By Deborah Myers
Toledo, OH — In a shocking turn of events, news sources have discovered the University of Toledo has a secret partnership with a scandal-ridden abortion clinic. The covert relationship has drawn massive public outrage.
Now, Operation Rescue has discovered that the Toledo Women’s Center (also known as the Capital Care Network) is training students from the University of Toledo to do abortions.
In 2011, state officials inspected the clinic, known as Capital Care Network. They found dirty walls, stained carpets, and torn furniture. A bullet hole was apparent through the recovery room exit, leaving the door inoperable in case of an emergency. The state cited Capital Care Network for multiple violations of safety standards, including infection control, cleaning procedures, and personnel training.
For many years, the clinic also employed a convicted sex offender as their main abortionist.
Dr. Thomas W. Michaelis was convicted of Attempted Gross Sexual Imposition, Voyeurism, and Public Indecency in 1991. Each offense involved minor girls who had come to his home to visit his 14-year-old daughter.
Michaelis never served jail time, however, and returned to work as an abortionist at Capital Care Network in 1997.
Finally, on November 10, 2014, Dr. Michaelis was arrested and held without bail after federal grand jury indicted him on two criminal counts related to possessing and distributing child pornography.
“Thomas Michaelis was a child sex monster that found his hiding place in the abortion industry,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “The clinic provided him a free reign for his perverted passions. Who knows how many young girls Michaelis abused while they were under sedation?”
The clinic’s current abortionist and “training instructor,” Dr. David Burkons, has his own history of problems.
From 2011-2012, Burkons reported that seventeen patients experienced moderate to severe complications from medication abortions, including hematometra, infection, and severe bleeding. Some patients suffered for days, and required emergency hospital care.
In fact, Burkons’ numbers were so dismal that state records show 41% of all medication abortion complications came from his office during those years.
At the time of these reports, Burkons worked as an abortionist for Planned Parenthood, which has been the subject of its own scandal, after investigators discovered the business was receiving compensation for aborted fetal organs to offset their bottom line.
Most recently, Capital Care Network itself has become part of a lengthy legal battle, after failing to obtain a legally-required transfer agreement with a local hospital.
The clinic maintains that its agreement with a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, located 52 miles away, is sufficient in case a patient needs emergency hospitalization. This agreement, however, would require helicopter transport, and may not be covered by the patient’s insurance.
The Ohio Department of Health determined that the arrangement was neither legal nor safe. In July 2014, the state health director moved to revoke the clinic’s license last year.
Capital Care Network immediately filed an appeal, and the case is currently pending in court.
In light of recent the clinic’s background, the new training agreement is startling.
“It is beyond belief that the University of Toledo would send students to a filthy clinic with bullet holes and incompetent physicians,” said Newman.
“Public universities must observe all state and federal laws to receive public funding. Capital Care Network is obviously operating in an illegal fashion. By entering into a professional relationship with this clinic, the University of Toledo is endangering its own students and finances.”