UPDATE: (Aug. 7, 2014) As expected, the Capital Care Network abortion facility in Toledo, Ohio has filed an appeal of the ODH closure order in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The case will be heard by Judge Myron Duhart. No hearing date has yet been set.
By Cheryl Sullenger
Toledo, OH – In a week that has seen three abortion facilities close across America, the Ohio Department of Health Interim Director Lance Himes has issued a closure order to the Capital Care Network in Toledo, Ohio, which must shut down by August 12, 2014.
Capital Care Network holds no valid hospital transfer agreement as required by law. Revocation of the clinic’s license and order to close was recommended by a state hearing officer who heard testimony concerning request to close the facility in March. Read the Closure Order Issued to Capital Care Network
BREAKING UPDATE: In addition, Right to Life of Northeast Ohio announced this morning that Northeast Ohio Women’s Center, an abortion clinic in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, has been denied a facility license and was notified of the denial in a letter sent to abortionist David Burkon on July 31, 2014. According to Northeast Ohio Right to Life, the license was denied due to serious violations discovered at the facility, including a lack of required policies and procedures, no emergency care plan, inadequately trained staff, drug violations, and more.
“This closure order will add to the number of abortion businesses that are shutting down nationwide due to their shoddy practices, inadequate facilities, or lack of compliance with medical standards. So far this year, 30 abortion facilities have ceased operations, and when abortion facilities close, lives are always saved,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Shutting down this abortion center will be one of the best things that ever happened to that community, which will finally be abortion-free.”
The abortion facility, the last one in Toledo, has fifteen days to file an appeal, which, if filed, could delay the closure.
Capital Care Network once employed now-retired abortionist Thomas W. Michaelis, who pled guilty in 1992 to two counts of Attempted Gross Sexual Imposition, one count of Voyeurism, and one count of Public Indecency related to incidents of sexual perversion inflicted on a group of his then-13-year-old daughter’s friends. He served only 60 days in jail for his crimes and had his medical license suspended for a year.
The current abortionist at Capital Care Network is abortionist David Burkons, who was responsible for 41% of all medication abortion complications in Ohio from April, 2011, and February, 2013, according to reporting forms obtained by Operation Rescue.
Capital Care Network had attempted to pass off a transfer agreement it made with a Michigan hospital that was more than 50 miles away as proof of compliance with the Ohio requirement, but that agreement was rejected by a judge as being too far away and across state lines.
Meanwhile abortion facilities in Kansas, California, and Texas have shut down this week.
Central Family Medical, also known as Aid for Women, shut down on Saturday, July 26, citing, a hostile political climate, financial issues, and a “lack of gratitude” from women. It’s abortionist, Ronald Yeomans, is under pressure from a Kansas State Board of Healing Arts investigation prompted by an Operation Rescue complaint. That closure leaves Kansas City abortion-free. A note taped to a window at the Planned Parenthood center in Hollister, California, informed women that it will shut down as of August 15. No further explanation was given. The building is for sale. The office had offered abortions via the abortion pill. This closure will make the community of Hollister, California, abortion free. Whole Women’s Health flagship office in Austin, Texas, shut down yesterday because it could not meet facility requirements in the HB2 abortion law. By September the WWH abortion clinic in Fort Worth is also expected to close. This makes the 19th Texas abortion facility to close in the past 12 months due to an inability to meet basic safety requirements or budget cuts.
Back in Ohio, another abortion facility, Women’s Med Center in Sharonville, has also been ordered to close by the ODH and a county magistrate, but it remains open pending the trial court judge’s ruling that is expected on August 15. That abortion business is owned and operated by the infamous late-term abortionist Martin Haskell.
“All in all, despite a confusing ruling appeals court ruling that is keeping the last abortion facility in Mississippi open, it’s been a pretty good week for the cause of life,” said Newman. “We expect to see this trend of abortion facility closures continue as more regulations take effect and more cases work their way through the legal system. We are encouraged that we are moving in the right direction that we will ultimately see an end to abortion in America, sooner rather than later!”
