AG Curtis Hill Continues Efforts To Prevent Opening Of Unlicensed Abortion Clinic

Attorney General Curtis Hill on Monday asked a U.S appellate court to stop the immediate opening of an unlicensed abortion clinic in South Bend.

On May 31, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction allowing the Texas-based Whole Woman’s Health Alliance to open a clinic for providing chemical abortions despite lacking the required license from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). In chemical abortions, one type of medication is used to kill the fetus followed by another medication to induce the woman to expel it.

On June 2, Attorney General Hill appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He also filed a motion with the district court seeking an immediate stay that would have prevented the unlicensed clinic from opening until Indiana’s appeal could be considered.

On June 7, the federal district court denied the motion for a stay – prompting Attorney General Hill to seek the intervention of the U.S. Court of Appeals in issuing a stay.

“The district court has declared that something as ordinary and fundamental as state licensing – which the state does for everything from nursing homes to daycares – can be invalidated in the name of the right to abortion,” Attorney General Hill said. “This ruling turns the right to abortion into a cudgel against state licensing laws that the Supreme Court long ago declared to be perfectly valid.”

The ISDH previously has denied Whole Woman’s Health a license after the entity failed to provide such requested information as documentation about the safety record of affiliated clinics in other states.

“The preliminary injunction threatens irreparable harm to Indiana women because it allows Whole Woman’s Health to open an unlicensed and unregulated abortion clinic,” Attorney General Hill said. “Indiana has no way of ensuring that an unlicensed abortion clinic is complying with its other requirements or to ensure that patients are being given safe and proper care.”

Further, Attorney General Hill noted, a licensed abortion clinic already operates west of South Bend in the town of Merrillville.

“The whole point of professional licensing regulation is to protect consumers from suffering injury,” Attorney General Hill said. “The risk of harm to women by allowing unlicensed clinics to dispense chemical abortions outweighs any speculative burdens faced by Whole Woman’s Health or women who must otherwise travel a mere 65 miles for an abortion.”