News

Image

Update II (6:50pm EST): Only hours before new regulations were to take effect, news emerged late Thursday afternoon that Kansas officials have reversed their decision to deny Planned Parenthood a license to perform abortions, granting one last haven for abortions in the state. (View full update here)

Update (5:50pm EST): Contradictory reports are now circulating concerning the licensure of one unnamed abortion provider in Kansas. According to the Associated Press, contrary to previous reports one abortion clinic has in fact been granted a license under the new regulations taking effect tomorrow, although it is unclear which clinic that is. It had been reported earlier Thursday that the Planned Parenthood clinic, the final remaining facility after two had been denied licenses, had filed a lawsuit against the new law after it was also denied legal permission to perform abortions.

TOPEKA, Kansas, June 30, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a surprising turn of events, the Kansas affiliate of Planned Parenthood has been denied a license to perform abortion under new state regulations, leaving the state without a licensed abortion clinic, and a new lawsuit.

“As of tomorrow morning, Kansas is the first abortion free state,” Troy Newman of Operation Rescue told LifeSiteNews.com.

A court hearing to determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the law will be held Friday at 3 pm.

The Associated Press reported Thursday afternoon that Planned Parenthood immediately filed suit against the new law, complaining that health and environment secretary Robert Moser “refused to waive” regulations that the clinic failed to meet, in AP’s words.

The lawsuit also disclosed that Planned Parenthood had been scrambling to acquire legal status after they were denied a license following an initial review earlier this week. Planned Parenthood joins two other Kansas abortionists, whose clinic also didn’t pass muster, suing the state over the law.

Newman told LSN that his group, which relocated to Kansas years ago to peacefully combat the notorious late-term abortion business of George Tiller, “couldn’t be more elated.”

“It’s delightfully surprising. Planned Parenthood’s got the biggest budget, they’ve got the biggest facility here in town, certainly the most political cache, and they just couldn’t comply,” he said.

Operation Rescue has routinely blown the whistle on the sub-standard practices of abortionists across America, and has stood at the forefront of the push to regulate such clinics on a par with other surgical facilities.

“I don’t believe you can make a clean abortion clinic,” said Newman. “The abortion industry is filled with the lowest of the low. They don’t want to be inspected.

“Imagine a McDonald’s that doesn’t want to comply with health standards …. that’s Planned Parenthood.”