April 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Planned Parenthood clinic in Wilmington, Delaware, is being investigated by the state after two former nurses stepped forward to tell a grisly tale of a “meat market” style of performing abortions.
The director of Delaware’s Division of Professional Regulation has confirmed that the agency has launched an investigation, according to the Wilmington News Journal. The Division of Public Health is also performing its own separate inquiry.
Earlier in April, after the allegations first surfaced, the clinic shut down for a brief period of time, for what Planned Parenthood described as a “routine” cleaning. There has also been a change of staff, with the former abortionist and the vice president of medical services both having been replaced.
For now, the clinic has suspended surgical abortions, but is continuing to perform medical abortions.
The two former nurses who stepped forward had recounted how abortions were performed at the clinic by an abortionist who refused to wear gloves using unsterilized instruments on operating tables that weren’t cleaned between procedures.
“It was just unsafe. I couldn't tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was,” Jayne Mitchell-Werbich, told WPVI.
Patients “could be at risk of getting hepatitis, even AIDS,” said the second nurse, Joyce Vasikonis.
Vasikonis described herself as “radically pro-abortion,” but said she left the clinic after fearing that she could lose her license for working there.
Since the beginning of January, pro-life activists have documented five visits to the clinic by ambulances to retrieve women who were apparently injured during botched abortion procedures.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood said it welcomed the investigation.
“In the last several days several state health agencies have conducted inspections,” Planned Parenthood Delaware CEO Ruth Lytle-Barnaby said in a statement Tuesday evening. “PPDE is committed to high quality healthcare, we welcome oversight in the interest of ensuring safety and wellness, and we take swift action when any of our operations do not meet the highest standards.”
“In my role as the new CEO of Planned Parenthood of Delaware, recently my staff and I launched a review of patient services,” she said. “I determined that we need to take immediate steps to assure our patients of our high-quality care, including enacting immediate personnel changes. We do not tolerate employees that fail to meet our standards for patient care and services.”
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Referring to the steps being taken by the clinic to clean up its image, Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue, said, “This is the same behavior of cover-up that Kermit Gosnell engaged in. After Karnamaya Monger was killed during an abortion, he had the clinic cleaned and painted. But it didn’t take long before it was back to its previous squalid condition.”
After news about the conditions in the clinic broke in the press, the state admitted that abortion clinics are not subject to regular inspections.
“I am not going to lie to you, we don't have the manpower to do routine inspections,” said Mary Peterson from the Delaware Department of Health and Human Services, according to WPVI.
“As long as the authorities neglect their duty to protect the public, these kinds of horrific conditions will continue to endanger women at Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics there,” said Sullenger in response. “Protecting the public health is the primary duty of the Department of Health. It’s unbelievable that it could claim it is incapable of doing its job. It sounds like there needs to be a housecleaning at the Department of Health as well as the abortion mill.”