TOPEKA, Kansas, April 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Kansas Senate has passed a bill that will force abortion clinics to get in line with current hospital standards for outpatient surgical centers or face being shut down by the health department.
The Kansas Senate voted Wednesday 24-15 to enact a comprehensive abortion regulation bill. It mandates that health officials conduct two annual inspections (one surprise visit) of abortion clinics and that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) have the power to fine and shut down abortion clinics for non-compliance with the law.
The measure also bans telemedicine abortions, where the abortion pill RU-486 is prescribed by an abortionist over webcam to women. It also states that abortionists must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic.
The House already passed the bill by a 97-26 majority on March 31. The bill heads to the desk of pro-life Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, who is expected to sign it.
Brownback’s signature would be another sign of the great strides that pro-life advocates have made in Kansas since the departure of pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius from the governorship in 2009.
Sebelius had repeatedly vetoed pro-life legislation passed by the state legislature throughout her time as governor (2003-2009), and was an active political champion of prominent abortion providers George Tiller and the Comprehensive Health Planned Parenthood in Overland Park. Both were under investigation by then-Attorney General Phill Kline for obstructing his investigation into failure to report child-rape victims.
“This new law, for the first time, will allow authorities to exercise true oversight of abortion businesses that have never been inspected or accountable to anyone until now,” said Troy Newman, president of the Wichita-based Operation Rescue. “These common sense standards will also save lives and protect women by preventing the expansion of dangerous web cam abortions into this state.”
Newman anticipated that some of the state’s three remaining abortion clinics “will close rather than clean up, which says a lot about the abortion cartel’s general lack of concern for the health and safety of women.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in March signed into law a similar bill that also brings abortion clinics into conformity with the state’s regulations for outpatient surgical centers and hospitals.
Although abortion is the most common surgical procedure for women in the United States, abortion clinics often operate under different standards, being treated as doctor’s offices rather than outpatient surgical centers.