Abortion business confirms need for safety regulations

It’s been a while since we wrote anything for our “Website Under Deconstruction” series. This series explores falsehoods and evasions in the websites of abortion businesses. Previous installments of the Website Under Deconstruction series have profiled businesses in Portland (OR), Orlando, Chicago, Missoula (MT), Robbinsdale (MN), Cleveland, Montgomery, Phoenix, and Pensacola. Today’s installment takes us to Queens, NY.

I came across the website for Liberty Women’s Health Care via a Google ad while doing some general abortion research. The URL struck me: saferabortion.com. As an attorney, my educated guess was that the “r” in “safer” was key to avoid liability for misrepresentation when they kill or maim a patient. I was intrigued and clicked.

I’m so glad I did, because it’s an eye-opener. Try to ignore the horrid web design and focus on the content, in which Liberty bashes its back-alley competitors (all emphasis and red type in original):

Unlike other facilities, we use ultrasound before, during, and after the first and second trimester abortions, as well as at the follow-up visit, to ensure the safety of our patients and completeness of the procedure. We have the most current, accurate,state-of-the-art ultrasound machines on-site, including multi-frequency abdominal and vaginal probes, which allow even the very earliest pregnancies to be diagnosed accurately, and not poor quality, obsolete ultrasound machines found at other facilities. Our board-certified OB/GYN physician is an expert at OB/GYN ultrasound, which is very important, since the quality and accuracy of the ultrasound is greatly dependent on both the quality of the equipment and the skill of the person doing the ultrasound.

We use only sterilized surgical instruments and sterile, one-use-only, disposable plastic uterine curettes, unlike some unsanitary “bargain” clinics that reuse these curettes and do not practice safety, cleanliness, and sterility, such as ones in Jackson Heights, the South Bronx, or downtown Brooklyn.

For the added convenience of our patients, we provide safer early surgical abortions starting from the very earliest that the pregnancy can be seen by ultrasound, in contrast to other facilities that do not perform early abortions. A surgical abortion can be done safely only if the pregnancy can be definitely seen inside the uterus on careful ultrasound exam. The lower limit of visualization of a pregnancy by ultrasound is 4 weeks, 0 days by menstrual age (approximately 2 weeks after conception or approximately 1 week after implantation of the embryo into the endometrium, the lining of the uterus). Below 4 weeks, a pregnancy cannot be visualized by ultrasound even with multi-frequency vaginal probes (which we use); therefore, a safe surgical abortion is not possible below 4 weeks. Please beware of some unethical clinics that falsely claim to do surgical abortions at 3 weeks, which is definitely not safe to attempt, since the pregnancy cannot be seen at 3 weeks. If the pregnancy cannot be visualized inside the uterus by vaginal ultrasound, the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterus usually in a fallopian tube) must be recognized, and these patients must be followed closely and carefully with serial blood tests to measure the quantitative beta-HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin or pregancy hormone) levels and vaginal sonograms. An ectopic pregnancy can be a life-threatening emergency, and patients must be followed promptly and carefully. Ectopic pregnancies are often difficult to detect. Our board-certified OB/GYN physician is skilled at diagnosing and treating ectopic pregnancies with state-of-the-art surgical and non-surgical methods.

This is rich. Ultrasound is necessary for patient safety? Abortion businesses don’t always sterilize their instruments? There are quack abortionists out to make a quick buck? You don’t say.

It gets even better. Liberty goes on to brag that its abortionist has hospital privileges. It also claims to be accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care—which would mean it meets ambulatory surgical standards like the ones struck down by the Supreme Court—although I could find no evidence of Liberty’s accreditation on the AAAHC website. Either way, by linking hospital privileges and ambulatory surgical regulations to patient safety, Liberty has violated a major pro-choice talking point.

The abortion industry denies that health and safety regulations are necessary and insists that it is capable of regulating itself… until, that is, it’s financially beneficial to say the opposite.