Abstracting thousands of abortion injury cases has taught me a few patterns about how to spot a seedy clinic or quack abortionist. Please remember, though, that you enter any abortion facility at your own risk. Just because you don't notice any of these signs doesn't mean the place is necessarily safe. It's just that these particular signs should set alarm bells ringing in your head about the place. You'll probably want to investigate further or go someplace else. AbortionDocs.org is an excellent resource to see what sort of information has been gathered about the person or facility.
Some of these things might seem so outrageous you'd wonder how anyplace could operate doing these things. You might marvel that women don't just turn around and walk out when they see some of these things. All I can say to that is that I've seen the documentation myself. These kinds of things do, indeed, happen. And the mantra of "safe and legal" has led to a false sense of security. Many women dismiss their fears about the clinic or the doctor because they assume that somebody must be overseeing the place, or it wouldn't be operating openly. This is not necessarily the case. Women entrusted themselves to Kermit Gosnell and his House or Horrors.
In the order you're most likely to notice them:
1. The person who answers the phone when you call for an appointment verifies your pregnancy, and tells you how many weeks pregnant you are.
You can't make diagnoses over the phone, for one thing. And even with an examination, a practiced abortionist can be several weeks off in his estimate of how far a pregnancy has progressed. In facilities that pay the doctor on a sliding scale according to how advanced the pregnancy is, the final determination of his pay is typically made after the abortion, by comparing a fetal foot to a chart. If that kind of accuracy is necessary to determine how much to pay the doctor, how can they do your informed consent and counseling based on a guess made over the phone?
This one shouldn't need any elaboration, but women will walk into clinics, copies of malpractice suits in hand, and climb on the table anyway. This is probably because by the time they get to the clinic for their appointment, they've gotten into a "Let's just get this over with" mindset and have turned off their emotions and critical thinking skills. Therefore, it's a good idea to bring a companion along who is watching out for your safety. Give him or her the materials the prolifers hand you, and then if he or she says the place sounds dangerous, leave.
3. You are asked for payment in full up front, before any examination or counseling has been done.
As I said in #1, nobody can really verify how far advanced the pregnancy is without an ultrasound -- unless, of course, the abortion is over and they're measuring a fetal foot. How can they answer your questions about risks, the fetus, and the procedure if they don't know how far advanced your pregnancy actually is?
This might not mean quackery; it might just mean paternalism. But either way, you're being deprived of your right to make an informed decision. Any discussion of risks that doesn't cover failed abortion, hemorrhage, and infection is glossing over potential problems. Ask where the crash cart is and which hospital you'd be taken to in case of an emergency. If they can't tell you, that means they don't know and valuable time will be lost in a life-threatening medical emergency. And if you ask questions about the fetus and get answers that don't jibe with what you've seen on pregnancy websites such as BabyCenter, Parents, or What to Expect, they're not being honest with you. How can you trust them with your life if they won't give you truthful answers to simple questions?
5. You hear other patients moaning and/or screaming.
Obviously this place isn't using adequate pain management. Where else might they be skimping?
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| Combination patient bathroom and "sterilization room" at Krishna Rajanna's Affordable Medicine Clinic |
6. The facility appears dirty and/or disorganized.
Abortion is a surgical procedure with inherent risks. If they're not keeping the waiting room, counseling area, rest rooms, and hallways clean and sanitary, they're probably not keeping the scrub room, procedure rooms, and other critical areas clean and sanitary either.
7. There is a putrid, rotting smell.
Any fetal tissue should be properly labeled and sent to a lab, not left lying about to rot. If you can smell it in the patient areas, this is a very dangerous sign that proper protocols are not being followed in this facility.
8. Staff can't immediately answer questions about where they got their professional training.
Some places might have a doctor on staff -- on paper. That doesn't mean that the person doing your abortion has ever had any medical training at all. And in places where the doctor is such a quack the staff don't trust him, they might start doing medical procedures themselves because it seems safer that way. If the person about to do your abortion can't answer, "Where did you go to medical school?" as fast as you'd answer, "Where did you go to high school?" he or she might not have gone to medical school at all. The time to find out is before that person sticks sharp instruments into your body. Also, don't take it for granted that the person about to administer anesthesia knows what he or she is doing. Abortion clinics have been caught letting a "hand holder," a receptionist, and a janitor administer anesthesia. If the person standing at your head about to administer drugs can't say that he or she is an anesthesiologist or CRNA -- and say where he or she went to school, you might wind up being yet another anesthesia coma or death. Don't assume that just because the place is operating openly the staff are actually qualified.
9. They don't monitor you in the recovery room.
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| Lou Ann Herron: Pleas for help brushed off |
They at the very least should be putting a pulse oximeter on your finger and checking your vital signs every ten to fifteen minutes. There should also be a nurse in the room. Ask for the person's qualifications. If you're not being monitored and you're not sure the recovery room is overseen by a nurse, be ready to call 911 to get help for yourself if you start to become alarmed at your symptoms. Women have died right in the recovery room because their pleas for help were ignored or handled by somebody who didn't know what to do.
10. When you call for follow-up, you can't get through to a human being that will listen to you and take you seriously.
Especially in facilities that rely on "circuit riders," there might not be anybody on staff who has a clue how to deal with complications. The phone might ring to an answering machine. When Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli's family tried to reach clinic staff, the phone rang to the doctor's wife's equestrian supply business. If you are concerned about your symptoms and you can't reach a person, or you feel like you're being brushed off, seek care elsewhere regardless of what papers they asked you to sign before your abortion. When in doubt, go to the emergency room and bring any paperwork you have from the facility. Delays while trying to reach somebody who can and will direct you to proper aftercare can lead to disaster or death.
Watch Ten Warning Signs That an Abortion Facility is Unsafe on YouTube.
Watch Ten Warning Signs That an Abortion Facility is Unsafe on Rumble.
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