Selma 'clinic' actually secret abortion mill?

Pro-life campaigners are leveling the explosive charge that a clinic in the historic city of Selma, Alabama, actually is an abortion mill and is operating in violation of state standards.

Operation Rescue identified the operation as the Central Alabama Women's Clinic.

And they say they have recordings that prove their claim.

In an interview with WND, Operation Rescue President Troy Newman and Senior Policy Adviser Cheryl Sullenger said they have recordings of phone calls that indicate the business, run by Dr. Samuel Lett, provides abortions to women in excess of the number allowed.

In audio provided to WND, Sullenger, operating under an assumed name, called the Central Alabama Women’s Clinic and asked to schedule an abortion. Clinic staff treat the requests as a matter of routine and have detailed information and pricing readily available.

In a call placed July 15, 2014, Sullenger asked the receptionist, "I was wondering, can I make an appointment for an abortion please?"

The recipient eagerly responded, "Yes you can!"

Clinic staff informed Sullenger that any abortion "under 12 weeks" costs $550, but "after 12 weeks it goes up."

Sullenger was even assured that she can simply walk into the clinic the same day, but she would have to wait 24 hours before undergoing the procedure.

In another call, placed Feb. 2, 2014, Sullenger was told she would need to speak to Dr. Lett, once she came to the office, to discuss the details of the abortion. Once again, the receptionist had the price information readily available.

Newman told WND that in two separate months, pro-life campaigners were able to secure more than nine abortion appointments per month at the clinic.

He said that's a problem, because the clinic is registered as a private practice and not a state-licensed abortion clinic, so state law requires that it can only provide nine abortions a month.

Newman believes the willingness of the clinic to accept more than nine appointments indicates it is operating illegally.

"The Central Alabama Women's Clinic is an abortion clinic," said Newman. "A doctor's office doesn't just have pricing sitting there. This is a wholesale abortion clinic."

Sullenger told WND that illegal abortion clinics "put women in danger."

She noted that abortion providers are often reluctant to become registered as state licensed abortion clinics because of the greatly increased amount of regulatory oversight. She said an establishment like the Central Alabama Women's Clinic has a powerful motivation to conceal the number of abortions it performs.

"If something like this is illegally operating as an abortion clinic, there is no oversight. There is no accountability," she said.

Sullenger is convinced the Central Alabama Women's Clinic is breaking the law and operating as a large-scale abortion mill.

"It's beyond a shadow of a doubt they do more than nine abortions a month," she said.

Newman is similarly confident.

"I've been doing pro-life work for more than two decades, and this clinic shows all the signs of providing a significant number of abortions," he said.

When WND called the clinic Wednesday asking for comment, a receptionist shouted, "We don't do abortions" and hung up on a reporter.

Sullenger and Newman are the authors of "Abortion Free: Your Manual For Building A Pro-Life America One Community At A Time."

The book describes how to end abortion by working strategically to close clinics regardless of the larger political climate.

Sullenger and Newman also are joining with the Charismatic Episcopal Church for Life, the Life Legal Defense Foundation and the National Pro-Life Coalition to call for an investigation by the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Newman notes that pro-lifers discovered another illegally operating abortion provider in Birmingham two years ago. The New Women All Women abortion clinic was closed on the order of a judge but continued to operate illegally in defiance of the ruling, he said.

Pro-life groups were required to pressure the state government to take action to close the clinic and enforce the order, he said.

Newman worries there is a pattern developing because of the lackadaisical approach of the Alabama Department of Public Health.

"The scandal here is that the Alabama Department of Public Health is not showing any movement with its investigation. They were sent the evidence many months ago. However, like so many bureaucrats, they don't seem to want to do anything."

According to a recent report from Operation Rescue, there were 739 total abortion providers in the United States as of December 2014, of which 551 were surgical abortion facilities. In 1991, there were almost 2,200 surgical abortion facilities alone.

However, as Newman stated at January’s March for Life, pro-lifers will not stop their efforts until "every abortion clinic … is closed and every baby is safe in his mother’s womb."