Abortion clinic inspections more frequent under Kasich
Records: Violations differ depending on who is governor.
Since Republican Gov. John Kasich took office, state health inspectors have reported 17 times as many violations a year in Ohio abortion clinics as during the tenure of his predecessor, Democrat Ted Strickland.
Although no one can prove a cause and effect absolutely, hundreds of records examined by The Dispatch show that not only the number of violations but also the types of violations found at abortion clinics during the health department’s inspections during the past 10 years have differed greatly depending on who is the governor.
Only a handful of administrative violations — staff-performance evaluation, infection-control policies and procedures, disaster planning and transfer agreement — were found at Ohio’s current eight clinics in the four years when Strickland was governor.
A wider range of violations, including “safety and sanitation” and “adverse events,” have been found in the almost-seven years that Kasich has served. For example, an oral-suction machine at one abortion facility was found coated with a heavy layer of dust and dirt. The health department also is performing nearly four times as many inspections per year under Kasich as it did during Strickland’s single term.
Since Kasich was sworn in as governor on Jan. 10, 2011, health department employees have reported 149 violations during 62 inspections at the eight clinics that have remained open under both governors. Kasich opposes abortion rights except in the event of rape or incest or when the life of the woman is in jeopardy.
Under Strickland, who generally supports abortion rights, nine inspections of the eight current clinics unearthed five violations during his term from Jan. 10, 2007, to Jan. 10, 2011. The clinics seemed almost exempt from state inspections: Four were examined in 2007, one was in 2008 and four were in 2009; none was inspected in 2010.
“I have no recollections of this event being a topic of discussion in the governor’s office, nor did the governor’s office give guidance or direction to the health department on how to carry out inspections of abortion clinics,” said Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s former press secretary. To be fair, Ohio had several more abortion clinics while Strickland was governor, and he had to make sweeping budget cutbacks when the Great Recession hit.
The Dispatch obtained state health-department inspections reports from the past 10 years regarding the eight abortion clinics still operating in Ohio. In that decade, the clinics had 71 inspections that found 154 violations.
Even with the obvious stepped-up enforcement under Kasich, Greater Columbus Right to Life executive director Beth Vanderkooi said she believes that his personal position on abortion has not influenced the health department’s work.
“I don’t necessarily think his pro-life stance means that he should, or that he has kind of weaponized the Department of Health against abortion clinics,” Vanderkooi said.
Seven years ago, Ohio had 16 abortion clinics. Dr. David Burkons, owner of Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in the Akron suburb of Cuyahoga Falls, said the number has been cut in half mainly because of a state requirement that a clinic have a transfer agreement.
All Ohio ambulatory surgical centers, which include abortion clinics, are required to obtain a transfer agreement with a local hospital to take patients in the event of a medical emergency. In 2013, Ohio legislators and Kasich banned publicly funded hospitals from entering into transfer agreements with abortion clinics.
“The transfer-agreement thing is a ridiculous thing,” Burkons said.
“The transfer-agreement rule was tailor-made for many in the General Assembly and those who are intent on faith-based law and rule-making,” former state health-department bureau chief Roy Croy wrote in a November 2016 letter to the editor published by The Dispatch. “This is especially true in that often, faith-based hospitals are the only reasonably accessible choices for any health-care requirements to include reproductive health.”
Croy would not comment for this story, expressing frustration that his past complaints have changed nothing.
Inspection process
Facilities do not receive notification before an inspection takes place, said Melanie Amato, spokeswoman for the health department. The department “follows up on all complaints, and the severity/nature of the complaint determines the timeframe within which surveyors show up unannounced at the facility to conduct an investigation,” Amato said in an email.
Abortion clinics are classified as ambulatory surgical facilities, which provide outpatient-surgery services. Such clinics fall under one of many categories: abortion; aesthetic; dental; ear, nose and throat; eye care; gastrointestinal; general surgery; orthopedic; pain management; podiatric; spine; urology; and women’s services. Ohio had 268 such facilities in operation as of Friday. Abortion clinics also appear to have more inspections per year that find more violations than do non-abortion surgical clinics. Twenty-seven ambulatory surgical facility clinics, including half of Ohio’s abortion clinics, are operating despite having expired licenses, according to the health department’s website, as of Friday afternoon.
Oddly, that’s not a violation. “Clinics are allowed to continue operations after a license is expired as long as they have a pending application” with the department, Amato said in an email. “They can apply for their renewal license on the day that their license expires.”