How We Did It – A Conversation with Christine Smith, CCS Vice President of Investigations

(The following article includes information that may be disturbing to some readers)

Many of you are familiar with our mission – To investigate, report, and shut down abortion businesses to protect vulnerable women and children from harm. And you’ve likely heard us share our successes in shutting down dangerous abortion businesses, stopping abortion facilities from opening, and ending the practices of shady, incompetent abortionists.

But how did we do it?

Christine Smith, our Vice President of Investigations, gave us an inside look at the incredible work that went into three of our many victories: The closing of American Family Planning in Pensacola, Florida, and the prevention of two Planned Parenthood facilities in upstate New York. These victories illustrate how the Center for Client Safety is achieving tangible, measurable success in protecting women and saving preborn lives.

American Family Planning – Pensacola, Florida

As is so often the case, our investigation into American Family Planning began with reports from pro-life Sidewalk Advocates serving outside the facility. Christine said, “The most fundamental part of every CCS investigation is the people who bring us information. That is the foundation. That is where it starts. We don't have a case if we don’t have good information. The local Sidewalk Advocates for Life chapter was an invaluable partner in closing American Family Planning.”

The Sidewalk Advocates told us that they had evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the abortion facilities. Christine and her team filed several open records requests and, in turn, received copious amounts of information. “Many people don’t realize how much time goes into filing requests and reading documents. My team and I spend dozens of hours poring through documents every month to determine what laws or regulations have been violated,” she explained.

Evidence was discovered that suggested American Family Planning was dishonest in its facility application with the state. The application stated that it had a transfer agreement with a local hospital, which was proven to be false by the hospital itself. Other problems were uncovered at the abortion facility – it was dirty, and the standard of care was “non-existent,” according to CCS President & CEO Missy Martinez-Stone.

The Center for Client Safety team began to raise concerns with the state health department regarding the lack of emergency protocol but was often met with nonchalance. Our fears became a reality when three women almost died due to the very concerns we were raising. According to the investigation reports:

Patient 1 came in for a second-trimester abortion at 19.6 weeks on May 5, 2022. The abortion was not completed due to possible uterine rupture and cervical lacerations. She lost a significant amount of blood, but the exact amount was unknown because the writing on her chart was illegible. Afterward, she sat in the car with her spouse and was not monitored according to proper procedure, despite needing emergency care. The clinic instructed her husband to drive her an hour away to a hospital instead of using a nearby hospital in Pensacola. By the time she received care, her blood pressure was undetectable, and she required resuscitation and a massive transfusion. No records of this incident were found at American Family Planning, as required by law.

Patient 2 came in for a second-trimester abortion at 20.2 weeks on March 23, 2022. During the laminaria procedure to open the cervix, she began experiencing bleeding. She was given Pitocin and Methergine, but there were no records of her vitals being monitored as required by law. By the time she was transferred to the ER, she had no pulse and had lost an unknown amount of blood. Records indicate there were "pools of blood" at American Family Planning when emergency personnel arrived. Two large holes were discovered on the left and right walls of the uterus, along with cervical lacerations. Doctors were unable to save any of her reproductive organs, and she underwent a total hysterectomy.

Patient 3 had an abortion in November 2021 and required the repair of uterine perforation, a colon resection, a colostomy, a sigmoidectomy, and a cystoscopy. Despite the legal requirement to report complications, the clinic did not report this or any other injuries.

Our concerns were finally taken seriously, and Florida’s Agency of Health Care Administration (ACHA) emergency suspended the facility’s operating license, resulting in its immediate closure.

In a July 13, 2022 report from the State of Florida Department of Health, authorities stated that the abortionist, Christopher Saputa’s extreme incompetence was because he was a family practice physician and did not have training as an OB/GYN:

“Dr. Saputa is not a trained gynecological surgeon.” The report goes on to say, “An independent medical expert reviewed Dr. Saputa’s curriculum vitae and determined that Dr. Saputa does not have the education, training, or experience to be competent to perform gynecological surgeries or procedures and that his continued performance of these surgeries is a public safety hazard.

The abortion facility was permanently closed in August 2022 after ACHA fined American Family Planning almost $400,000 for health and safety violations found during the complaint investigation. The medical license of the abortionist was suspended for an additional year and he is permanently banned from ever performing abortions again. 

“This case took over two years, so we had to make sure we stayed in touch with the state agencies,” Christine explained. “I had to continually follow up because if we don’t do so with these abortion-related cases, the agencies will drop them. Our success is based on us tenaciously following up.” 

Planned Parenthood – Brighton and Henrietta, New York

The Center for Client Safety was approached by pro-life community members in Brighton, New York, an upstate community, asking for help on violations discovered in the city’s approval process for a new Planned Parenthood facility.

It was first discovered that Planned Parenthood filed the necessary paperwork for this new building project in the wrong county. Despite this obvious error, construction was approved, and the abortion facility project in Brighton began moving forward.

Linda Mandel Clemente, the attorney for the pro-life community members, filed a case against those involved, highlighting the city’s lack of proper consideration of community impact and the lack of meeting basic project approval requirements.

Just as concerns arose about Planned Parenthood's lack of proper approval, the landlord of the medical facility they intended to build in revoked their lease.

Then, the Planned Parenthood affiliate set its sights on Henrietta, New York – only one town over.

The Center for Client Safety was again approached by several pro-life community members who wanted to appear before the Henrietta Town Board to make the case that an abortion facility was not in the best interest of the community. But, our research uncovered even more…  

Christine explained, “I had at least ten lengthy consultations with the community members about the best arguments to make before the board. I looked through the local zoning code, precedent, and recent medical facilities and how they were zoned. I quickly discovered that if Planned Parenthood were allowed to open, it would be a clear case of preferential treatment.”

The Planned Parenthood in question wanted to open in a strip mall close to a restaurant. Opening a medical facility that would be disposing of human remains and medical waste next to a restaurant was against the local code. It would have required the town board to grant Planned Parenthood a “special use permit.”

When the Henrietta Town Board gathered to discuss granting a “special use permit” to the Planned Parenthood affiliate, the Center for Client Safety team helped the local pro-life advocates write accurate, research-based testimony that was presented before the vote on the “special use permit” on why the abortion facility should not be allowed to open in the zone they’d requested. 

A 3-2 decision was returned the following Thursday morning against Planned Parenthood, denying their request for a “special use permit.” The Planned Parenthood facility did not open in the strip mall. 

Our two New York victories illustrate that our strategy works in every state, even states with no abortion regulations. Even in the most pro-abortion states, abortion facilities must adhere to standard business requirements.

“Because many states don’t require oversight of abortion facilities, they believe they are above the law,” Christine explained, “Abortion facilities are not above the law. Every day at the Center for Client Safety, we ensure that they are held accountable for every person they injure and every law they break.”

Looking Ahead

Every abortion facility the Center for Client Safety helps close or prevents from opening, every abortionist we’re able to stop from practicing results in hundreds to thousands of lives saved.

Christine told us, “Many people don’t understand how long our cases can take. We have been working on one case for over four years. Every day, we are achieving small victories – information exposed about a dangerous abortionist, learning that we have proof of abortion facility wrongdoing. It is a slow, tedious process because so much of our work depends on us making sure others are doing their jobs.”

What can you do?

“Every donation we receive helps our investigative process,” said Christine. “$50 can cover our time filing open records requests. $100 can cover the time we spend on a consultation with local pro-life leaders. $1,000 helps pay for the hundreds of pages of documents we must meticulously review each month. Every dollar gets us one step closer to stopping another abortion business.”

Despite pro-abortion legislative victories and states that are positioning themselves as “abortion havens,” our strategy is working. We invite you to join us as we continue our mission to investigate, report, and shut down abortion businesses to protect vulnerable women and children from harm.