Who Keeps an Eye on Abortion Clinics?
— Posted by John (July 7, 2009 at 1:46 pm)
For years, pro-lifers have been talking about how dangerous the abortion industry is, due in no small part to the fact that it has fewer regulations governing it than legitimate areas of medical practice.
This lax oversight is what allows many abortionists to actually break the law — and although some do get caught, many don’t.
It’s also what allows abortionists like Leroy Carhart to set up shop in some really dingy places (something pro-choicers don’t like to be reminded of).
I recently looked up the regulations on abortion facilities in Illinois (the state I live in, and where our office is located). Here, many abortion facilities are governed under regulations for pregnancy termination specialty centers (PTSCs). PTSCs are one subset of ambulatory surgical treatment centers (ASTCs).
I’ve listed below some of the regulations for ASTCs generally that PTSCs (abortion clinics) do not have to follow:
The administrative and public areas of the facility are not required to comply with Section 205.1350.
[Section 205.1350, among other things, requires storage space for office supplies, sterile supplies, medical/surgical supplies and equipment, pharmaceutical supplies, and housekeeping supplies and equipment. -JJ]
Each room in which procedures to terminate pregnancy are performed shall be at least 120 square feet in size with a minimum dimension of at least 10 feet. Exceptions will be made when the center demonstrates that the room size is adequate to accommodate the equipment required for the procedures, to facilitate the performance of the procedures safely, and to protect the patients and staff in the event of fire or other emergency (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1360(b)(1)).
[Section 205.1360(b)(1) requires "[a]t least one procedure room with a minimum clear area of 250 square feet and a minimum dimension of 14 feet”. -JJ]
A communication system between the control station and each procedure room is not required (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1360(b)(3)).
The recovery area is not required to include a drug distribution station, charting facilities, nurses station, or storage space for supplies and equipment (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1360(d)(2)).
A control station for the operating suite is not required (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1370(a)).
A separate soiled workroom is not required…
Anesthesia and medical gas storage facilities are not required (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1370(h) and (i)).
Ceilings in procedure and recovery rooms shall be cleanable, but are not required to be washable (in lieu of compliance with Section 205.1400(n)(l)).
[Section 205.1400(n)(l) states: "Ceilings shall be cleanable, and those in sensitive areas such as surgical rooms shall be readily washable and without crevices that can retain dirt particles." -JJ]
Ventilation, air change, and air filter requirements do not apply…
If pro-choicers really are all about women’s health, how can they stand for this?
Shouldn’t they be leading the charge for stricter standards for abortion clinics?
And yet they’re not. What’s more, when a woman dies at the hands of an abortionist, pro-choice organizations have nothing to say.
That tells us a lot.
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Christina says:
Keep in mind that this only applies to CLINICS. Many abortion facilities are doctors’ private practices. It varies from state to state what constitutes a clinic, and what’s a private practice, and you can’t tell by the name.
Comment posted July 7th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
OperationCounterstrike says:
The idea of requiring abortion clinics to meet the standards of surgical centers is silly and wasteful.
Surgical standards are for places where the docs actually cut into the patients.
The reason pro-choicers are not calling for reform is that abortion in USA is very safe already. The stories the right-to-lifers like to post about bad clinics and bad docs getting shut down just show that the monitoring system is working–the bad practicioners are getting weeded out, just like in any other medical field.
Right-to-lifers love to engage in anecdote-recital-strategy exercise (ARSE), but when you look at the numbers they are just fine. Even Marc Crutcher’s book LIME 5 demonstrates this, by the very small number of abortion-disasters they were able to document, even with a dedicated research team going back to the 1960s.
Will there be PAYBACK for the murder of Dr. Tiller? Will there be COUNTERTERROR against right-to-lifers? Check out my NEW abortion blog, unlike any other: AICH TEE TEE PEA://operationcounterstrike.blogspot.com
Comment posted July 7th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Ava says:
Thanks for the informative post Mr. Jansen!
Hailing from Illinois, a briefing on the regulations for abortuaries is very useful. Although curious if there was such a resource, I had never heard of the Real Choice’s website before. I’m glad of it’s mission and grateful to the people who compiled and are spreading the facts!
On a side note, what’s the difference between ‘washable’ and ‘cleanable’? Even when someone uses window ‘cleaner’, they say they’re ‘washing’ the windows; or at least I do
Comment posted July 7th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Who Keeps an Eye on Abortion Clinics? | Pelican Project Pro-Life says:
[...] Continued here: Who Keeps an Eye on Abortion Clinics? [...]
Comment posted July 7th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Rapnsum says:
Exactly – these clinics get away with injuring women. Even when women are rolled out dead – nothing happens because abortion is the darling of elitist society who controls the regulatory agencies. These elitists know that abortion weeds out what they deem as the “inferior” people and that is why they keep abortion legal no matter what. Check out a new documentary which exposes these elitists plots called: maafa21. Watch a brief trailer here: http://www.maafa21.com
Comment posted July 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Jacob Johnson says:
My daugter from Miami called me about something important for all us fathers.
She was very upset that a place like BayPoint School could happen. She voted for John McCain also.
She is mad that he would allow harm to children
at BayPoint School.
After researching for a week about it
I discovered I am a blessed man
with children and that I will spread the word.
The word is to Google: BayPoint School John McCain Mark Foley
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=BayPoint+School+John+McCain+Mark+Foley&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
Please spread this message everywhere.
Comment posted July 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am