Planned Parenthood isn’t the only business that takes the cash of vulnerable women to earn their millions (though they certainly have a monopoly on abortion). America’s standalone abortion businesses are also a prevalent reality, including national chains like Whole Woman’s Health (WWH). This chain in particular doesn’t seem to be afraid of a scandal.
WWH has an abortion business in South Bend, Indiana, with a sordid past and a very questionable relationship with the law at present. It began with the facility’s opening in 2019 amid a cloud of controversy. The first question was… why South Bend?
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Reprotection’s Missy Stone cites local news reports at the time of the opening which claimed that the reason WWH chose this location was to gain “standing” to challenge Indiana state laws regulating abortion. WWH applied in 2017 for a facility license to sell abortion pills to women up to 10 weeks pregnant. Fortunately, Reprotection got ahead of them during the planning phase of their move to South Bend. Because of pro-active monitoring of new abortion facility applications, we knew four days after the application had been filed and began compiling research.
Cathie Humbarger, the founder of Reprotection, submitted three binders full of Whole Woman’s Health’s past transgressions at other facilities as reasons that the abortion chain was not eligible to receive a license for this new facility. This information was provided to the authorities and after an investigation, the state denied the application.
So, WWH did what the abortion industry does best and took the matter to the courts. They sued the state and brought the case, along with an omnibus challenge of other common sense pro-life laws, to a pro-abortion judge, Sarah Evans Barker, who said, ‘Go ahead and open shop with no license.’ This decision was appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which not only upheld Barker’s ruling but also instructed the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) to either grant them a provisional license OR treat them “as if they had one.” The Department chose the latter, and just like that, this chemical abortion business has been operating with no licensure whatsoever and is currently not subject to inspections according to the Department.
Not only did this one judge tell the abortion business to go open and run amok, accountable to no one – she also acquiesced to WWH and issued a permanent injunction against the assortment of pro-life Indiana laws this junky abortion chain felt compelled to challenge simultaneously. She blocked Indiana’s requirement that doctors inform women that human life begins at fertilization as well as a state provision requiring abortions later in pregnancy to be performed at a hospital. Fortunately, Barker’s order to block the challenged laws was put on hold until the entire case has been settled.
Reprotection has worked tirelessly attempting to hold Whole Woman’s Health accountable to Indiana regulations and laws ever since. We requested inspection reports and notes from the ISDH. They responded that they did not have the authority to inspect this abortion business because of the court ruling.
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Yet again, an abortion business is being permitted to run amok because abortion is treated as special, plus no one wants to deal with them. They’re like the problem child of the medical world, except that this problem child is actually a kill-for-profit machine.
Reprotection’s review of the court decision found that the ISDH was actually given directions to inspect Whole Women’s Health – the exact opposite of the ISDH’s stated position. We now have no records to review for violations. The lack of inspections made it impossible for us to take action. This abortion business significantly added to the rise in the number of abortions from 2019 to 2020 (Indiana numbers are going up in general).
Naturally, we are now pushing ISDH to inspect this abortion business so that we can hold them accountable. After all, Indiana is a pro-life state. A rogue facility with a bad track record barged in and used a biased judge to kill established laws designed to protect women and save babies. Now, the health department says they can’t even inspect them. It’s patently absurd, and we will not stop fighting for the safety of women and the lives of children in South Bend.