Alabama pro-lifers celebrate closure of notorious Birmingham abortion facility

by Christine Dhanagom

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, May 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life activists in Birmingham breathed a sigh of relief last Friday as New Women All Women, one of the city’s most notorious abortion facilities, finally closed its doors in the wake of an investigation triggered after two women were seen leaving the clinic in an ambulance.

Witnesses present at clinic on January 21, 2012, reported that two women were taken to the hospital, one apparently unconscious and bleeding and the second with an oxygen mask. The unconscious woman had to be carried out the door by emergency workers and lifted onto a gurney waiting outside, since there was no gurney access into the facility.

A 76-page report issued by the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) revealed that, due to a “medication error” both patients had been given “an unknown excessive amount of the drug Vasopressin.” The report also noted numerous health and safety violations at the center including unlicensed health practitioners, uninspected equipment, inconsistent records, and a third botched abortion.

The ADPH issued a press release on Good Friday announcing that the facility would be required to relinquish its license on May 18.

A last ditch attempt to keep the clinic open under new ownership was thwarted thanks in part to the vigilance of pro-lifers who discovered that the company applying for a license to operate the clinic was planning to maintain an illicit arrangement with current owner Diane Derzis.

The ADPH denied the application for license submitted by Ochata Management, LLC, noting that the new owners were supposed to operate “independent from and not affiliated with” the center’s current officers and directors. Under the proposed arrangement, however, Derzis would have been “entitled to all the profits from the current operation of the center.”

“It is an example of what can be accomplished when pro-life groups work together toward a common goal,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

The pro-life watchdog organization had been heavily involved in the effort to close the clinic. In a press release, Newman credited the work of numerous pro-life organizations, including Charismatic Episcopal Church for Life, Life Legal Defense, and The Survivors. “Without our combined work, this clinic would still be taking the lives of innocent babies today.”

Newman added that there was need for continued vigilance to “actively oppose” any attempts to reopen the clinic.