By Tara Shaver, Project Defending Life
Albuquerque, NM — Abortionist Kermit Gosnell was recently convicted of first degree murder of viable late term babies who were born alive after illegal late-term abortions. What he did to these babies has shocked the nation, but his actions are really business as usual at abortion clinics around the country.
The horrific crimes that took place at Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic have put a spotlight on the barbaric act of late-term abortion. However, the crimes committed in Pennsylvania are not isolated incidents. In fact, Albuquerque, New Mexico is home to one of the nation’s most high profile late-term abortion clinics, Southwestern Women’s Options, which doles out to women the same late-term procedure that Gosnell subjected his patients to, with only one difference; in Pennsylvania it was illegal to kill babies after 24 weeks but in New Mexico it is legal to kill a baby up to the day of birth.
In fact, New Mexico provides no restrictions whatsoever on abortion.
There are many troubling similarities between what took place in Philadelphia’s “House of Horrors” and what is currently taking place in Albuquerque’s “House of Pain.”
- An eyewitness saw New Mexico late-term abortionist Shelly Sella stab a baby to death after the baby was born alive during an abortion…an act for which Kermit Gosnell is currently facing the death penalty.
- Horrific abortion injuries in New Mexico have been documented beginning in 2008. These injuries have been reported to the authorities, as were injuries suffered by Gosnell patients, who had a history of injuring women going back before Roe v. Wade.
- Complaints were filed with the NM Medical Board regarding 11 abortion injuries at Southwestern Women’s Options, Albuquerque’s late term abortion clinic. The Board’s initial response was to resist any investigation just like the Pennsylvania authorities turned a blind eye to complaints about Gosnell. Out of the 11 New Mexico complaints, only one was investigated, that of a 35-week abortion that resulted in the ruptured uterus. Abortionist, Shelly Sella however, got away scot-free. Subsequent complaints that have been filed after several more botched abortions have been outright denied investigations. This same lack of attention to public complaints in Pennsylvania created an atmosphere where Gosnell could thrive.
- Abortion clinics in Albuquerque are never inspected by the Department of Health. These “clinics” are exempt from the Ambulatory Surgical Center classification and therefore abortionists do whatever they want under no scrutiny or accountability. In Pennsylvania, Gosnell’s clinic was not inspected for 17 years. When abortion clinics are not inspected, abortion abuses flourish.
- New Mexico has a criminal abortion statute that has never been enforced. This statute states that post viability abortions are to be done in an accredited hospital. Instead, dangerous outpatient clinics that have no immediate access to emergency care, such as Southwestern Women’s Options and Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society, conduct risky procedures in settings that simply are not safe.
Contributing to the problem of lack of oversight and accountability, New Mexicans are also forced to pay for abortions via state dollars amounting to over 1 million dollars in 2011. This money keeps abortion clinics that no one has ever inspected operating at maximum capacity.
From Governor Martinez on down New Mexico is full of apathetic leaders, legislators and authorities that are placing women’s lives at risk, just as the irresponsible regulators in Pennsylvania did when they refused to do their duty to rein in Gosnell’s corrupt abortion enterprise.
An extremely noteworthy and disturbing fact that Cheryl Sullenger, of Operation Rescue, uncovered and reported on during the Gosnell trial is that 13% of the digoxin injections being given in New Mexico during late term abortions fail. If the drug is injected into the amniotic sac instead of the fetus, the failure rate on the first try can be as astronomically high as 70 percent.
This injection is designed to cause a fetal heart attack in order to ensure “fetal demise” prior to the expulsion of the baby. It is utilized by abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque every week. Many questions logically follow this discovery. What happens at Southwestern Women’s Options 13% of the time when these injections fail and viable babies are born alive, what is your protocol? When the injections fail and the baby is born alive, what care is given the newborn infant? Or are Gosnell-like protocols in place to secretly handle the live-birth “complication”?
All across the country undercover recordings are proving that Gosnell’s practice of carelessness and callousness is not isolated. What does the Gosnell trial and verdict mean for those of us in New Mexico? While there are many similarities, there are also differences — differences in statute and funding.
“The gruesome details of abortion abuses we have seen throughout the Gosnell trial will one day come to light here in New Mexico. Those who have been apathetic or have refused to act will ultimately be held accountable,” stated Bud Shaver of Project Defending Life.
The lack of enforcement of the law is not helpful to women. The blind eye turned by the Medical Board and Department of Health does not benefit the public. What will it take to protect women and children from the horrors of late-term abortion? Will Governor Martinez take notice when a woman dies in New Mexico or when a full-term baby is murdered after being expelled alive after a late-term abortion? When may we expect those in God-given positions of authority to take notice and pursue justice? In New Mexico, while women daily risk their lives at unaccountable and dangerous abortion clinics, we continue to wait for an answer.
