Attorney General Dave Yost orders Ohio abortion clinics to follow Health Order, close over COVID-19 pandemic
Today, pro-life Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that two Ohio abortion facilities that were violating the Ohio Department of Health’s Order needed to cease operating immediately.
According a Columbus Dispatch article, Attorney General Yost called on the facilities to close, citing their continuation of non-essential and elective surgical abortion procedures in opposition to the Health Order. “You and your facility are ordered to immediately stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions,” Yost said. “Non-essential surgical abortions are those that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.”
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Preterm in Cleveland operate several other abortion facilities that have not been complying with the Order to cease non-essential surgeries. Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis sent a letter yesterday to Iris Harvey, President of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio calling on her to follow the State’s orders and donate unused medical supplies to hospitals which anticipate significant need. The letter states, in part:
Nowhere in this order will you find an exemption for surgical abortions. By performing surgical abortions, you company is putting the health and safety of all Ohioans in danger. As you should know COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that can result in death and can be easily spread from person to person. Your reckless actions are hurting our collective efforts to flatten the curve and defeat COVID-19.
We are thankful to Attorney General Yost for protecting Ohio’s most vulnerable populations and holding abortion clinics accountable to the law.
To read the Columbus Dispatch’s article, click here.
To read the Attorney General’s order, click here.
To read the letter we sent yesterday, click here or see below.
-Ohio Right to Life
Iris Harvey, President
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio
206 E. State Street
Columbus, OH 43215
March 23, 2020
Dear Ms. Harvey,
As you know, the Director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) issued an order on March 18, 2020 preventing all non-essential or elective surgeries that utilized personal protective equipment (PPE). Further, the Director defined non-essential surgeries as a procedure that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of the patient. Finally, this order will remain in effect until the State of Emergency declared by our Governor no longer exists.
It has come to our attention that your clinics currently are performing such procedures as defined above and in conflict with the Director of Health’s order via this State of Emergency. Nowhere in this order will you find an exemption for surgical abortions. By performing surgical abortions, your company is putting the health and safety of all Ohioans in danger. As you should know COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that can result in death and can be easily spread from person to person. Your reckless actions are hurting our collective efforts to flatten the curve and defeat COVID-19.
The Director’s Order also contemplates preserving the limited amounts of PPEs we have left for our hospital systems that certainly will be strained and in great need moving forward. Each day that you violate this Order and waste PPEs, more lives are put in danger. These careless actions must stop immediately.
Countless other surgical facilities across the state have shuttered these procedures in compliance with this order and are preserving PPEs. Procedures that no longer are performed in Ohio include but are not limited to:
➢ Orthopedic procedures, such as a hip replacement or knee replacement
➢ Colonoscopies, bronchoscopies, kidney tube placements and other endoscopic procedures
➢ Invasive radiology procedures
➢ Most dermatology procedures
➢ Tooth extractions and other dental procedures
➢ Podiatric procedures
➢ Sound wave treatment to break down kidney stones
➢ Gynecological exams and/or endometrial biopsy
At this time Ohio Right to Life and Ohioans across this great state call on you and your organization to put the health and safety of our children, elderly and other vulnerable populations above profit and above abortion. Lives are literally depending on it. Your current noncompliance will undoubtedly contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and put the lives of first responders, nurses and doctors in danger.
If you have any questions regarding my letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you need additional information pertaining to the Director’s Order, contact the Ohio Department of Health for further guidance.
Sincerely,
Michael Gonidakis
President
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