Ed Morrissey:
Remember Kermit Gosnell? The main reason that the serial killer managed to elude detection for so long was that the state of Pennsylvania didn’t bother to inspect his facility for seventeen years, even though state law required it — and even though previous inspections showed significant causes for concern. The grand jury report specifically blamed politics in Pennsylvania for a lack of action. Had federal investigators not started probing Gosnell for his illegal trade in drugs, he’d still be cheerfully murdering babies that survived abortions and a few of their mothers, too.
One might think that other states would have learned a lesson from this grotesque example. Unfortunately, New York hasn’t, as the New York Post discovered:
The state Health Department is failing to inspect many of New York’s abortion clinics — with some facilities escaping scrutiny for more than a decade, bombshell documents obtained by The Post reveal.
Health inspectors regulate 25 diagnostic and treatment clinics and surgery centers that provide abortion services — though pro-choice advocates say there are 225 abortion service providers in New York state.
Eight of the 25 clinics were never inspected over the 2000-12 span, five were inspected just once, and eight were inspected only twice or three times — meaning once every four or six years.
Well, at least we know which clinics passed inspection, right? Women in New York can therefore make an informed choice about which abortion providers to choose with that information. Actually, they can’t, because the state refuses to name the clinics that have been inspected. The FOIA demand from a pro-life group had that identifying information redacted, because the state was concerned about the safety of clinics, rather than women.
Maybe this is a funding issue. New York just may not have the resources to inspect commercial facilities. Or …
