Category: Press Releases

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RAW Footage of Tara Shaver’s interview with Local ABC News Channel 7 announcing a historic effort here in the Late-Term abortion Capital of the Nation for “the peoples” voice to be heard and allow the residents of Albuquerque the opportunity to rise up and ban Late-Term abortions in our city! This is a petition for direct legislation, ironically the “Democratically” controlled legislature up in Santa Fe is preventing the will of the people to be accomplished in this state…so “We the People” are taking direct steps to side-step Santa Fe and allow the democratic process to truly take place here in ABQ!

Below is another of the many interviews Tara Shaver did with KAZQ32 “Spectrum Daily” on Wednesday July 3rd announcing our direct legislation initiative to end Late-Term abortion in Albuquerque. We need your help getting the word out about this and your help getting the 15,000 signatures by the end of JULY to get this on the ballot this October! If you would like to help us, contact Tara for more information: 505-319-7825 or shavermissions@gmail.com

The following report is by Cheryl Sullenger and originally appeared at www.operationrescue.org

Albuquerque Initiative to Protect Pain Capable Unborn Children is First in Nation at City Level

Albuquerque, New Mexico – A first-in-the-nation effort has been launched by an Albuquerque pro-life group that could ban late-term abortions within the city limits of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the largest late-term abortion clinic in the nation operates.

“On June 28th, 2013, concerned citizens of Albuquerque, New Mexico, filed a petition for direct legislation by voter initiative with the Albuquerque City Clerk. The ‘Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance’ if put into law in the city of Albuquerque will undoubtedly protect women and children from abortion,” stated Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life, who announced the initiative at a press conference today.

Frustrated by the state’s legislature, which is controlled by pro-abortion Democrats, the group launched the city-wide legislative petition to enact a city ordinance that would protect pain capable unborn children after 20 weeks gestation. The city ordinance would be similar in language to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which recently cleared the House of Representatives, and a bill known as HB2 in Texas that is the subject of a second special legislative session that has attracted thousands on both sides of the issue to the Texas Capitol.

Eight states have passed late-term abortion bans based on the ability of the pre-born baby to feel pain. If the legislative petition is successful, Albuquerque could become the first city to independently enact a ban on the local level.

Interest in protecting pre-born babies that can feel pain has increased dramatically after horrific details of babies being born alive then brutally murdered surfaced during the Kermit Gosnell murder trial, followed by similar accusations supported by photographic evidence made by three former employees of Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen.

Recent polls show that 64% of Americans oppose abortions in the second trimester while over 80% oppose third trimester abortions such as the kind done in Albuquerque at a clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options, owned by Texas abortionist Curtis Boyd.

At Southwestern Women’s Options, three abortionists Shelley Sella, Susan Robinson, and Carmen Landau offer a method of late-term abortion invested by George Tiller of Kansas. The process begins with an injection through the abdomen and into the baby that is mean to cause “fetal demise,” however, the drug used has a high failure rate, which either necessitates a second attempt or results in babies being born alive. Women are then given an unpredictable drug called Cytotec to induce contractions and are sent to a hotel where abortionists admit women sometimes give birth into the toilets in their hotel room.

“The citizens of Albuquerque are deeply concerned about the safety of women seeking abortions beyond 20 weeks, which according to late term abortionist Curtis Boyd’s, owner of Southwestern Women’s Options, informed consent paperwork are more dangerous than carrying the pregnancy to term,” said Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life.

An abortion consent form used by Southwestern Women’s Options notes the following concerning risks of the very late abortions that are dangerously done in an out-patient clinic and sometimes completed in a local hotel:

No guarantee or assurance has been made to me as to the results that may be obtained [as a result of the abortion]. The risk of terminating a pregnancy gradually increases throughout the course of the pregnancy. These comparative risks become approximately equal at 16-18 weeks of pregnancy and increases so that pregnancy termination at 18 weeks and above involves a greater risk than carrying the pregnancy to term.

Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue worked together to expose over a dozen documented medical emergencies at Albuquerque abortion clinics, the majority of which occurred at Southwestern Women’s Options. One incident documented a woman who suffered a ruptured uterus during a 35 week abortion and nearly died. Shelley Sella was charged with gross negligence for that abortion by the New Mexico Medical Board, which inexplicably cleared her of wrongdoing after an expensive prosecution.

The proposed new ordinance acknowledges the fact that as early as 8 weeks gestation a developing baby can respond to touch. This fact was confirmed by testimony given in during a House Judiciary Committee meeting by Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Part of the findings and authorities contained in the ordinance language states, “The position, asserted by some commentators, that the unborn child remains in a coma-like sleep state that precludes the unborn child experiencing pain is inconsistent with the documented reaction of unborn children to painful stimuli and with the experience of fetal surgeons who had found it necessary to sedate the unborn child with anesthesia to prevent the unborn child from engaging in vigorous movement in reaction to invasive surgery.”

“We fully support this citizen’s petition effort in Albuquerque and congratulate Project Defending Life for side-stepping the obstructionists in the state legislature who are busy protecting abortionists when they should be protecting viable babies during the most vulnerable times in their lives,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.

Operation Rescue plans to join Project Defending Life and the Survivors in Albuquerque on August 2-4 to train citizens and stand in support of the local Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance.

By Tara Shaver

(Here is the undercover call)

Albuquerque, NM — An undercover investigation of the Southwest’s largest so-called “women’s clinic” has revealed that the purpose of this clinic is not to provide women’s healthcare at all, but to sell women one product – abortion. In fact, the only option given to women at the misnamed Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is abortion. Period.

So many times people criticize pro-life activists for focusing attention on local abortion clinics, citing the many other services such clinics provide. However, at Southwestern Women’s Options, a clinic that specializes in lucrative third trimester abortions, there are no other services.

Here in Albuquerque, as we reach out to abortion-bound women outside of this late-term abortion clinic, women give us all kinds of reason as to why they are going inside. “I’m having an ectopic pregnancy removed,” “I’m here for an IUD,” “I’m getting birth control,” “I’m here for a mammogram,” “I’m here for a well woman exam,” or “I am here for STD (sexually transmitted disease) testing” are the excuses we hear from women entering the clinic on an almost daily basis. Very few women actually admit to going in for an abortion to kill their child.

The heart of the abortion industry is ABORTION, not women’s healthcare. Abortion clinics are businesses and many of them like SWO only offer abortions because that’s where the money is. With all of the talk recently about protecting women’s healthcare, we must ask ourselves, “What ‘healthcare’ services are we talking about?”

Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue, recently conducted an undercover investigation to find out exactly what services Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) actually provides women. When an undercover caller asked SWO if birth control could be obtained at the clinic the reply was, “Birth control is only available to our (abortion) patients.”

When asked whether or not annual well women’s exams like pap smears are offered, the answer again was, “No.” When asked if they screen for sexually transmitted diseases, the answer once again was no.

Most disturbingly when asked if an ectopic pregnancy can be seen on ultrasound at SWO, the answer was, “No.” This fact alone is troublesome because these types of pregnancies can be life threatening.

In fact, the employee of SWO that we conversed with indicated that her ultrasound machine was so outdated that it was incapable of diagnosing an ectopic pregnancy. If a woman was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, she told us that their facility wasn’t equipped to handle that kind of thing.

“That requires a surgical site to do that,” she admitted, even though the abortions done at the clinic where she works do surgical abortions all day long. Was she admitting that her facility wasn’t properly equipped to properly handle surgeries and the complications that might develop from them?

We think so, and have documentation to support it.

Project Defending Life has documented 14 abortion injuries since 2008 at SWO. The most recent abortion related injury occurred on March 1, 2013. Life-threatening complications suffered by these women range from hemorrhage, to incomplete abortions where baby body parts were not completely removed, to a ruptured uterus during a 35-week abortion.

To further show that money is a motivating factor behind the abortion industry, a previous undercover investigation of SWO revealed that late-term abortions on perfectly healthy babies and babies diagnosed with Down syndrome cost anywhere from 8-16 THOUSAND DOLLARS. In fact, the taxpayers of New Mexico foot the bill 100% for these abortions via Medicaid. In 2011 alone, New Mexico Medicaid paid for 1,786 abortions at a whopping cost of $1,127,557.26 to New Mexico taxpayers.

Healthcare is defined as “the field concerned with the maintenance or restoration of the health of the body or mind,” however, abortion does neither. Abortion doesn’t restore the health of the woman’s body nor in our vast experience with post-abortive women, does abortion restore the mind.

In fact, the procedures employed during an abortion do just the opposite. For instance, the suction within the uterus during a first trimester aspiration abortion can be damaging to the uterine wall. The second trimester procedure requires that the pre-born child be pulled apart piece by piece with grasping instruments, which sometimes results in an internal organ being grabbed instead of the child. The third trimester procedure is essentially an early induced labor, after the pre-born child has been euthanized via a fetal heart attack. The drug combination and other aspects of this horrific practice bears many risks to the woman.

Abortion certainly doesn’t heal the minds of women either; in fact many post abortive women testify that mentally they are in turmoil after their abortions for many years.

Abortion isn’t healthcare. It provides no benefit to anyone, woman or child, except for the abortionists and their bank accounts. The New York Times recently published an article “The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking,” that described the Nazi “care” centers that committed unspeakable atrocities on women, including abortions, which sound eerily similar to our modern day American women’s health “care” clinics.

Should these types of clinics receive public money when they do not offer basic healthcare and in fact, have the potential of harming the health of unsuspecting women? We think not.

The lack of basic medical care provided to women at clinics like Southwestern Women’s Options and the staggering number of documented abortion injuries, not just in Albuquerque, but nationwide, should motivate all of us to be even more diligent to offer help to abortion-vulnerable women, especially at the abortion clinics themselves, because it seems that the only ones who truly care about the health of women — body, mind, and soul – are those of us outside the walls of American abortion clinics.

By, Operation Rescue 

November 12, 2012

Albuquerque, NM – Acting on complaints filed by Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life, the New Mexico Medical Board (NMMB) has filed a Notice of Contemplated Action alleging gross negligence against late-term abortionist Shelley Sella during a 35-week abortion that landed the woman in the hospital with a ruptured uterus.

“Shelley Sella has a long and sordid history. We have been looking forward to the day when she would be held accountable for her abortion abuses. That day has finally arrived,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue.

The abortion took place on May 12, 2011. Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life obtained a copy of the 911 call placed that day, which revealed incriminating details of the medical emergency. Mrs. Shaver worked with Operation Rescue to file a series of complaints that resulted in the Board’s action.

A hearing will be held on November 29-30 to determine what, if any, disciplinary action the Board will take, which could include suspension or revocation of Sella’s New Mexico medical license.

NMMB documents state that Sella wrongly conducted the dangerous 35-week abortion in a clinic setting instead of a hospital and disregarded the patient’s history of a previous Caesarean Section delivery. A Caesarean Section weakens the uterus, increasing the risks of rupture during subsequent labors. Sella is also accused of over-using uterine stimulants, which contributed to the life-threatening rupture.

Sella is a former associate of the late George Tiller, having worked for him at his infamous late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas. After that clinic closed in 2009, Sella went to work for Curtis Boyd at Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an affiliate of the troubled National Abortion Federation, conducting the same grisly late-term abortion procedure she learned in Wichita.

Sella cancelled her Kansas medical license the same week the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts notified Operation Rescue that a disciplinary petition had been filed against one of Sella’s Kansas co-workers, Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who had provided improper late-term abortion referrals to Tiller’s abortion clinic.

Testimony taken during Neuhaus’ disciplinary hearings indicated that late-term abortions done in Kansas by Sella were in fact illegal. The KSBHA revoked Neuhaus’ medical license, but because Sella had previously surrendered her license, she was outside their jurisdiction and avoided accountability for her actions.

Sella also works as an abortionist for Planned Parenthood in California.

More Information

Bud and Tara Shaver- “We are former intern’s with Operation Rescue. We moved to Albuquerque, NM to work alongside Project Defending Life to implement proven strategies to peacefully and legally end abortion in New Mexico.” 

Check out the endorsement by Operation Rescue published by www.lifenews.com:

Pro-Life Advocates in New Mexico Keep Fighting Abortion Industry

By, Cheryl Sullenger- Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue

Bud and Tara Shaver need our support to continue their life-saving work in the Late Term Abortion Capital of the Southwest

Albuquerque, NM — Bud and Tara Shaver are full time pro-life missionaries in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their ministry encompasses its name, “Prayer and a Pro-life Witness.” As former Operation Rescue interns they have learned proven strategies to close down abortion clinics. Since arriving in Albuquerque in July 2010 they have begun to implement those strategies by stripping away the layers of the abortion industry and by educating the public with the truth about abortion. When the Shaver’s arrived in New Mexico there were seven abortion clinics, as of January 1, 2012 there are only five! The retirement of abortionists Lucia Cies in Santa Fe and Bruce Ferguson in Albuquerque at the end of 2011 is proof that when pressure and exposure is applied through peaceful legal means abortionists aren’t willing to continue killing babies!

Why Albuquerque, New Mexico?

The Shaver’s have researched and uncovered, that the injustice of abortion is deeply entrenched in New Mexico. New Mexico is one of 15 states in the country that force tax payers to foot the bill for abortion! The state also has virtually no laws protecting the pre-born and those who are in positions of authority have proven to be apathetic and unwilling to act. Abortion clinics are running amok in New Mexico, with virtually no oversight from the Health Department or other state agencies to ensure unsuspecting women’s safety!

Albuquerque is also home to the notorious Late Term abortion clinic Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) run by abortionist Curtis Boyd. Curtis Boyd was an illegal abortionist who harmed women before Roe vs. Wade and continues to put women at risk in his Albuquerque clinic. SWO performs abortions through all nine months of pregnancy unashamedly. Albuquerque is also home to the University of New Mexico which operates a free standing abortion clinic (UNM Center for Reproductive Health) which performs abortions through 22 weeks of pregnancy. The University of New Mexico is attempting to train the next generation of abortionists through a residency training program and has medical students performing abortions. Using the research training they received as interns, the Shavers have begun to uncover and expose a deep seated abortion culture and agenda at the University of New Mexico.

Accomplishments this far

In June 2011 Tara obtained fourteen 911 calls stemming fromboth SWO and The University of New Mexico’s abortion clinics through a public records request. While most pro-abortion individuals believe that legal abortion is safe, the Shaver’s have debunked that myth by uncovering the 911 calls. These calls revealed serious abortion complications including uncontrollable bleeding after a punctured uterus, seizures and a ruptured uterus. Once these calls were obtained, Medical Board complaints were then filed by Tara and Operation Rescue. Filing Medical Board complaints in other states has proven to be extremely successful in closing down clinics by the stripping of doctors licenses. Once light is shed on how women are being needlessly injured behind abortion clinic doors the Medical Board is then compelled to act.

Bud and Tara have also been diligently working to mobilize the Christian community through education to become actively pro-life. They are also striving to organize and maintain a constant prayerful presence at the abortion clinics in Albuquerque. As a result of their efforts countless lives of women and babies have been saved and Churches are getting involved.

They have endured persecution and assault as they boldly confront evil every day in order to light up the darkness! The Shaver’s have also helped Project Defending Life open and run their second pregnancy resource center directly across the street from UNM Center for Reproductive Health abortion mill.

The Shaver’s collaborate with established Pro-Life organizations in New Mexico, and are directly working alongside Project Defending Life. With the leadership of Father Stephen Imbarrato the Shaver’s have met with several state senators, representatives, other public officials, and the Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez numerous times delivering the information they have uncovered into the hands of those who can act. They are working to develop a relevant strategy to address the pertinent Life Issues that face New Mexico. Bud and Tara recognized the abortion crisis and urgent need for outreach in New Mexico and have made New Mexico their mission field.

Operation Rescue recently launched the Pro-Life Nation project, and the Shaver’s are an example of what the Pro-Life Nation is, and what it takes to achieve it! The Shaver’s are working to end abortion in New Mexico by implementing proven strategies they learned during their time with Operation Rescue and they are ending abortion one woman, one child, one day at a time!

The Shaver’s are full-time Pro-Life Missionaries and raise our own support from individuals who have a heart for their life saving work! Please prayerfully consider supporting this family so they can continue their effort to end abortion in New Mexico!

All donations made out to Project Defending Life, earmarked for “Bud or Tara Shaver” are tax deductible. Your donation can be mailed to:

Bud and Tara Shaver
P.O. Box 50351
Albuquerque, NM 87181

Also, tax-deductible donations can be made on-line here: Prayer and a Pro-Life Witness

________________________________
About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.

About Pro-Life Nation

Pro-Life Nation is an initiative of Operation Rescue that offers a goal-oriented strategy to end abortion. For more visit ProLifeNation.org and read our new booklet that details our strategy.
________________________________
Web site: www.operationrescue.org
E-mail: info.operationrescue@gmail.com

This also appered on LifeNews.com

Pro-Life Advocates in New Mexico Keep Fighting Abortion Industry

________________________________
LifeNews.com is an independent news agency devoted to reporting news that affects the pro-life community. With a team of experienced journalists and bloggers, LifeNews.com reaches more than 500,000 pro-life advocates each week via its web site, email news reports, social networking outreach and weekday radio program.

LifeNews.com also acts as a service provider to furnish news content to media that share the pro-life perspective. The topics covered by LifeNews.com include abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia, bioethics issues such as human cloning and stem cell research, campaigns and elections, and legal and legislative issues.

Formerly the Pro-Life Infonet, LifeNews.com has been harnessing the power of the Internet since 1992 to bring pro-life news to the pro-life community. We’ve developed a reputation for fairness, accuracy and timeliness in our nearly two decades of service.
________________________________

Graphic anti-abortion billboard drives around town.

Report originally appeared at koat.com (Complete report including video footage!)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -Report by By Anna Velasquez koat.com

An anti-abortion activist has taken his message to the streets and highways of Albuquerque with a rolling billboard that displays graphic pictures.

Bud Shaver drives around a truck with huge, larger-than-life pictures of dead fetuses from what he said are late-term abortions.

“This just shows what abortion is,” Shaver said. “It shows the reality of what abortion is. It also restores meaning to the word abortion.”

The billboard also declares Albuquerque as the nation’s late-term abortion capital.

“As far as late-term abortion is concerned, Albuquerque is the capital for the United States just because it’s drawing people from all over the country,” he said.

Shaver keeps his truck near the Southwestern Women’s Options abortion clinic at Lomas Boulevard and Interstate 25. He is part of the daily protest there, and knows these pictures drive some people over the edge.

Last summer, a woman attacked Shaver for holding graphic pictures. She was arrested.

While there were no attacks Wednesday, some admit, they had to leave the area because they found it so offensive.

“I looked up and I saw that truck,” said Kathy Foy, who was looking for a nice place to sit in her car and have lunch. “It needs to stay between a woman and her doctor. It shouldn’t be on a van on the street in a public place like this.”

In New Mexico, late-term abortion is legal if the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life.

(End of Report)

Actually Late-Term abortion’s can be done for any reason up to the day of birth in New Mexico and is funded 100% by YOU and ME the taxpayer thanks to Medicaid! Read the following report by Tara Shaver, Project Defending Life: New Mexico forced taxpayers to fund 1,786 abortions in 2011.

Women obtaining Late-Term abortions are not doing so to save their own life, because the late-term procedure is such that, they still have to go through the pain and process of delivery! The only difference is that they give birth to a dead child…The baby was killed two-three days earlier! Read the entire late-term procedure here: Late-Term.com

The truth is, women can obtain abortion’s for any reason up to the day of birth here in New Mexico! Generally, abortion’s are done in the later stages of pregnancy for fetal abnormalities…such as Down Sydrome! In fact 90% of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome, do not survive the womb…They are aborted.

Here are two undercover video’s revealing the shocking truth about tax funded Late-Term abortion’s at Southwestern Women’s Options!

Call Reveals Medicaid Paying $16,000 to Abort 30-Week Down Syndrome Baby

Undercover Calls Reveal Medicaid Pays For $9,000 Late-term Abortions With Our Tax Dollars

By Tara Shaver, Project Defending Life

The State of New Mexico has one of the highest poverty rates. Money that could go to alleviate poverty has instead been dished out to abortion providers to the tune of over 1.1 million state tax dollars in 2011 to fund abortions through Medicaid.

Medicaid first began to cover abortion services in 1976, but only for cases when the life of the mother was endangered, as per the Federal Hyde Amendment. In 1977, the Hyde Amendment wording was changed to allow federal funding for abortions to also include cases of rape or incest in addition to life endangerment of the mother.

In New Mexico, Medicaid coverage was extended to “medically necessary” abortions, to be funded out of state funds without any federal financial participation. “Medically necessary” includes physical or mental health issues, but not to the extent of endangering the life of the mother. These policies have not changed in New Mexico since 1998.

“In 2011, New Mexico tax payers paid for 1,786 abortions which amounted to $1,127,557.26. This really brings new meaning to the concept of forced abortions, only now the coercion is foisted upon New Mexico tax payers to fund abortions,” stated Bud Shaver of Project Defending Life.

Abortion Injuries Cause Further Concern

Last June, fourteen 911 calls were obtained through a public records request, prompting even more concern about New Mexico tax funds paying for abortions. At least 14 women were seriously injured by abortions that were potentially paid for by tax payers. Women suffered from uncontrolled bleeding, a ruptured uterus, seizures, and near life threatening complications after and during the abortions.

Tax payers should not be forced to fund a failing industry that harms women and kills their children.

Abortion Clinics Lack Oversight

As Albuquerque attracts women from all over the country seeking abortions, it is also of great concern that the surgical portion of the clinics are never inspected. Abortion clinics nationwide are commonly under regulated, but in a state where tax payers foot the bill for abortions there is almost no oversight. The New Mexico Department of Health currently claims to lack jurisdiction over abortion clinics because they are not classified properly to come under its oversight. This partly explains the abortion injuries we continue to see here in Albuquerque.

Authorities and Public Officials Notified, Action Anticipated

Complaints were filed with the New Mexico Medical Board shortly after the fourteen 911 tapes were obtained. It is unclear as to what extent an investigation in the interest of public safety is underway. Our concerns and all pertinent information have been given to Governor Martinez’s office. Project Defending Life has just recently met with the Governor’s staff and brought the crisis of forced taxpayer-funded abortions to the Governor’s attention.

It is truly unfortunate that there have been years of neglect regarding the safety of women entering unregulated and dangerous abortion clinics in Albuquerque. The 1.1 million dollars currently paying for abortions could certainly be used more effectively to help those in need in the state of New Mexico.

We have been assured by the Governor’s office that steps are being taken to turnaround this deep seated abortion culture that has caused New Mexico to be labeled the Abortion Capital of the Southwest. It is our hope that the New Mexico Department of Health will begin inspections of these abortion facilities and that the New Mexico Medical Board will fully investigate the 14 botched abortions and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

“In our discussions with the Governor’s office, we understand that a lot of work needs to be done to change this culture of innocent deaths and wounding of women. It has gotten so bad that the New Mexico abortion industry has publicly bragged about unrestricted abortion access in New Mexico, abortions performed on girls as young as 11, and people coming from surrounding states to have abortions here in New Mexico,” stated Fr. Stephen Imbarrato of Project Defending Life, after meeting with the Governor’s Chief of Staff. “It is our hope and expectation that the Governor will explore every option at her disposal to end what has become a shameful and unacceptable situation here in New Mexico.”

By Tara Shaver, Project Defending Life

Albuquerque, NM — In light of the recent revocation of abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus’s medical license by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA), Project Defending Life is renewing its request for the New Mexico Medical Board to investigate recent botched abortions in Albuquerque.

Neuhaus’ medical license revocation was the direct result of a complaint first filed by Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger in 2006, alleging violations of the standards of patient care and a Kansas law that allowed only narrow exceptions to a ban on post-viability abortions.

In Kansas, Neuhaus provided the required second consenting opinion that the continuation of a pregnancy would cause “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the woman if the pregnancy continued. All of Neuhaus’ referrals for late-term abortions were made to George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita on mental health grounds between 1999 and 2007.

Neuhaus’ disciplinary charges were based on eleven 2003 patient files of girls aged 10-18. While Tiller was the abortionist of record in all eleven cases, Neuhaus provided referrals to all abortionists in Tiller’s employment, including Shelley Sella and Susan Robinson who were employed by Tiller in Kansas during that time and now conduct late-term abortions in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Neuhaus’ referrals allowed both Robinson and Sella to do post-viability abortions based on her faulty mental health assessments.

On February 21, 2012, The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts ordered the revocation of the medical license of abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, stating that Neuhaus’ practice of providing late-term abortion referrals to George Tiller was “professionally incompetent” and constituted “unprofessional conduct.”

Neuhaus was found to have violated the standard of care in that she never conducted proper mental health evaluations, keep adequate records, nor did she record any basis for her diagnoses other than a printout from a dubious computer program that calculated diagnoses for her. Her bogus diagnoses were nothing more than rubber stamps that enabled Tiller and his associates to improperly conduct late-term abortions. There was no evidence that Neuhaus ever saw many of the patients she referred for post-viability abortions, and some of the referrals were dated days or weeks after the abortions occurred, making them blatantly illegal.

The same week that the KSBHA notified Operation Rescue that the eleven-count disciplinary petition had been filed against Neuhaus, Shelley Sella cancelled her Kansas medical license in order to place herself outside the jurisdiction of the KSBHA. According to Cheryl Sullenger, Susan C. Robinson voluntarily put her Kansas license on “Inactive” status a month after WHCS closed. At the time of the closure, Tiller also faced an eleven-count disciplinary petition filed by the KSBHA for illegal late-term abortions referred to him by Neuhaus.

Sella and Robinson currently work at Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) in Albuquerque two weeks per month doing late-term abortions for owner Curtis Boyd, an admitted back-alley abortionist prior to Roe v. Wade.

In July, 2010, both Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue filed Medical Board complaints asking for an investigation into 11 botched abortions at SWO. These grisly abortions have resulted in 11 women being rushed from the abortion clinic to the emergency room with serious complications including ruptured uteri, perforated uteri, and uncontrolled bleeding. As of yet, it appears that nothing has been done to protect the safety of unassuming women who seek abortions at SWO.

Tiller, Neuhaus, Sella and Robinson believed they were above the law in Kansas and conducted their illegal activities at the expense of others. Fortunately the women of Kansas are now protected from late-term abortion abuses. However, the women of New Mexico continue to be prey for Tiller’s former associates, who profit handsomely from the expensive procedures. As a result, women are injured by abortion at the rate of one every ten weeks. Frighteningly, in New Mexico there are no laws protecting pregnant women who need proper help from this kind of exploitation.

“We are once again asking individuals to contact the NMMB and ask for a thorough investigation of the recent documented botched abortions in Albuquerque in light of this new information of wrongdoing by Sella and Robinson,” said Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life. “If the abortion laws of Kansas couldn’t protect young girls from abortion abuses, how can we expect a state with virtually no abortion laws to protect those coming to New Mexico from across the country for late-term abortions? I am calling on the leadership of the state of NM to use all the powers at their disposal to protect women going into these abortion facilities. Someone has to take responsibility for these women being injured before one of them dies from a botched abortion.”

Contact Information for the New Mexico Medical Board:

Lynn Hart
Executive Director, New Mexico Medical Board
505-476-7221
lynns.hart@state.nm.us

Please join us at our:

Kickoff Rally and Spring Campaign
Where: Project Defending Life
625 San Mateo Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM

Kickoff Rally Tuesday, February 21, 2012 starting with Mass at 6pm and Prayer and speakers at 7pm.

Spring 2012 campaign starting February 22, 2012 and running thru April 1, 2012.
Schedule a time from 7 am thru 7 pm or you are welcome to come out anytime.

Come out and show everyone that Albuquerque is a wonderful place to LIVE, and we support LIFE from conception. Many women are not aware their baby is already alive and developing. Spend an hour and possibly save a life — several women change their mind every campaign because they saw somebody praying that did care about LIFE.

Thank-you for all your time and prayers.

The Spring Campaign will be starting February 22, 2012, but you are welcome to come and pray anytime in front of Planned Parenthood to help save children.

Planned Parenthood
701 San Mateo Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM

YOU can help save lives!

Our community will be one of more then 300 cities in America, Canada, Australia, Northern Ireland and Denmark who will conduct simultaneous 40 Days for Life campaigns.

The 40 Days for Life campaign is an effort to bring people of faith together in prayer to end the loss of pre-born human life and to pray for the healing of those affected by abortion. It is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:

40 days of prayer and fasting
40 days of peaceful vigil
40 days of public witness

We are praying that, with God’s help, this groundbreaking effort will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in Albuquerque — and throughout America.

Take a stand for life

“Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds” -Proverbs 24:11-12

While all aspects of 40 Days for Life are crucial in our effort to end abortion, the most visible component is the peaceful prayer vigil outside the local abortion facility. The vigil is peaceful; participants agree to a “Code of Conduct” with a pledge that they will conduct themselves in a Christ-like manner. All people are welcome!

You can help make a life-saving impact by signing up for at least one one-hour block of time to join our local vigil at:

Planned Parenthood
701 San Mateo Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM
Any time daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Spring Campaign starting February 22, 2012

Every week lives are saved and hearts are changed because people like you stay involved in pro-life outreach. You’ve made a difference in the lives of many these past 40 days, don’t let it stop there. Help us maintain a constant prayerful and peaceful presence at all 3 of Albuquerque’s abortion clinics. Including the late term clinic that is drawing women from all over the country and another clinic that is training University of New Mexico medical students to be abortionists. Another opportunity is to volunteer at pregnancy centers doing ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and helping mom’s become responsible; mom’s who have taken the first step and chosen life. To learn more you can contact Bud and Tara Shaver at bud@defendinglife.org or (505) 319-7825 or call Project Defending Life at (505) 266-4100.

Would you like to be part of the Spring 2012 40 Days for Life Please
call Al (505) 296-4214 or Liz (505) 977-6609 if you are interested.

Again, we sincerely thank you for standing with us for these babies who are created in God’s image and worthy of our time! We are encouraged by your faithfulness!

Check out the website for more information:
http://40daysforlife.com/albuquerque/

Bruce Ferguson M.D.- Before Retirement, December, 2011 (1 of 4 Albuquerque abortion mills).

Bruce Ferguson M.D.- After Retirement, January, 2012. One Albuquerque abortion mill closed to start off 2012…Three left to go!

Read about our undercover investigation that exposed Bruce Ferguson’s retirement and watch our undercover video here:

New Mexico Abortionist Quits For the Sake of His “Sanity” (Click Headline to go to the page)

By Cheryl Sullenger

Albuquerque, New Mexico – A shocking number of medical emergencies at two Albuquerque abortion clinics over the past few months have raised questions about clinic safety and who is responsible for oversight. After months of investigation, pro-life groups have determined that abortion clinics often operate in regulatory gaps and actively seek to “fly under the radar,” as one regulator put it. This has created a public safety crisis in New Mexico.

A total of 14 calls for emergency medical assistance were placed to 911 dispatchers by Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) and the University of New Mexico Center for Reproductive Health (UNMCRH) over a 35-month time frame between November, 2008, and September, 2011. Three were placed from the UNMCRH while, alarmingly, eleven of the calls for help originated from SWO.

Complaints were filed with the New Mexico Medical Board (NMMB) against the known abortionists who work at those clinics by representatives of Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue. However, the NMMB is only responsible for oversight of licensed physicians and is not responsible for oversight of the abortion clinic itself.

“That means trash could be piled to the ceiling inside those clinics, and the NMMB would not have the authority to do anything about it,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation. “The clinics themselves are never inspected or held to any standard. That creates the potential for a Gosnell-like ‘house of horrors’ to operate directly under the nose of regulators.”

Conversations with Department of Health regulators confirmed Newman’s concerns.

Doctors Office and Abortion Exemptions

Southwestern Women’s Options, an abortion clinic specializing in risky late-term procedures, is not licensed as an Ambulatory Surgical Center, which would ensure that the clinic was inspected and met the same standards that other out-patient surgical centers must maintain. Instead, it is listed as a “Doctor’s Office” under the name of the 75-year old owner of the facility, Curtis Boyd, a Texas abortionist who admits to having done illegal “back-alley” abortions prior to Roe v. Wade. This designation qualifies him for a license exemption.

Boyd’s clinic conducts a minimal amount of lab work and is licensed in New Mexico as a laboratory. The most recent inspection survey issued in 2009 for the SWO lab showed multiple violations with faulty test results detected for pregnancy and for the Rh factor that resulted in the need to contact patients with the news that they needed to have their tests redone. (Read full list of violations)

While every two years, the laboratory portion of his business is inspected by the Department of Health, the surgical side of the business has never been inspected. No one has ever checked to see if Boyd owns a crash cart, has emergency protocols in place, or even if he bothers to sterilize his surgical instruments.

According to Rick Pangborn, Medical Care Program Director with the Department of Health, clinics that must be licensed as Ambulatory Surgical Centers are those with an operating room that accommodates outpatient surgical procedures, which require post-surgical monitoring of patients in a separate recovery room.

However, Pangborn emphasized that even though Boyd’s SWO meets those criteria, abortions are among the few procedures that cannot trigger the need for an Ambulatory Surgical Center license in New Mexico.

“This clinic operates in the shadowy gap created by an extremely compartmentalized regulatory system in New Mexico,” said Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life. “Each regulatory agency is only responsible for a small portion oversight, and abortion procedures seem to give clinics special exemption from oversight. Abortion clinics can easily fly under the radar by claiming to be doctor’s offices. This designation ensures that they are never inspected or regulated. Maybe that is why we are seeing life-threatening medical emergencies at these clinics at the rate of one every couple of months.”

UNMCRH Completely “Under the Radar”

According to Pangborn, there is no record at all of any kind of license for the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, the other abortion clinic that has experienced a recent series of medical emergencies. There is no record of UNMCRH ever having been inspected by any state regulator. Pangborn told Shaver that he was under the impression that UNMCRH provided different services than Southwestern Women’s Options, when both are in fact primarily abortion clinics.

Planned Parenthood is the only clinic in Albuquerque with no record of 911 calls. It is licensed as a Diagnostic Treatment Facility, which provides for the clinic to bill insurance and Medicaid for services even though they were not supplied by a licensed physician. Planned Parenthood is not required to meet the standards that Ambulatory Surgical Centers must meet.

Lack of Oversight Creates Dangerous Climate

“If clinics are not required to meet specific health and safety standards, they usually don’t,” said Newman. “New Mexico’s lack of standards for abortion clinics has created a dangerous climate where women can be subjected to any manner of substandard or negligent practices and can never be held accountable for it. Fourteen women — that we are aware of — have paid for this lack of oversight with serious bodily injury and it is only a matter of time before one pays for it with her life.”

Tara Shaver agreed. “The fourteen 911 calls that we uncovered show that something is seriously wrong with how abortion clinics in New Mexico operate and the lack of oversight,” she said. “We now have information that the UNMCRH is no longer calling 911 for medical emergencies so that there is no public record of how many injuries are actually occurring there. This places women at additional risk. Something must change on the state level in order to protect women from these abortion clinics that have run amok outside the bounds of any kind of regulatory oversight.”

“Let My People Live!” Pastor Eric Lamb, Keynote Speaker for Sanctity of Life Awareness and Unity Day 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Also a short summary of our ministry and introduction by Tara Shaver.

Lamar Brothers in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Sanctity of Life Awareness and Unity Day 2012.

 

Albuquerque, NM- Project Defending Life has confirmed that abortionist Bruce Ferguson is retiring on December 30th, 2011, and will no longer be performing abortions.  His Albuquerque abortion clinic will also close.  According to his website, he has been performing abortions for 30 years.

In a phone call, Ferguson told an undercover investigator that he was retiring due to his health, his family, and his own “sanity.” He stated, “Someone else needs to carry the burden now.” Ferguson also mentioned as a reason for his retirement a steady decline in abortion patients each year, which is a trend that is being seen nationally.

Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue have been keeping the public informed about the dangerous conditions at two other Albuquerque abortion clinics. It appears that after receiving this life-saving information women are not flooding Bruce Ferguson’s office, but are opting out of abortion altogether.

“Abortion is not good for anyone, not for babies, not for women, and according to Bruce Ferguson, someone who would know, abortion is not good for the doctors performing them,” stated Bud Shaver, spokesperson for Project Defending Life.  “We are happy to learn that our efforts to inform women of the dangers of abortion are having an impact and that fewer women are aborting their babies.”

“As abortionists like Ferguson quit, retire, or are stripped of their licenses, they are not being replaced,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It sounds like Ferguson has called it quits, but we need to remain vigilant because, with the shortage of abortionists, Ferguson could turn up somewhere else.  Given his apparent emotional state, that would be dangerous for women.”

Project Defending Life is committed to serving the pregnant women of New Mexico and is continuing their effort to expose how abortion destroys all the lives involved in this horrific procedure.

“In 2011 our prayers and efforts to end abortion in New Mexico are becoming a reality. This is great news for the women and pre-born children of New Mexico. Abortion bears many consequences and one less ‘doctor’ to provide them is a benefit to all women,” stated Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life. “In fact, this is the second abortionist this month to retire and close down in the state of New Mexico.”

Earlier this month, Santa Fe abortionist Lucia Cies retired.  The closure of her abortion clinic made Santa Fe an abortion-free community.

Watch the Undercover Video Here:

On December 13, 2011 Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life and Tara Shaver, also with Project Defending Life along with several other concerned citizens spoke before the UNM Board of Regents. “Our main goal was to educate and inform the Regents about how women’s lives are being placed in danger as a result of the tax funded UNM Center for Reproductive Health abortion clinic,” stated Tara Shaver. Others shared their disdain regarding UNM’s current participation in providing abortions as well as the fact that the majority of abortions done in New Mexico are performed on Hispanic women.

Earlier this year Project Defending Life obtained three 911 recordings documenting serious life threatening abortion complications requiring three women to be rushed to UNM Hospital. These serious complications included: vomiting, seizures, a woman not breathing, being unresponsive and turning a grayish color. Another woman endured an attempted abortion even though her 8 week old baby was not in her uterus, this is also known as an ectopic pregnancy.

Most recently, Project Defending Life has released an Exposé revealing UNM’s abortion Resident Training Programs and the fact that New Mexico tax dollars are being used to fund their abortion agenda.

It is vitally important that the UNM Board of Regents know how dangerous this abortion facility is so that they will promptly act to protect the women of New Mexico. Fr. Stephen Imbarrato Founder and Director of Project Defending Life issued the following statement after speaking before the UNM Board of Regents, “We appreciate the opportunity given to us by UNM Board of Regents President, Jack Fortner to share our concerns about the safety of women as well as our desire for the University of New Mexico to protect and affirm all life. In addition, we would like to see everyone in leadership positions in the state of New Mexico, from the Governor on down, to urgently work to turn New Mexico into a safe haven for pre-born babies. New Mexico can no longer be seen as the abortion capital of the Southwest.”

By Tara Shaver, Project Defending Life

Albuquerque, NM- A recent investigation conducted by Project Defending Life with the help of Operation Rescue has revealed that tax money received by the University of New Mexico (UNM) flows freely to the university-run UNM Center for Reproductive Health (UNMCRH) abortion clinic in Albuquerque.

This money is used for the following purposes:

• Finance the UNMCRH abortion clinic.

• Train UNM medical residents in abortions techniques, particularly late-term abortions.

• Conduct experimental research on patients with regard to abortion, contraception and sterilization.

The University of New Mexico prides itself on being a public research university. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state as well as one of the state’s largest employers. The University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) is a teaching hospital located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, north of the University of New Mexico’s main campus. It is the only Level I Trauma Center in the State of New Mexico.

In 2008, the University of New Mexico received $344.8 million from the New Mexico state legislature, making the state contribution 17% of UNM’s total operating budget. According to the Bernalillo County Treasurer’s office The University of New Mexico Hospital receives a percentage of all property taxes paid in the county. They receive a minimum of 6.4% a year from both residential and non-residential properties in Bernalillo County. However, the percentage can go even higher than that. In 2011 UNMH received 15.51% which amounted to $90,919,020. UNMH received the 4th highest amount of property tax funds in 2011.

Since UNM receives so much tax payer money, the public should know about the programs this entity is running.

UNM’s dirty little secret is their free standing abortion clinic in Albuquerque, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health. Abortions are performed up to 22 weeks gestation and research with regard to abortion, contraception and sterilization is conducted. For these reasons this “prestigious” institution falls short in its lifesaving efforts, because not all lives are being saved. In fact, 911 emergency records recently revealed that three women have been seriously injured as the result of abortion complications at the UNMCRH.

“I call upon Governor Martinez, who has been a consistent advocate for the unborn and opponent of abortion, to investigate this misuse of NM tax dollars. It is certain that the people of NM do not want their tax dollars used to prop up the abortion industry through their state university,” said Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life.

Abortion business administrators

The Health Sciences Center Department of OB-GYN, and the Department of Family and Community Medicine collaborate together for patient care and educational opportunities. Their collaboration runs and oversees the UNM Center for Reproductive Health abortion clinic. The Health Sciences Center has a newly formed Board of Directors that answer to UNM’s Board of Regents. The members of the Health Sciences Center Board of Directors were announced in April of this year and include:

• Carolyn J. Abeita, Chair

• Don L. Chalmers, Vice Chair and also Vice Chair of the UNM Board of Regents

• Ann Rhoadel

• Jerry D. Gei

• John (Mel) Eaves

• Lt. Gen. Bradley C. Hosmer, USAF (Ret.

• Ronald (Ron) James Solimon

The UNM Center for Reproductive Health is funded in part by a Ryan Residency Training grant. The Kenneth J. Ryan residency training program is a national, privately funded initiative based at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. The Ryan program was founded in 1999 with the goal of improving training in abortion and contraception for ob-gyn residents in the United States and Canada. The following quote is on the programs website, “Access to experience with induced abortion must be part of residency education.” This quote is directly from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and reveals an agenda bent on expanding abortion services. It best sums up the mission of the program. Training medical residents to kill is the worst betrayal of true medicine.

Trainers participating in the Ryan program are late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd and his wife, Glenna. Boyd has stated that he trains at UNM and other universities across the country. Documents obtained through open records requests show that Boyd’s own abortion clinic in Albuquerque has been recently responsible for eleven abortion-related medical emergencies, with life-threatening injuries occurring at the rate of one every ten weeks.

Apart from the Ryan Program, UNM is also offering a post graduate Fellowship in Family Planning (FFP). The FFP is also based at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health UCSF. The Fellowship in Family Planning is the only fellowship in the nation that provides the opportunity to develop high-level research and clinical skills in contraception and abortion.

According to their website the clinical training is as follows:

“Fellows are trained in abortion and contraception care, using evidence-based medical and surgical methods. The UNM Center for Reproductive Health is an off-site clinic about 6 miles from the hospital. This clinic serves the family planning and STI needs of women in the University system. Training will also be accomplished at Planned Parenthood. Later second trimester abortion will occur at UNM and with Dr. Curtis Boyd in his clinic either in New Mexico or in Dallas.
Uterine evacuations up to 22 weeks gestation are performed in the clinic with participation of medical students and residents. The medically complex and later gestational cases are performed in the main operating rooms at UNM. The UNM Family Planning Section of the Gynecology Division performs medical abortion, surgical abortions to 24 weeks, and labor induction.
Additional abortion training up to 19 weeks is available at Planned Parenthood of New Mexico in Albuquerque as well as supplemental training in 20-24 week abortion with Dr. Curtis Boyd. Dr. Boyd has a high volume clinic in Dallas, Texas and we anticipate that Fellows in their second year will complete one to three 2-week sessions in Dallas to train to competence in later abortions.

After orientation and training, the UNM Fellow will supervise residents and medical students at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health including complex contraception, miscarriage management as well as diagnosis/treatment of first trimester pregnancy complications, in-office hysteroscopy, Essure and endometrial ablation…The UNM Fellow will become expert at the range of family planning and abortion care while maintaining and promoting generalist skills.”

“Most people would be shocked to learn that women are being used as human guinea pigs at UNMCRH for the development of new ways to kill babies and sterilize women – all at taxpayer expense,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“The number of abortion clinics has dramatically decreased by over 66% since 1991, partly because young doctors do not want to dirty themselves with the abortion business. Abortionists who quit, retire, or are stripped of their licenses are not being replaced. It is clear that, with the help of tax funding, UNM is in bed with Planned Parenthood and late-term abortionist Boyd to crank out new abortionists in order to stabilize and expand abortion services nationwide. This radical agenda must be exposed.”

It is alarming that UNM is collaborating with Curtis Boyd who openly admits to being an illegal abortionist before Roe vs. Wade. Part and parcel of the pro-abortion rhetoric is that women need open access to abortion to protect them from having to resort to seeking out “back alley abortionists.” The University uses New Mexico tax dollars to bring a confessed “back alley abortionist” to the University and thrusts unsuspecting students and vulnerable women into his hands. Boyd admits to having conducted “pain management” experiments on his patients as well as having used them to experiment new abortion methods. As previously mentioned, over the past two years alone, there have been eleven documented life-threatening injuries at Curtis Boyd’s late-term abortion mill, demanding these women be rushed to the UNMH emergency room.

While the medical community is supposed to heal and save lives, doctors at UNM are training up the next generation of physicians to do just the opposite. Instead of serving people through the practice of medicine, these doctors are learning how to take the lives of the most defenseless of our society.
UNM physicians are determined to use tax dollars to further their pro-abortion agenda.

• Eve Espey serves as the Medical Director for the Center for Reproductive Health abortion clinic. She is also Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and holds the position of Associate Dean for Student Affairs. Her main interests include family planning and medical student education. Espey is on the faculty of the Health Sciences Global Health Program (GHP). The Global Health Program has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a collaborating center on education, service and research. Espey’s focus with the GHP is family planning and abortion in Mexico and Central America. While Eve Espey deceptively claims to be helping the people of Mexico and Central America, in reality by promoting abortion Espey is really advancing a population control agenda. This begs the question: “Why is Eve Espey targeting this population for extinction?”

• Larry Leeman directs the Family Medicine Maternal and Child Health service and is co-medical director of the UNM Hospital Mother-Baby Unit. Leeman is also actively studying ways to expand contraceptive availability, including studies that have been completed on oral contraceptives and breastfeeding, immediate postpartum IUD insertion, and attitudes and practices of abortion care among New Mexico Family Physicians and Ob/Gyns. He is very active at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health and performs abortions on the days he is not delivering babies at UNMH. Leeman was on the Board of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, the leading physician’s group advocating for women’s reproductive rights until June 2011 when he was appointed to the Institute of Medicines’ Standing Committee on Family Planning.

• Tony Ogburn is the UNM School of Medicine OB/GYN Residency Program Associate Director, Professor. The Residency Program includes rotations in Family Planning and abortion at the Center for Reproductive Health. Ogburn is also the UNM contact for breastfeeding and emergency contraception.

• Rameet Singh and Eve Espey serve as the Family Planning Fellowship Directors. Singh is also an assistant professor in the OB/GYN department at UNM.

“The residents of the state of New Mexico should not be footing the bill for UNM to train abortionists to kill babies. It is vital that the people of New Mexico be informed about where their money is going and how it is being used. Until UNM closes down their abortion clinic they should not receive any more tax funding,” stated Bud Shaver, spokesperson for Project Defending Life.

Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life issued the following plea, “We are calling all people of conscience in New Mexico to contact UNM President David Schmidly and the UNM Board of Regents President Jack Fortner to let them know that you want UNM and UNMH to preserve and protect all life and not destroy it by abortion.”
Contact:

UNM President David Schmidly
505-277-2626 Phone
unmpres@unm.edu
UNM Board of Regents President Jack Fortner
jack@fortnerdalley.com

Written by Operation Rescue

Albuquerque, New Mexico – As Down Syndrome Awareness month concludes, Operation Rescue has released a video containing excerpts from an undercover call to a late-term abortion clinic that assured the caller that Medicaid would pay the total costs of an abortion at 30 weeks gestation on a pre-born baby diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Estimated cost of the abortion was between $10,000 and $16,000.

“We know that 92 percent of all women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome end up aborting their babies. Now we know that it is done at great expense to the taxpayer, who foots the bill for outrageously expensive abortions,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“These precious babies do not deserve to die and certainly the taxpayers should not be paying to kill them. The fact that our tax money goes to exterminate innocent children with disabilities is abhorrent to most Americans. Cutting off the tax funding will go a long way toward ending this barbaric and intolerant practice.”

The call was placed on October 12, 2011, to Southwestern Women’s Options, a late-term abortion clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that made headlines when a similar undercover call revealed that late-term abortions are being done at tax-payer expense on healthy women with healthy pregnancies. Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life documented 15 states where Medicaid funds pay for abortions.

Southwestern Women’s Options also recently attracted attention for the excessive number of abortion complications there requiring emergency hospitalization. Operation Rescue published the 911 calls showing women suffering from various life-threatening abortion-related injuries and complications. The clinic’s abortionists, Curtis Boyd, Shelley Sella, and Susan Robinson, are currently under investigation by the New Mexico Medical Board based on complaints filed by Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life.

Please call your Senator and demand an and to ALL tax-funded abortions.

Written by Operation Rescue

Albuquerque, New Mexico – As debate over tax-funding of abortions in Obamacare is scheduled in Washington, D.C. for Thursday, an investigation conducted by Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life shows millions of tax dollars are already paying for abortions each year. Operation Rescue has released a short video containing excerpts from an undercover recording showing that Medicaid pays not only for abortions, but completely covers third-trimester abortions for no medical reason whatsoever.

The caller identified herself as having a healthy pregnancy in the 26th week of gestation to a Southwestern Women’s Options employee named Sue. She told Sue that the reason she wanted an abortion was because her husband had just lost his job.

“It’s shocking that our tax dollars would pay $9,000 for a third-trimester abortion simply because of a lost job. The vast majority of the American people strongly object to their tax money being used in this way,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

Operation Rescue has identified 15 states where Medicaid funds pay for abortions. Those states are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.

The undercover caller phoned abortion clinics in 12 of those states and in every case was told that Medicaid would pay for abortions.

Medicaid is a joint government program that is funded completely by tax dollars. Up to fifty percent of the money comes from state taxes and the rest comes from the Federal tax coffers, depending on the state’s poverty level.

Federal Medicaid funds are not supposed to cover abortions, but do so in the cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, exceptions that have been exploited in the past to include more abortions. But it is State money that generally funds abortions to the tune of millions of dollars annually.

For example, California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, paid out over $23.6 million to cover abortions in 2007 alone.

Abortion clinics are well aware of Medicaid funding and jump at the chance to use it. One abortion fund website coaches women how to obtain free abortions through Medicaid and the number one way is to go through the abortion clinic for assistance.

“If we are serious about stopping tax-funded abortions, then we need end it in every government program at the State and Federal levels,” said Newman. “We encourage everyone to contact their U.S. Congressman this week and demand a complete end to publicly funded abortions.”

Contact your Congressman

Click to listen:
Full, unedited recording to SWO. (18 min. 23. Sec.)
Written Transcript
Calls from Alaska, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia.

Written by Operation Rescue

Listen and watch video here: 11th 911 Abortion Emergency Call from SWO

Albuquerque, NM – Another woman has suffered complications from a botched abortion at Southwestern Women’s Options, a late-term abortion mill in Albuquerque, New Mexico, owned and operated by Curtis Boyd.

The latest 911 call obtained by Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life and released to Operation Rescue shows a 31-year old woman who is suffering uncontrolled bleeding after an abortion. The abortion clinic worker who placed the call requested that the patient be transported to the hospital.

This is the eleventh such abortion-related medical emergency at Southwestern Women’s Options in less than two years, and the fourteenth reported abortion emergency overall in Albuquerque in that same time frame.

Both Project Defending Life and Operation Rescue filed complaints about the recent flood of botched abortions with the New Mexico Medical Board (NMMB), but received mixed signals about whether an investigation would be conducted.

Since then, the Attorney General’s office has contacted NMMB’s Executive Director Lynn Hart, regarding the incidents, requesting her “assistance in handling this matter”.

In addition, members of Project Defending Life met with Gov. Susana Martinez to discuss the dangerous conditions that have spawned so many life-threatening abortion complications.

“Our concern is for the safety of women in New Mexico. We were encouraged to hear that Governor Martinez shares these same concerns. In fact, we were thoroughly impressed that the Governor’s office not only knew about the 911 calls, but had already contacted the Executive Director of the Medical Board to insure the investigation was progressing. We now have confidence that the New Mexico Medical Board is conducting a proper investigation,” said Fr. Stephen Imbarrato of Project Defending Life after the meeting.

“This latest abortion emergency further instills a new sense of urgency to the Medical Board’s ongoing investigation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It is obvious that Albuquerque abortion clinics are ill-equipped to handle complications that occur on a regular basis and are using paramedics as a back-up plan for when things go terribly wrong. This presents an unacceptable risk to public health. If Boyd and other abortionists insist on running unsafe abortion mills with high complication rates and a dangerous lack of access to emergency resources, then they should not be allowed to operate at all.”

• Read written transcript of 911 call
• Read CAD transcript
• Background

Written by Bud & Tara Shaver

Albuquerque, NM- September 19, 2011–On Wednesday September 14,  Father Stephen Imbarrato, Director of Project Defending Life as well as Bud and Tara Shaver, also with Project Defending Life, met with Governor Susana Martinez to discuss the urgent abortion crisis in New Mexico.

Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life recently obtained 13 911 calls, ten of which, came from the notorious Late-Term abortion clinic Southwestern Women’s Options.These ten calls were placed over a 30 month time span and reveal a troubling pattern of life threatening abortion complications. “The reality is that on average every 10 weeks a woman is being rushed to the hospital as a result of serious injuries inflicted by local abortionists,” states Tara Shaver.

The other three 911 calls were placed from the University of New Mexico’s very own abortion clinic, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health. The University of New Mexico as well as UNM Hospital are publicly funded institutions receiving funds directly from New Mexico tax payers. Another troubling issue is that the University of New Mexico is also training resident students to do abortions at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health abortion facility.

The meeting with Governor Martinez addressed concerns raised by the 911 calls and also mixed messages that came from the New Mexico Medical Board. Father Stephen Imbarrato, Founder and Director of Project Defending Life issued the following statement after the meeting: “Our concern is for the safety of women in New Mexico. We were encouraged to hear that Governor Martinez shares these same concerns. In fact, we were thoroughly impressed that the Governor’s office not only knew about the 911 calls, but had already contacted the Executive Director of the Medical Board to insure the investigation was progressing. We now have confidence that the New Mexico Medical Board is conducting a proper investigation.”

Those present at the meeting are very thankful for the open line of communication with the Governor’s office. The pro-life community should feel confident that the Governor’s office will stay on top of these types of issues. Also present at the meeting were Senator Bill Sharer and Representative Dennis J. Roch.