ASHEVILLE, NC, March 18, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A North Carolina abortion facility with a troubled history is closing, but Planned Parenthood intends to open a new facility in its place.
Last week, FEMCARE in Asheville placed its building up for sale for $1.275 million. A former patient told the Carolina Public Press that an employee confirmed to her the facility is closing and no longer scheduling appointments.
However, Melissa Reed, Planned Parenthood Health Systems' vice president of public affairs, told the news agency that Planned Parenthood would be “opening a new health center that will have comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care.”
Reed said the Raleigh-based chapter of the nation's leading abortion provider had coordinated its summer debut with FEMCARE owner Dr. Lorraine Cummings.
FEMCARE briefly closed its doors last summer after inspectors with the Department of Health and Human Services said the facility posed “an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients.”
Violations they encountered on July 18 and 19 included shoddy maintenance of anesthesia equipment that could have resulted in women undergoing an abortion while not fully sedated. The facility also did not have a contract with an anesthesiologist or pharmacist.
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In a press release, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the facility:
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Failed to maintain anesthesia (nitrous oxide gas) delivery systems in good working condition, with torn masks and tubing held together with tape. This could lead to patients not receiving the intended dosage and risk patients not being fully sedated during surgical procedures, leading to pain and physical harm.
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Failed to ensure emergency equipment had weekly checks to ensure the equipment was suitable for use in patient care and failed to ensure that emergency medicine wasn’t expired.
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Failed to have a resuscitator available.
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Failed to sweep and mop the operating room floor and failed to properly clean operating room beds.
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Failed to have a director of nursing responsible and accountable for all nursing services.
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Failed to have an agreement/contract with an anesthetist or anesthesiologist.
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Failed to have an agreement/contract with a registered pharmacist to assure appropriate methods, procedures and controls for obtaining, dispensing, and administering drugs.
DHHS ordered FEMCARE closed on July 31. But inspectors authorized its reopening the following month, saying all problems had been rectified.
Critics see the latest news as further confirmation that “Planned Parenthood is not about reducing abortions,” as Rita Diller, national director of American Life League's Stop Planned Parenthood project, told LifeSiteNews.com. “It's about grabbing an ever larger share of the U.S. abortion market.”