Kansas late-term abortion clinic closes over personnel issues

Trust Women, a late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas stopped operations last week, according to a news release from Operation Rescue.

Inside sources reported that the co-executive directors and medical director were fired in April. The medical director reportedly was replaced with an unqualified candidate, an emergency medicine doctor of osteopathy who founded a wellness clinic.  As a result, 10 of the clinic’s total 16 abortionists have resigned.

Before the clinic’s abrupt, temporary closure, it saw 650 to 750 patients per month. According to Operation Rescue’s most recent annual survey, the facility charges $750 for surgical and pill abortions.

“If you do the math, that’s nearly $9 million annually,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said. “This is a big deal. Closing the doors for just one month would result in a loss of well over half a million dollars.”

In a statement released by the Trust Women Foundation’s board of directors, the organization announced new protocols that require two physicians and a medical director with abortion experience to be present while abortions are performed. Although the news release indicated the new protocols became effective immediately, no reopening date was specified.

The clinic’s building originally was owned and operated by the late-term abortionist George Tiller. It was later purchased by Julie Burkhart, who now owns Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyo., and Hope Clinic in Granite City, Ill., named the “Worst of the Worst” by Operation Rescue.

“Operation Rescue has investigated this abortion business located in the city of our headquarters for many years, finding evidence of noncompliance with the most basic medical standards,” Newman said. “Trust Women’s past noncompliance has led to regular botched abortions and hospitalizations. This scandal has revealed the situation is not improving but getting even worse. This place needs to be shut down once and for all.”

Operation Rescue’s independent investigation into Trust Women is ongoing, calling for enforcement of laws already on the books. The firings of its leadership reportedly were due to presumably even more severe noncompliance issues than proven in the past.

“With this new information, we have reason to believe laws may have been violated,” Newman said. “We are launching a full-scale investigation into the matter, including formal complaints to the appropriate agencies.”

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