Operation Rescue calls for Amy Acton’s resignation as Exec. Director of the Ohio Department of Health
By Cheryl Sullenger
Columbus, OH – When Ohio’s pro-life Governor Mike DeWine appointed Dr. Amy Acton to serve as Executive Director of the Ohio Department of Health, he may not have realized that, as a registered Democrat, Acton and her whole family worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and later managed non-profit fundraising grants for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and the NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation.
It was Acton that issued a license to “Women’s Med Dayton” – the alter-ego for Women’s Med Center of Dayton, an abortion facility owned by the notorious late-term abortionist Martin Haskell. Acton revoked the license for the Women’s Med Center of Dayton only to turn around and approve a new license for “Women’s Med Dayton” – the exact same abortion business – using a duplicitous paperwork shuffle.
This was done after four long years of litigation, which culminated in the Ohio Supreme Court twice refusing to hear an appeal of a 2015 order to deny Haskell’s facility an abortion license for failure to meet licensing requirements.
The move to license Haskell’s dangerous abortion facility under the new DBA, which appeared to have been created on the fly to evade the licensing denial order, angered pro-life activists who had hoped the Department of Health would fight to save lives and diminish risks to women.
“The entire move to license the Women’s Med Center was underhanded and deceptive,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It is obvious that there was coordination between Acton and Haskell to pull a fast one on the people of Ohio and the Attorney General’s office, which spent untold time and resources over four years to successfully enforce the original licensing denial order.”
Democrat political activist
In 2008, Acton went by the name of Amy Beech. She had married Douglas W. Beech in 1989, and together they had three children. During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Amy and her entire family were featured in a Wired.com article published on March 3, 2008. Amy Beech was a volunteer organizer for the Obama campaign who organized events, managed e-mail lists, and engaged potential voters on Facebook, with the help of her son, who was then 16 years old.
Amy and Douglas Beech filed for divorce later that year, and in 2010, Amy married Eric Raymond Acton and assumed his last name.
The appointment of a Democrat political activist, fundraiser, and part-time doctor as Executive Director of the Ohio Department of Health, which has licensing and oversight authority over abortion facilities, raises questions about the vetting process that DeWine’s office engaged in prior to Acton’s nomination.
All information about Acton’s leftist political activism and her work as a manager of grants for Ohio Planned Parenthood and NARAL organizations, which was previously reported by Operation Rescue, is readily available through simple internet searches.
“The Democrat Party is not known to have a ‘big tent’ philosophy when it comes to abortion,” said Newman. “Obama was an open supporter of abortion and a cheerleader for Planned Parenthood. Those who actively campaign for Democrat candidates that support abortion really can’t be considered neutral on that issue.”
This also raises the question of whether deception was used by Acton to get the job.
No stance on abortion?
According to the Dayton Daily News, “Acton sidestepped a question about her personal view on abortion. ‘I don’t have a stance on abortion. I definitely am here to follow the law of the state of Ohio,’ she said.”
But the law in Ohio – as evidenced by years of licensing litigation – was clearly on the side of halting dangerous surgical abortions at the Women’s Med Center because it could not meet the requirement to have an approved transfer agreement with a local hospital in the event of an emergency.
Operation Rescue documented two medical emergencies at the Women’s Med Center earlier this year, which emphasized the clinic’s need for speedy access to emergency hospital care for women who routinely suffer serious abortion complications there.
On February 7, 2019, an ambulance was called to the Women’s Med Center for a woman who was seizing uncontrollably after an abortion procedure, which was done with the understanding that her medical history showed she suffered from seizure disorder.
Just four weeks later, on March 7, 2019, an ambulance was called for a 26-year old woman who was hemorrhaging after a surgical abortion. Efforts by Women’s Med Center staff to get the bleeding under control failed.
These emergencies, among others documented in previous years, show that Women’s Med Center is not capable or equipped to handle the medical crises that are known to arise at abortion facilities, and that their inability to cope places women’s lives at risk.
“Infant mortality” focus
Once in office, Acton “named infant mortality and youth homelessness as top issues she would like to address” as Executive Director of the Ohio Department of Health, according to the Dayton Daily News.
“Her focus on infant mortality is exceedingly hypocritical in light of her sneaky approval of Women’s Med Center’s license — a late-term abortion facility known to conduct post-viability abortions,” said Newman. “Perhaps Acton really meant that she would decrease infant mortality by killing babies before birth through abortions that take place at the Women’s Med Center.”
Call for resignation or removal
It is unknown how Gov. DeWine came to the decision to nominate Acton, but if he thought he was getting a Department of Health Director without an abortion agenda, it now appears he was wrong.
“Operation Rescue calls on Amy Acton to resign, and if she will not do that, we call on Gov. Mike DeWine to fire her and appoint a new director who will not surreptitiously defy the laws of Ohio and rulings of the courts to keep dangerous abortion facilities open,” said Newman.
