Clinic’s Transfer Agreement Deemed “Not Local”

TOLEDO, Ohio – Yesterday, an Ohio Department of Health hearing examiner ruled that Capital Care Network of Toledo be closed because it lacks a valid, legally required transfer agreement with a “local” hospital. When the abortion clinic was unable to secure a transfer agreement with any Toledo hospital, CCN, the last abortion clinic in Toledo, entered into a transfer agreement with an out-of-state hospital at the University of Michigan. Because the hospital is located 52 miles away from CCN, the hearing examiner found that it does not meet the “local” requirement.

Capital Care Network, Toledo’s last abortion clinic“We applaud the hearing examiner’s decision for putting women’s health and patient safety ahead of politics,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “We are reassured that Capital Care Network is not being given special permission to sidestep Ohio law and put women’s lives at risk.”

Previously, Capital Care Network held a transfer agreement with the taxpayer-funded University of Toledo Medical Center. When Ohio Right to Life requested that the taxpayer-funded institution respect the conscience rights of taxpayers and end the agreement, the university chose to do so. After UTMC ended its contract last summer, Capital Care Network proceeded to operate illegally for nearly six months without a transfer agreement.

 “No reasonable person would permit an out-of-state hospital to contract with an Ohio abortion clinic to provide emergency backup services,” said Gonidakis. “It’s absurd that an abortion clinic would even make such a request. Sadly, it appears that the clinic will put profits ahead of patient safety and attempt to delay and stall through litigation.”

To read the hearing examiner’s decision, click here.

To read the story from the Columbus Dispatch, click here.

To read the story from the Toledo Blade, click here.

Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 local chapters, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.