Let it die there. These new requirements would not protect women's health - they would do just the opposite. They would not prevent outlaws like Kermit Gosnell from doing business. In fact, they might increase demand, since access to safe abortions in this state - already limited by cost and geography - would be even more drastically reduced.
If this measure becomes law, many or most of the 20 free-standing abortion clinics in Pennsylvania - the two others are in hospitals - would have to close at least temporarily to make millions of dollars of unnecessary improvements. And that would mean that the clinics would not be able to provide basic health care like cancer screenings and contraception for the low-income women they now serve.
Soon after a grand jury looking into the Gosnell case revealed that Pennsylvania had consciously ended annual inspections of abortion clinics in 1993, Gov. Corbett instituted wide-ranging reforms. The Pennsylvania Health Department now carries out annual inspections, as well as random visits of facilities if there are complaints. The inspections are very thorough - witness the 16-page checklist of requirements. In fact, Health Secretary Eli Avila recently testified to a Senate committee that Pennsylvania clinics are safe abortion providers.
So why did both houses of the Legislature get involved - especially when they supposedly are under intense pressure to deal with serious and complicated budget issues?
Is it just a coincidence that requiring upgrades like these is one of the tactics to limit access to abortion recommended by national anti-abortion- rights groups?
