been ordered closed in 1993 after a 20-year-old college student died following a perforated uterus during an abortion there.

In the new case, the woman also has sued Metropolitan Associates, which is affiliated with the National Abortion Federation, and abortionists Keith Gresham and Nicholas Kotopoulos, the report said.

"Rasheedah showed remarkable courage in first being willing to admit that she should not have had the abortion, and second in her willingness to publicly discuss what happened to her," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We pray her lawsuit succeeds in helping to permanently close this high-volume child-killing center."

He said, however, the situation is "not unique."

"We urge other women who have been injured [at] this and any other abortion mill to come forward and report their stories to their local authorities," Newman said. "The abortion industry is a predatory one, and the so-called standards that groups like the NAF impose on themselves are a joke.

"As long as women remain silent, they will continue to subject women to shoddy, dangerous conditions and substandard care. Now is the time to speak out to prevent other women from making the same tragic decision," Newman said.

As WND has reported, the pursuit of legal action against various abortion businesses is being encouraged by pro-life concerns, because of the potential for damage to the industry.

The issue is that the federal laws require abortion businesses to follow all state laws in order to obtain the millions of dollars a year taxpayers provide to the industry. If they are documented as having failed, not only could future subsidies be endangered, but past subsidies might have to be repaid.

Mark Crutcher, the chief of Life Dynamics, has told WND that with the industry's "heavy reliance" on tax subsidies, "losing that money would be nothing less than a financial catastrophe."

"Needless to say that could literally cripple the entire abortion industry," he concluded.

The possible offenses include negligent care, not filing the proper reports or other offenses.

"If you're not following state law, you're not entitled to Title X funds," Newman agreed. "As soon as you defund abortion clinics, they dry up and blow away."

In a separate simultaneous report, Jim Sedlak of the American Life League noted that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion providing in the country, also has seen significant declines in the number of its clinics.

One of the closures was the Summit Medical Center in Birmingham, shut down after a nurse was accused of illegally giving out a fatal abortion drug

"In our study, we found the organization has 817 'health' clinics. The number of 'health' clinics is the lowest it has been since 1987," he said. "Americans are rejecting Planned Parenthood and its agenda…"

He said corporation's number of outlets in 1987 was 816, and it rose to 938 in 1995, when the company announced a campaign to have 2,000 clinics in 2000. Since then, however, it has been downhill, with only 875 clinics in 2000 and 825 in 2005.

Operation Rescue has been active on several pro-life fronts, including the purchase and shutdown of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan. It also has been on the leading edge of public concern over the allegedly inappropriate activities at another Wichita clinic, run by abortion George Tiller, who specializes in late-term procedures.

He was charged by the Kansas attorney general with 30 criminal counts in December, but the charges later were dropped under suspicious circumstances.

The actual closures include:

• Aradia Women's Health Center of Seattle, which had operated for 34 years, announced it was closing because of finances. A statement from an executive said its clients are "too poor."

   

• Springfield Health-Care Center in Springfield, Mo., was closed down by regulators.

   

• Summit Women's Health Organization in Milwaukee, Wis., shut down with no announcement, and no explanation.

   

• Summit Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., was closed down this year when a nurse was accused of illegally prescribing abortion drugs to a mother who was eight months pregnant. The nurse later was charged with three counts. The corporation declared bankruptcy.

   

• Central Women's Services, an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan., closed when Operation Rescue itself bought the building and evicted the tenant abortion clinic.

   

• Falls Church Health-Care Center in Falls Church, Va., lost its lease and locked its doors.

   

• Women's Services PC, a clinic in Omaha, Neb., also was closed because the land was purchased from underneath the business and the owners couldn't find another facility to rent.

   

• A Gynecologists Diagnostic Center, a business in Hialeah, Fla., was closed by an investigation into allegations a baby was born alive, then killed and placed on the roof of the building to avoid detection by police.

   

• Orlando Women's Center, in Orlando, Fla., was owned by James Pendergraft and was shut down when the abortionist was found to be providing illegal late-term abortions and dispensing drugs without a license.

   

• EPOC Clinic, another operation in Orlando owned by Pendergraft, was closed for "flagrant" violations of state law.

   

• In Daytona Beach, Fla., the Family Planning Center abortion business was closed down by abortionist Randall Whitney, who said the state had no right to regulate his business and he wouldn't comply with state rules.

   

• The Center for Women's Health in Cleveland, Ohio, was shut down by regulators after they discovered more than a dozen violations of the law.

   

• In Aurora, Illinois, sheriff's deputies hauled away "medical equipment" and office supplies as a clinic run by abortionist Louis S. Myers was closed down on orders from the landlord, who evicted the business. The property owner, who ran the abortion business for years himself before retiring, said the new business operator simply disappeared.

   

• Reproductive Health Services, a business in Montgomery, Ala., was closed when authorities found the abortionist didn't have hospital privileges, in violation of state laws. It later reopened on a provisional license.

   

• Three other clinics owned by Pendergraft were closed, but reopened later.

Several other abortionists not affiliated with a particular clinic also have lost their licenses over regulatory violations.

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