Planned Parenthood services by computer link may be spreading
The pro-life ministry Operation Rescue has confirmed Planned Parenthood's program of dispensing abortion pills through tele-conferencing is scheduled to go nationwide within a few years.
The "tele-med" program already is operating in Iowa, where Operation Rescue has prompted authorities to launch an investigation.
The pro-life group has documented Planned Parenthood admission that it dispenses abortion pills via a tele-conference in which the mother-to-be never meets a physician.
Operation Rescue has reported "an abortionist sits in front of a webcam and pushes a button to electronically open a drawer in the faraway clinic containing the drugs."
"A licensed physician never physically examines the woman at any time," the report says.
Authorities question the procedures.
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After complaints were filed by Operation Rescue with the Iowa Board of Medicine, authorities said they were looking into the procedure. According to the confirmation from Russell Bardin, chief investigator for the state board, the matter "will be investigated as soon as possible."
Now a new report from Operation Rescue reveals Planned Parenthood is making plans to take the procedure nationwide. OR President Troy Newman said the proposal comes as part of Planned Parenthood's "Strategic Plan for 2015," which was discussed recently at a meeting in Cedar Rapids.
The plan was uncovered during a protest against Planned Parenthood by the Pro-Life Action League, he said. Newman confirmed researcher Tara Shaver, who had helped uncover the original Iowa "tele-med" abortion plan, was in an interview with Iowa Public Radio with Planned Parenthood officials who announced their strategy to expand the procedure throughout Iowa and ultimately nationwide.
"If this push-button abortion scheme is allowed to spread, it will only increase the number of abortions at a time when abortion rates are falling and abortion clinics are closing," said Newman. "Not only will more babies die, but women will be placed in increased danger of serious medical complications or death, with no real emergency plan other than to make patients fend for themselves at whatever emergency room they can find."
He said that in addition to the social aims, "tele-med abortions are a cash cow for the abortion cartel."
He said Planned Parenthood in Iowa already is charging insurance companies twice the price of abortions provided to cash-paying patients.
"If this dangerous scheme is allowed to spread, it will increase health care costs for everyone," said Newman.
Operation Rescue Senior Policy Adviser Cheryl Sullenger had filed a complaint over the procedure, prompting the Iowa Medical Board's confirmation that it is looking into the "care and treatment" practices of abortionist Susan Haskell.
The complaint raised several concerns, including the fact that Iowa law allows only a licensed physician to do abortions. It also pointed out the Planned Parenthood of the Heartland procedure fell short of FDA-approved protocols for doctor's visits, no physician was present for the administration of abortion drugs and insurance companies apparently were overbilled.
WND reported when the new "tele-medicine" practice came under scrutiny from Operation Rescue.
The organization documented in a recording Planned Parenthood's explanation of its set-up.
"The physician doesn't actually come," the abortion company worker explains. "The physician who prescribes you the medication would be on a computer screen. You'll be on a computer screen. You can see each other and communicate. They're just not physically there.
"You would press a button that's on the screen, and a little box would open up with the medication in it."
Sullenger's report on the issue explained the "tele-medicine" procedures are "used legitimately in the medical field to lower the cost of consultations with specialists and exchange medical information between physicians electronically."
"However, tele-medicine, or care in absentia, was never meant as a replacement for the personal, hands-on examination by a physician," she said.
Operation Rescue discovered a dozen small Planned Parenthood offices around Iowa were handing out the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, Mifepristone, and companion drug Methotrexate even though the patients never had been examined personally by a physician.
Operation Rescue cited the eight abortion deaths and more than 1,100 serious complications that have resulted in the U.S. alone from the use of Mifepristone.
Planned Parenthood did not respond to a WND request for comment.
Contact: Bob Unruh
Source: WorldNetDaily
Publish Date: May 22, 2010
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