Once again, Texas abortion facilities are in the spotlight for glaring health and safety violations. Inspection reports from the Texas Department of State Health Services reveal notable violations by Whole Woman’s Health (WWH). The violations include basic sanitation and sterilization measures, and one clinic did not even have a single registered nurse on staff. The violations are particularly troubling since WWH is the abortion industry’s self-appointed leader for litigation against Pro-Life legislation.
The findings are consistent with previous records obtained by Texas Right to Life. The previous documents released last year revealed that 16 of Texas’ 17 abortion mills that the state inspected were out of step with health and safety standards. The violations reveal widespread failure to ensure clinic sanitation and infection control, which endangers women. The 17 Texas abortion mills include eight ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), which are held to higher health and safety standards, and nine licensed abortion facilities.
The most recent report on the violations uncovered at WWH are particularly disturbing, because WWH operates abortion facilities, not ASCs. Even when held to lower health and safety standards, WWH facilities across the state committed major infractions. According to the Washington Free Beacon:
The inspector’s reports also expressed concerns about maintenance of medical equipment. “There was [sic]numerous rusty spots on the suction machine used on the patient for evacuation of the products of conception,” the Beaumont report notes. In multiple cases, supplies and medication were found to be clearly expired.
Facilities themselves were also in disrepair, with floors that were “stained and discolored which gives the appearance of being dirty.” A 2016 report on the McAllen, Texas, facility notes a counter so warped it “was no longer a wipeable surface, which could harbor bacteria and infectious matter.” The reports also show cracks, rips, and tears on exam tables’ covers, and a hole in cabinet flooring that had “the likelihood to allow rodents to enter the facility.”
The failure to properly sterilize instruments used on multiple women poses a serious risk of infection and cross contamination. The many instances of surfaces that could harbor bacteria also shows a reckless disregard for women’s health. The fact that WWH abortion mills continue to operate across the state despite continued inspection failures indicates that the abortion business operates with impunity.
WWH is the abortion business that most loudly protested Pro-Life legislation from the 2017 session, and is leading the current lawsuit challenging a ban on the gruesome and inhumane Dismemberment Abortion procedure. WWH also fought against the increased health and safety standards proposed in House Bill 2, the Pro-Life Omnibus Bill passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013. WWH’s legal case against the commonsense safety provisions of HB 2 eventually reached the Supreme Court. The court ruled 5-3 that the provisions in question, namely that abortion mills operate as ASCs and abortionists possess hospital admitting privileges within a 30-mile radius, constituted an undue burden to abortion access.
The court’s decision to strike down sensible legislation crafted to ensure health and safety standards in the abortion industry was a win for Big Abortion. The new reports showing WWH’s continued violations highlight the predatory and profit-driven nature of the abortion industry. WWH argued that abortion mills should not be held to the standards of ASCs when the truth is abortion mills across Texas routinely fail to meet the most basic standards of sanitation.
Now, in a Federal District Court, WWH is acting as the legal experts and moral authority on whether or not the state can constitutionally prohibit the horrific abortion procedure that takes the life of a child in the womb though removing his or her limbs. Texans have made their voices heard in a stand for women’s health and safety and the protection of preborn Life from a violent and inhumane abortion procedure. WWH, with a record of endangering women, clearly stands for profit and not the wellbeing of Texas women and children.