As you know, since last spring, we have been working to put a public policy question on the ballot this fall. I am still working with the Attorney General's office on the final wording of the question which will appear in 40 state representative districts. It will give citizens the chance to vote that abortion facilities must be licensed and inspected.
The Guttmacher Institute says there are 40 abortion facilities in Massachusetts. There are 17 hospitals that perform abortions. There are three licenses which cover five clinics. The other 17 facilities are not licensed as clinics. That means, of course, they are never inspected. When people go into a "medical" facility they assume a certain level of professionalism and oversight.
It is not just Massachusetts where this situation exists. The same story is all over the news today in New York.
Then we come to an actually licensed clinic which doesn't seem particularly safe. Of course, the Boston PP does so many abortions every year (6,899 at last report), that maybe these problems are just part of doing business.
Doing the research for the public policy question, we noticed that many facilities advertise that they do abortions later than 18 weeks. This is against the law in Massachusetts - those abortions must be done in hospitals. I'll be forwarding to you the letter we sent last month to the Commissioner of Public Health requesting that those facilities be closed until they comply with the law.
Anne
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