Posted on 09/26/2019 12:52:53 PM PDT by Morgana
Abortion opponents are pushing for new legislation following the discovery of 2,246 fetal remains in the garage of a deceased abortion doctor who faced multiple complaints while he was alive and lost his medical license.
Anti-abortion advocates and the White House have compared the turn of events, involving the late Dr. Ulrich "George" Klopfer, to the case of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor who kept dismembered fetal remains at his clinic and was convicted of killing three infants born after botched abortions, of involuntary manslaughter of a woman having an abortion, and of multiple other crimes.
At that time, anti-abortion advocates pointed to those revelations as they successfully pushed to pass state laws that added requirements for clinics and doctors, though the new laws were later stuck down by the Supreme Court as onerous. The same advocates are now looking to the Klopfer case to argue that abortion providers have a pattern of misbehavior.
"It’s a gut check moment for Americans everywhere ... The abortion industry has repeatedly revealed itself in different ways to be incapable of self-regulation," said Mallory Quigley, spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion organization influential with the Trump administration.
Klopfer, who was a hoarder, stashed away 20-year-old fetal remains, which were discovered this month in medically sealed bags placed into cardboard boxes at his Illinois home. He provided abortions in Indiana for decades but lost his medical license roughly three years before his death for poor record keeping, flouting Indiana laws about waiting periods, and failing to report instances where girls sought abortions after being raped.
"For us, that says abortion at all costs was his priority without regard to the health and safety of women or girls," Quigley said. "Now we come to find out he was hoarding fetal remains."
The Washington Examiner reached out to multiple abortion rights groups to comment about abortion regulations in light of the Klopfer findings but received no response. In defending abortion, providers often point to the fact that reported complications for women following an abortion are rare and that the procedure is common, with 1 in 4 women in the United States reporting they have had one.
There is no evidence that Klopfer committed illegal abortions, and it's not clear whether he violated laws by transporting the remains from his Indiana clinics to his home in Illinois. One of the clinics where Klopfer had practiced was in South Bend, Indiana, the hometown of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.
The mayor waited a few days before speaking out, and while he said he found the news "extremely disturbing" and said it needed to be "fully investigated," he added, "I also hope it doesn’t get caught up in politics at a time when women need access to healthcare."
But anti-abortion organizations do intend to bring the Klopfer story to the forefront of the national discussion, as do Republicans. To them, the news serves as the latest example of an industry they say must be more tightly monitored.
"Any decent person, regardless of where they are on the life issue, would agree that putting them in a storage container in the garage of the abortionist is wrong," said Cathie Humbarger, executive director of Allen County Right to Life, which protested Klopfer's clinic in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, who represents South Bend, is circulating a letter to fellow Republicans calling for the U.S. attorney general to conduct an investigation and is looking at crafting legislation.
One approach she is considering is modeled after a bill that Vice President Mike Pence signed into law in 2016 when he was governor of Indiana. That bill required abortion clinics to provide for the cremation or burial of fetal remains after an abortion. The Supreme Court upheld the law this year, though it hasn't ruled on its merits, and it became enforceable in Indiana this month.
"We need to find out how this happened, and we need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again," Walorski said of the Klopfer investigation in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. "That’s why I’m currently working on federal legislation — possibly with Indiana’s recently upheld law as a model — that would ensure the remains of aborted babies are always treated with dignity."
After an abortion, providers treat fetal tissue as medical waste that is incinerated, flushed into the sewage system, or discarded in a landfill. Some states want to change that, but few have been successful. A federal judge stuck down a fetal burial law in Texas last year, and an appeal is currently being weighed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ohio's state Senate also advanced a fetal burial law in March.
"I wouldn't be surprised that other states want to pass laws like this in the wake of this discovery," said Maureen Ferguson, senior fellow at the Catholic Association.
Abortion rights advocates have fought burial and cremation laws in court, arguing that they heap more work on providers, who have to arrange for the services. That makes abortions more expensive, they say, putting the procedure out of reach for low-income patients. They also argue that the laws don't take the patient's moral or religious beliefs into consideration and that they would affect women who miscarry, often without knowing it because the symptoms mimic a heavy period.
"Regulations to require burial or cremation of fetal tissue further stigmatize abortion services and pregnancy loss, and may contradict the wishes of abortion patients," concluded a brief from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
Both sides of the abortion debate are already running toward opposite extremes. Conservative states have passed near-total bans on abortion that don't include exemptions for rape or incest, though they have been blocked by the courts, and liberal states have loosened restrictions on third-trimester abortions.
Both sides are acting in response to the GOP-controlled Senate confirming two President Trump-appointed justices to the Supreme Court, in the event that the new makeup overturns Roe v. Wade, which would turn the legalization of abortion to states.
"The short-term strategies of these state laws regarding fetal remains, I’m grateful they are there, and they are important to pursue," Ferguson said. "I’m focused on the bigger picture."
No they too busy talking about Wednesday Addams' evil twin sister Greta.
BTW can't believe this author is worried about regulations when in fact Ulrich is the next Gosnell, they all cut from the same cloth.
The MSM will never shed light on these stories, sadly. This is so horrific it is hard to wrap your brain around it all. These stories must be told and repeated until people wake up. We have been bullied into silence for too long, and I regret that so much.
Remember when the Gosnell book and movie (must see for everyone) came out the authors of the book stated there are many more of these guys operating their evil deeds in America. It was almost impossible to comprehend but they knew.
I’m afraid this won’t be the last of these types. G-d bless the little baby souls of those precious, innocent victims. My heart aches for them.
“The MSM will never shed light on these stories, sadly. This is so horrific it is hard to wrap your brain around it all. These stories must be told and repeated until people wake up. We have been bullied into silence for too long, and I regret that so much.”
I know...Is why I keep posting....you all can post too! Post and share!
Klopfer already has his taste of Hell. Gosnell has yet to taste his.
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