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FAIRFAX, VA, July 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – “It’s definitely a loss.” That was NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia spokesman Alena Yarmosky’s reaction to news of the closure of Virginia’s busiest abortion center, a small facility tucked away in an office park just outside the nation’s capital where abortionist Mi-Yong Kim and her staff ended the lives of more than 3,000 babies each year – by far the largest number of any abortion center in the state.

“NOVA Women’s Healthcare provided medical services to thousands of women,” Yarmosky told the Washington Post Sunday.  She confirmed that it was the state’s “largest abortion provider.”

Mi-Yong Kim and co-owner Taehyun Kim had been in the process of attempting to relocate their operation after the original office fell short of a new state requirement that abortion clinics meet the same physical standards as other outpatient surgical centers. 

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“[T]hey couldn’t stay where they were, because of the new regulations,” Yarmosky told the Post. “The fact they were forced to move, that’s a testament to the barriers these providers face.”

The tougher safety standards were the final blow in the embattled abortionist’s long battle to stay in the prime location, conveniently located near several major commuter highways. 

Kim’s troubles started back in 1999, the first time her medical license was threatened after a botched abortion in which she failed to properly estimate a baby’s gestational age, guessing it at 8 weeks when it was actually nearly 27 weeks.

When she realized the woman was farther along than she had thought, Kim accompanied her to the hospital, where she spurned efforts by hospital staff to assess and monitor the condition of the baby, instead attempting to continue the abortion by inducing premature labor. In the end, she was forced to perform a hysterotomy (a C-section performed with the intent of delivering a dead baby), and removed a stillborn infant weighing 2 lbs., 3 oz.  Her actions resulted in the suspension of her admitting privileges to Fairfax Hospital and her being placed on probation by the state Board of Medicine.  Her clinic and employees were also investigated by the Board.

Kim came off probation in Virginia in 2000, but lost her privilege to practice medicine in New York the same year after making a nearly identical mistake there.  In fact, at least four times in the last fifteen years, Kim has been formally investigated by state authorities after botched abortions led to injuries and in at least one case, the death of a woman in her care. 

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In 2007, after another stint on probation, she finally surrendered her Virginia medical license, promising to “retire” to avoid another revocation and associated fines after the state Board of Medicine found her clinic in violation of multiple health codes, including refusal to provide follow-up care to post-abortive women, multiple controlled substance violations, and falsely claiming to be a licensed surgical center. 

Nevertheless, Kim continued to perform abortions at the Fairfax facility, along with Joel Match, another abortionist with whom she was sued in 2009 for nearly killing a patient, and who recently had his own medical license suspended for providing prescription narcotics to drug addicts.

As if those legal troubles weren’t enough, the building’s owners, Eaton Place Associates, have been trying to kick the clinic out for years.  

Eaton first sued Kim in 2011 for creating an “unreasonable annoyance” due to the constant protests outside the building and Kim’s patients themselves, who were often found “lying down in corridors . . . and, in some instances, even vomiting,” according to court documents obtained by the Washington Post.  They also accused her of violating the terms of her lease by selling a majority share of the abortion business to Taehyun Kim, which they said constituted an illegal sublet.  Eaton eventually settled with Kim, agreeing to drop the lawsuit in exchange for the ability to revoke the option to renew the abortionist’s lease.

In March of this year, Kim applied for permits to move into another Fairfax City office space, but was denied permission because the building’s parking was deemed inadequate to handle the expected traffic from thousands of abortion-seeking women and the dozens of pro-life activists who pray and protest daily at the facility. 

In April, Eaton Place sued Kim again, this time for unpaid rent in the amount of $95,000.  In June, Kim agreed to pay the money she owed and vacate the facility. 

Now, thanks to a new ordinance passed last week by the Fairfax City Council, Kim may not be able to reopen in the city at all.    On July 9, the council voted in favor of new zoning regulations classifying abortion centers as “medical care facilities,” and removing “clinic” from the list of facilities that qualify as doctor’s offices, which are not subject to the same restrictions.  Medical care facilities must apply for a $4,800 special use permit and submit to a comprehensive approval process, followed by a final vote by the city council.

Given the spotty history both of Kim and her abortion clinic, it is difficult to imagine gaining the city’s approval will be easy.