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CHARLOTTE, NC, May 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An abortion facility that was ordered closed by the state May 10 reopened Wednesday morning after promising the Department of Health that it would clean up its act.

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“A Preferred Women’s Health Center” was shut down by state authorities after an investigation revealed employees were improperly administering abortion drugs, as well as failing to ensure abortions were completed, leaving women vulnerable to infections and other potentially life-threatening complications.

Workers at the “A Preferred Women’s Health Center” administered injectable methotrexate orally to abortion-seeking women, in violation of FDA and manufacturer guidelines.

Methotrexate is a toxic cancer-fighting drug that is sometimes used off-label to begin the chemical abortion process, because it causes the placenta to detach from the uterine wall in pregnant patients. The drug comes in both injectable and tablet form.

The abortion center used the injectable form, but according to state investigators, instead of using the medication as directed, nurses at the clinic used syringes to squirt the medication into cups for oral administration. That caused the dosages to be unpredictable and dangerous.

The wrong dose of methotrexate can cause severe complications, such as incomplete abortion, heavy bleeding, liver damage, and death.

At least one woman at the clinic was forced to undergo surgery after a botched methotrexate abortion, according to the state report.

State investigators also found that the abortion center had repeatedly failed to examine women to ensure that no fetal body parts or other pregnancy-related tissue were left inside their wombs after abortions.

Failure to ensure removal of all fetal remains can result in infection, sepsis, and death for post-abortive women.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services hand-delivered a letter to the abortion center on May 10 ordering them to shut down the facility by 5 p.m. the same day.

The letter explained that the health agency had determined that the abortion facility presented “an imminent danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required to protect the clients.”

But a health department official told the Charlotte Observer that they allowed the clinic to reopen Wednesday morning after receiving “documentation that the inappropriate administration of medication would be discontinued.”

The official said the abortion center also submitted a “quality improvement plan.”

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This is not the first time the abortion facility has been closed and then reopened within a short period of time. In February 2007, state investigators found more than a dozen similar violations at the clinic, including incorrect administration of drugs, poor monitoring of patients after abortion, and failure to sterilize surgical instruments.

In at least one instance, a woman was taken to the hospital for surgery after an unlicensed employee gave her drugs to induce abortion, even though the woman was not considered an “appropriate candidate for the procedure.”

In December 2012, the clinic was cited by the Department of Health for such safety violations as unsafe storage of hazardous materials, expired emergency medications and failure to properly sterilize instruments including vaginal speculums, which investigators said were stored in a plastic bin that “contained debris” while “the drawer liner was soiled.”

The abortion center was also the source of racial controversy last year when abortionist Ashutosh “Ron” Virmani confronted pro-life activists in front of the clinic and told them that anyone who opposes abortion should “adopt one of those ugly black babies” and get them “off the taxpayers’ money.”

Video of the confrontation was posted to the internet by Operation Save America and went viral, embarrassing the clinic.

North Carolina’s Planned Parenthood chapter distanced itself from the clinic on Wednesday.

“We are not affiliated with that clinic at all and did not make referrals to it at all,” spokeswoman Melissa Reed told the Charlotte Observer.

Planned Parenthood puts patient safety and women’s health care as our primary concern.”