AUSTIN, Texas, March 25, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Texas Medical Board has now received complaints about the medical practices of twelve Texas abortion providers, called the “Dirty Dozen” by a pro-life watchdog group because of their alleged violation of state and federal abortion laws.
Operation Rescue reports it filed the complaints after a three-month undercover sting of randomly chosen clinics showed the conditions and treatment to which female clients were subjected.
Abortionists named in the complaint include Jasbir Ahlwualia, Arthur John Brock, Robert Hanson, Douglas A. Karpen, Margaret Kini, Pedro Kowalyszyn, Lester Minto, Alan Molson, Robert L. Prince, Brook Randal, Franz Theard, and William West.
Operation Rescue (OR) says they found mishandling of private patient medical records and information, violations of informed consent laws, violations of the 24-hour waiting period required by law, improper removal of biohazardous medical waste, the counseling of minors how to flout parental notification laws, and more.
The pro-life group, which conducted the undercover investigation between December 2010 to February 2011 with members of another pro-life group, The Survivors, detailed their findings in a Special Report, which is posted on their website.
“There can be no question that violations have occurred,” said OR President Troy Newman.
“There are questions, however, about whether the Texas Medical Board will act appropriately to protect women and uphold the standard of care. Those questions remain to be answered.”
Newman said the Medical Board has oversight of Texas physicians including abortionists, but he added that other state agencies regulating abortion clinics have also been furnished with materials from the investigation.
He said they expect to have more filings as they continue to process data from the investigation.
Operation Rescue says their investigation involved randomly choosing abortion facilities, after which their team would participate in undercover phone calls or pose as abortion-minded women. They also examined and documented materials recovered from the clinics’ trash disposals.
In some cases, clinic workers appeared unconcerned about abetting child sexual abuse. One receptionist advised a caller posing as an older man about how to get an abortion for his underage girlfriend without alerting her parents. A staffer is recorded as saying that all the girlfriend needs to do is get a judicial bypass, and that she has never heard of a case where a judge has turned down a request.
The investigation also found that eight abortionists associated with the clinics had serious past records of illegal or unethical behavior.
“Our investigation focused on what the average woman would experience if she sought an abortion in Texas, and how the abortion clinics appeared and operated on an everyday basis,” explained Newman. “From what we found, women are subjected to a variety of abortion abuses as a matter of routine. Violating the law is standard operating procedure for abortion clinics in Texas.”
The full findings of the OR report can be read here.