Posted on 02/02/2005 3:27:08 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WICHITA, KS (Talon News) -- Pro-life action group Operation Rescue said on Tuesday that a representative from the La Quinta Inns corporate offices conducted an internal investigation into allegations that one of their hotels in Wichita, Kansas was being used by an abortion doctor.
As previously reported by Talon News, Operation Rescue had called on its supporters to boycott the national hotel chain La Quinta Inn in protest of one of their locations being used by a nearby abortion clinic to provide medical services to pregnant women who were in town to have an abortion.
La Quinta Inn has denied having any affiliation with the abortion doctor named George Tiller, who runs the Women's Health Care Services clinic near the hotel.
La Quinta Inn Public Relations Manager Teresa Ferguson told Talon News last month that a medical discount is available at any of their more than 380 locations nationwide for out-of-town guests visiting a nearby medical facility.
"As a hotel chain, La Quinta, like many other chains offers a medical discount rate at locations near medical facilities for those guests who request it," Ferguson told Talon News.
But this did not satisfy members of Operation Rescue who claimed La Quinta Inns has "long known" about Tiller's business conducted on their property, including having a nursing staff at the hotel and providing medication to the pregnant women having the abortions at Tiller's clinic over the 3-4 day abortion procedure.
After Operation Rescue President Troy Newman warned La Quinta Inns about the possible legal liability they would have if something were to go wrong with one of the abortions and urged pro-life supporters to contact the hotel chain about their connection to Tiller's abortion clinic in Wichita, an investigator was hired by La Quinta Inns to inquire about these claims at their company-owned hotel.
According to Operation Rescue, the investigation found that several of Tiller's nurses rented rooms at the La Quinta Inns and were providing medical care to abortion patients at Tiller's clinic.
Ferguson told Operation Rescue that she called Tiller to inform him that he must immediately cease illegally performing medical treatment on La Quinta Inns property, Operation Rescue claims.
Furthermore, Operation Rescue maintains Ferguson told them that Tiller would no longer be allowed to use La Quinta Inns to promote his abortion practice and demanded their name and logo be removed from any literature affiliated with Tiller's abortion clinic. Operation Rescue said they will follow-up with the Wichita location to make sure they comply with this.
When Talon News asked Ferguson to confirm whether Tiller had been contacted by La Quinta Inns, she would neither confirm nor deny it.
But Ferguson did confirm with Talon News that she has been in contact with Tiller's clinic to tell them "about our position on this matter."
"We have not given any individual, group, organization or facility authorization to administer medical services at any of our hotels," Ferguson explained to Talon News. "We have, on the other hand, found representations that we believe may have created a perception that we have a business partnership with [Tiller's] clinic. This is not the case! As such, we have asked that anyone using our name in conjunction with this type of business immediately stop using our name."
Newman was elated at La Quinta Inns' decision after his group's boycott and declared victory for his efforts to expose what Tiller was doing.
"Thanks to hundreds of men and women of conscience who called and brought Tiller's association with the La Quinta to the attention of the corporate office, an end has been put to this apparently illegal arrangement," Newman declared in a statement. "We are thankful that the La Quinta Corporation has done the right thing and sent Tiller packing."
Copyright © 2005 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
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I thought most hotels near hospitals and stuff had medical discounts... They dont ask why you are going to the doctor, but they give you a discount. Seems kinda unfair to blame the hotel just for giving rooms to these ladies.
If you read it more carefully, you would see that they are being treated (prepped) by nurses in the hotel.
We stay at La Quinta whenever we travel because every single one of them allows pets in the rooms, no questions asked.
As long as abortion is considered a medical procedure, it is immoral for hotels, or anyone facilitating an unidentified "medical" procedure to do so without asking what is the nature of the procedure.
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