Ohio Abortion Clinic Ordered To Close Will Remain Open

[OhioChick]

POSTED: 10:35 am EST February 29, 2008
UPDATED: 10:46 am EST February 29, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio -- A federal judge is allowing the Dayton area's last abortion clinic to remain open, for the sake of women already in the midst of abortion procedures.

Under a restraining order issued this week, the Women's Medical Center of Dayton can continue operating until a hearing is held next month.

The Ohio Department of Health had ordered the clinic to close Thursday. Officials said it failed to secure a written agreement for a nearby hospital to accept patients who have emergency complications, as required by state regulations.

In his order, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley of Columbus noted that some clinic patients had already taken a pre-abortion drug. He said shutting down the facility abruptly would put them at risk of infection or other injury.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/15448428/detail.html

[Elspeth]

1. This is scary folks

I'm going to write a thread about why family planning is a man's issue

[jody]

2. "nearby hospital to accept patients who have emergency complications" makes sense to me. n/t

[readmoreoften]

3. The question would be 'why did it fail' to do this and was it set up to "fail".

Were the required documents 'lost' by anti-choice activists?
Was an onslaught of paperwork mandated by anti-choice activists so that the clinic couldn't keep up with the amount of intentionally extraneous paperwork?
Is this "nearby hospital" a religious one that refuses to treat women suffering complications from an abortion and instead tries to "save the fetus" and instead they send patients to an "even nearer by" public hospital that will give them proper care?

Usually pro-choice activists are a fastidious and committed bunch, especially when it comes to protecting the only abortion clinic in an entire region. This seems like a hit job.

[jody]

4. I agree with your point. I lived in Dayton in the past and was not aware then of any anti-abortion

efforts that would have closed all clinics.

I guess times change. :shrug:

[FloridaJudy]

5. I'll bet

All the "nearby hospitals" - even those without religious affiliations - were threatened not so subtly by anti-choice activists. It doesn't surprise me in the least that local hospitals hesitated to sign any agreement with an abortion clinic. They'd be petrified as hell of the prospect of a lawsuit arising from any complication, even though elective abortions are hundreds of times safer than childbirth. They'd also be terrified of negative publicity, and of subjecting their staff to the kind of tactics the "Pro-Life" crazies are capable of. My own obstetrician was killed by an anti-choice fanatic, because he as worked in an abortion clinic (as did I, but in another town).

Unless you've been there, you have no idea how ruthless and insane a lot of Right-to-Lifers can be. I got used to replacing my slashed tires with distressing regularity, as well as the death threats. Providing abortion services requires intestinal fortitude, as well as a thick skin, and hospital administrators have never been famous for the former.

[KamaAina]

6. That reg is totally unnecessary

and is a blatant attempt by the anti's to do exactly this: close clinics.

a written agreement for a nearby hospital to accept patients who have emergency complications, as required by state regulations.

Uh, duh! Any hospital emergency room must accept patients brought to them, whether from a women's health clinic, auto wreck, or whatever. All this is, is another hoop for clinics to jump through. And soon women in Dayton, a fairly sizable city, will have no choice at all, except to drive or ride the bus down to Cincinnati. :grr: