FORT WAYNE, IN, December 30, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An abortionist accused of not reporting a 13-year-old girl's abortion as required by a law designed to catch child molesters will be taking a “hiatus” from providing abortions in Fort Wayne.
That means Indiana's second-largest city, and the surrounding county of 360,412 people, will be abortion-free starting January 1.
Dr. Ulrich George Klopfer, who lives in Illinois, announced that he would stop his weekly visits to the city after he was unable to comply with a local law requiring abortionists or their legal Physician Designee to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
His previous backup, Dr. Geoffrey Cly, tendered his resignation effective December 31, calling Klopfer's actions “alarming.” Unless Klopfer can find another backup, he will be in violation of the Allen County Patient Safety Ordinance.
“Our goal of an abortion-free county has come to fruition… at least for now,” Allen County (Indiana) Right to Life responded. The doctor's unexpected decision was reported by the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel on December 27.
Klopfer has come under intensifying pressure in the recent months since the state's pro-life leadership revealed his role in helping young girls – and their molesters – circumvent state law designed to prosecute statutory rape.
On February 7, Klopfer performed a suction curettage abortion on a young black girl at Fort Wayne Women's Health Organization on February 7. The 13-year-old, who had not yet reached the eighth grade, was 11 weeks pregnant.
Under Indiana law, minors younger than 14 cannot consent to sex. Abortionists are required to report abortions performed on any child under that age to state authorities within three days. Klopfer instead reported the abortion nearly six months later, on July 25.
He later called his reporting status an “honest mistake.” But it wasn't his first.
Last year, Klopfer performed an abortion on a 13-year-old girl at Friendship Family Planning in Gary last September 28 but did not file a report until nearly four months later. The complaints were verified by reporter Amanda Gray of the South Bend Tribune in November.
Klopfer defended his actions, telling Sofia Resnick of RH Reality Check that he encouraged girls under 14 to go to Illinois or Ohio – states that have no such reporting requirements.
“Your advice to cross state lines for abortions may help child abuse to continue and a perpetrator or abuser to walk free,” Dr. Cly wrote in his letter severing his relationship with Klopfer. “This advice blatantly disregards patients' well-being.”
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Indiana's citizens had raised an alarm over Klopfer's professionalism, lodging more than 1,000 complaints against him with relevant state authorities. Among their discoveries was the oddity that Klopfer claimed that every abortion he performed took place at 88 weeks gestation.
The Indiana Medical Licensing Board has asked Klopfer to explain his actions.
But the problem of not reporting potential statutory rape is far from limited to Klopfer. In all, at least seven of the 12 abortions performed on girls 13 or younger were reported weeks or months later than required by law, according to an investigation performed by Amanda Gray of the South Bend Tribune. Another two reports were incomplete, meaning that 58 to 75 percent of the reports were not filed in a timely manner.
“Covering up sexual abuse is no anomaly in these places; on the contrary, it's part of their modus operandi, tailor-made to maximize their abortion income,” Live Action President Lila Rose told LifeSiteNews exclusively.
Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter hopes the board will throw the book at all the abortionists who violated the reporting law. “If such an investigation confirms that the abuse of these children has not been properly reported, the only reasonable course is to permanently revoke the license of every doctor involved,” he said.
But for now, local pro-life activists are celebrating. Allen County Right to Life asks for everyone's “continued prayers that this small step will change the course of action for abortion-seekers in Allen County to consider life for their unborn.”