The Iowa Board of Medicine, without explanation or comment, has closed a case started by complaints over Planned Parenthood’s new Skype-type abortion procedures, a “telemed” program in which abortionists do not meet with patients but dispense abortion drugs via computer.
The move left those who filed the complaint that cited abortionist Susan C. Haskell both unsurprised and undeterred.
“What we have there is a complex series of relationships with the attorney general’s office and Planned Parenthood and the Iowa Board of Medicine. They’re all very cozy,” Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, told WND.
“But one thing that we’ve gotten good at, is not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” he said.
His group had asked the state for investigations of the scheme, in which an abortionist meets the woman only through a computer link and then launches a “remote-controlled push-button Internet abortion pill.”
Operation Rescue Senior Policy Adviser Cheryl Sullenger had filed the medical-board complaint over the procedure, prompting the Iowa Medical Board’s confirmation that it was looking into the “care and treatment” practices of abortionist Haskell.
The complaint had raised several concerns, including the fact that Iowa law allows only a licensed physician to do abortions, the Planned Parenthood of the Heartland procedure fell short of FDA-approved protocols for doctor’s visits, no physician was present for the administration of abortion drugs and insurance companies apparently were overbilled.
Operation Rescue discovered the Iowa telemed abortion scheme during an undercover investigation of abortion clinics across the nation.
The organization documented in a recording Planned Parenthood’s explanation of its setup.
“The physician doesn’t actually come,” the abortion company worker explains. “The physician who prescribes you the medication would be on a computer screen. You’ll be on a computer screen. You can see each other and communicate. They’re just not physically there.
“You would press a button that’s on the screen, and a little box would open up with the medication in it.”
The letter this week from Mark Bowden, executive director of the Iowa Board of Medicine, said “the board voted to close the file without taking disciplinary action against Dr. Haskell.”
The letter affirmed the “careful review” that took place and said, “You can be assured that your complaint was investigated.”
But it also said none of the information used to make the decision will be available to the public.
Newman told WND that the organization still has a complaint filed with the attorney general’s office and also has submitted a request for help from the governor’s office. He said there’s also an ethics complaint pending against Attorney General Tom Miller for allegedly impeding the investigation.
OR said on its website that Bowden’s letter only raises concerns.
“This decision has done nothing to alleviate our concerns about the legality of this push-button abortion pill scheme that denies women access to physical examinations by licensed physicians and leaves them to deal with the painful multi-day abortion process at home without access to a licensed physician in the event of emergencies,” Sullenger said in the statement.
“The politics of abortion are trumping the law and health and safety concerns for vulnerable women in Iowa. Operation Rescue is calling for the resignation of Mark Bowden over this scandalous disregard for the law and women’s lives,” she said.
The organization said, “Planned Parenthood of the Heartland admits that over 2,000 women have been subject to their experimental remote-controlled abortion pill distribution scheme wherein an abortionist sits at a computer screen and pushes a button that releases a drawer containing the abortion pills. The patient then takes some of the pills in the office, and is sent home to take the rest of the pills on her own. She never has contact with the abortionist again. This violates FDA protocols, which require multiple office visits to ensure there are no complications. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland further violates FDA protocols by using the abortion pill, also known as RU 486 or mifepristone, by prescribing it through the ninth week of pregnancy, two weeks beyond what the FDA as determined should be the upper limits of use. It also violates Iowa law that abortions must be done by a licensed physician.”
