9 Pa. abortion centers failed health inspection in 2023: report

Women who underwent abortions in Pennsylvania in 2023 likely did so at an abortion facility that failed a health inspection, as a statewide social conservative activist group reports.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Family Institute highlighted reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health documenting multiple health and safety violations at nine abortion facilities in 2023. According to the advocacy group, this means half of the abortion facilities in the Keystone State failed at least one of their health inspections. 

Those include Allentown Women’s Center, Philadelphia Women’s Center,
Planned Parenthood Lancaster, Planned Parenthood Norristown, Planned Parenthood Philadelphia (Comly Road), Planned Parenthood Philadelphia (Locust Street), Planned Parenthood Reading, Planned Parenthood Wilkes-Barre and Planned Parenthood York. 

The Pennsylvania Family Institute is a local nonprofit focused on life, family and religious freedom, encouraging citizens to participate in elections in addition to contacting lawmakers about pieces of legislation concerning specific policy issues. 

According to a survey conducted from March 10 to March 17, one of the facilities listed, the Philadelphia Women’s Center, failed to enter the findings of a tissue analysis conducted after a first-trimester abortion was entered into the medical record, as required by law. 

In June, an unannounced survey at Planned Parenthood Keystone-York failed to complete performance evaluations for three out of four of its abortionists. 

The inspection found that the facility was not in compliance with state health regulations, which state that “Abortions shall be performed only by a physician who possesses the requisite professional skill and competence as determined and approved by the medical facility in accordance with appropriate procedures.”

Another survey conducted in October at Planned Parenthood Keystone-Wilkes-Barre found that the facility failed to document that it fulfilled the legal requirements for obtaining informed consent from a minor for an abortion. 

“Review of MR3 on October 23, 2023, revealed this patient was a minor,” the survey reported. “This patient and parent reviewed and signed the informed consent for a medical abortion on May 2, 2023.”

“Further review of the signed informed consent revealed no documentation facility staff offered the patient the required Department of Health materials or that the patient or the patients parent accepted or refused the state mandated materials,” the report continued.

Dan Bartkowiak, director of communications for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, criticized the state for funding abortion facilities with reported health violations through taxpayer dollars.

“While Gov. Josh Shapiro is busy taking money away from pro-life maternity homes and pregnancy centers, he has done nothing to address the severe infractions by abortion centers outlined in these failed inspections,” Bartkowiak said in a statement. 

In August, Gov. Shapiro announced that Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services would no longer provide funding to the nonprofit organization Real Alternatives as of January 1, 2024. Real Alternatives is a charitable organization that connects pregnant women and new mothers with various supportive services, including referrals to community programs. 

“Gov. Shapiro’s administration claims abortion ‘remains safe’ in Pennsylvania, but not only is abortion unsafe for the unborn baby being aborted or for women facing complications from their abortion and post-abortion trauma, it’s unsafe for women when half of PA’s abortion facilities are failing health inspections,” Bartkowiak added. 

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, a national pro-life organization with chapters on college and high school campuses nationwide, declared that the inspection reports show that convicted Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell was not an “anomaly.” 

“Corporate Abortion wants to have it both ways. They pretend they are a ‘healthcare’ operation, but fight following laws that apply to out-patient surgical centers, which should apply,” Hawkins told The Christian Post in a Wednesday statement. “And they pretend to be a ‘right’ and a ‘freedom’ but ignore the needs of women who are often coerced into coming to the abortion vendors’ seedy locations.”

“Abortion vendors are the red-light district of medicine, and once again, we see that those who kill people on purpose for money don’t seem to care about those who are hurt,” the pro-life leader continued. 

In 2013, Gosnell was found responsible for the deaths of one woman and multiple infants born alive at his unsanitary abortion clinic. The Pennsylvania Department of State and the Pennsylvania Department of Health failed to inspect the abortion clinic for more than 17 years, allowing Gosnell to conduct his operations without scrutiny. 

A grand jury report detailed what investigators discovered during a Feb. 18, 2010, drug raid on the facility. Blood-stained floors and furniture, haphazardly stored fetal remains, and dirty equipment are just some of the things investigators uncovered during the raid that exposed Gosnell’s crimes.

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