Pro-Life organization Life Dynamics has confirmed via phone that the notorious Routh Street Women’s Clinic in Dallas is closing their doors because of Life-saving provisions of House Bill 2, 2013’s Pro-Life Omnibus Bill, which finally goes into full effect (with one exception) on July 1. Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that blocked two pivotal provisions of the law from taking effect: the ambulatory surgical center (ASC) requirement and the mandate that abortionists possess admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. All but one abortionist and one abortion mill, both in McAllen, will be held to the newly-enforced standards.
The Routh Street closure is a victory for women’s health. Jasbir Ahluwalia, resident abortionist at Routh Street, along with Opta Lea Braun, has a sordid history of shoddy maternal care even outside of his role as an abortionist. Operation Rescue reports:
Ahluwalia has a history of hospitals terminating his privileges. On June 22, 1996, the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners disciplined Ahluwalia for failing to adequately document two high-risk cesarean sections. Documents indicate that he also lost his hospital privileges after improperly managing high-risk pregnancies.
As Texas Right to Life reported in 2014, Ahluwalia went as far as suing a nearby hospital that revoked his privileges, rendering him temporarily unqualified to commit abortions in Texas after the passage of HB 2. The abortionist argued that the hospital was unjustly discriminating against him, positing that his privileges were revoked because he is an abortionist:
Following the March ruling by the three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit court, two abortionists in Dallas sued a local hospital for removing their admitting privileges. Abortionists Lamar Robinson and Jasbir Ahluwalia are unable to legally commit elective abortions without the admitting privileges they have been unable to attain. The lawsuit which they filed claims that they are being discriminated against by UGHS Dallas Hospital simply because they are abortionists. A Dallas County District Court released a preliminary ruling in April allowing the abortionists to continue committing abortions without privileges until the lawsuit is settled. In settling the lawsuit, the court will determine whether the hospital broke any anti-discrimination laws by revoking the privileges.
A judge later overturned the hospital’s revocation of Ahluwalia’s admitting privileges, reinstating them, but that reinstatement will have no bearing once the Fifth Circuit’s ruling becomes effective on July 1.
While Ahluwalia’s associate, Opta Lea Braun, was on-duty in mid-2014, an ambulance was called to the abortion mill to transport a 42-year-old woman to the hospital (where, at the time, neither abortionist possessed privileges). The ambulance left with lights and sirens on, indicating there was an “urgent nature” to the woman’s condition.
According to the abortion mill worker who revealed the status of the Routh Street Women’s Clinic closure, the abortionists are unlikely to continue their futile fight against the health and safety standards of HB 2: “I don’t think the doctor’s going to fight it anymore,” she said when asked if Routh Street might reopen in the future. This is the first confirmed closure in an expected avalanche of abortion mill closures following last week’s Fifth Circuit decision. Eight abortion mills that can currently comply with the law are expected to remain open, as well as the McAllen abortion mill that is currently exempted from the law.