Abortion Clinics

State health officials have suspended surgical abortion procedures at three clinics, including one in Baltimore where a patient suffered cardiac arrest and later died at a hospital. The physician who performed the abortion at Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street wasn't certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, state officials said in a letter Friday to the General Assembly. Although the cardiac arrest was caused by underlying health conditions and not the abortion, investigators found that it raised questions whether doctors at the clinic can handle an abortion that goes wrong.

Maryland health officials may ask state lawmakers for permission to oversee plastic surgery centers, a move inspired in part by the death of a Lochearn woman after liposuction. The state health department had already been considering whether to ask for a change to the legal definition of free-standing surgery centers to align regulations with medical risk instead of insurance billing practices, Secretary Joshua Sharfstein said. Surgical centers currently are subject to state inspection only if they meet certain criteria in how they bill insurance companies, he said.

If the city of Baltimore and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake truly care about the health, safety and welfare of women, they will discontinue their appeal of the judgment regarding the constitutionality of the crisis pregnancy center regulation ( "Judge rules pregnancy center ordinance unconstitutional," Jan. 28) and instead strive to enact the thoughtful recommendations made by the Philadelphia grand jury in response to the case of the "Women's Medical Society" in Philadelphia, where Dr. Kermit Gosnell and nine others have been charged with murder after decades of performing illegal late-term abortions in squalid conditions.

The bright young people in student government at the Johns Hopkins University no doubt pride themselves on their openness to a diversity of views and their commitment to the free exchange of ideas. That's why the school's Student Government Association's Judiciary Committee was right to overturn the student Senate's decision to deny official recognition to a student-led anti-abortion group. It's on just such contentious issues as abortion that vigorous public discussion and a healthy respect for the views of others are most needed, and we hope that's the lesson Hopkins' student government will ultimately draw from this imbroglio.

In an article in yesterday's editions of The Sun, the location of the Baltimore Women's Medical Center was incorrect. It is located on Belair Road in Baltimore County. Also, the story incorrectly characterized the Planned Parenthood of Maryland's women's health centers in Towson and Owings Mills. Those two centers do not perform abortions.The Sun regrets the errors.As federal marshals are being assigned to protect abortion clinics across the nation, officials at some Maryland clinics are concerned about possible violence -- but say they already have security measures to protect patients and employees.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Richard L. Thornburgh, reacting to complaints that he is playing politics with violence at abortion clinics, declared yesterday that the government will enforce a judge's orders to protect two Kansas clinics even though it thinks the judge had no power to act.As long as U.S. District Judge Patrick Kelly's order forbidding anti-abortion demonstrators from blockading the clinics remains in force, Mr. Thornburgh said, "we are...

WASHINGTON -- Three Supreme Court justices who hold "swing" votes on abortion asked seemingly troubled questions yesterday about the impact on civil rights if abortion clinics lose the protection of federal law against Operation Rescue blockades.Those three -- Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy and David H. Souter -- took an active part in a one-hour hearing on a case that could have a major effect on the nationwide campaign to stop abortion by shutting down clinics.Remarks or questions by those three justices made it appear that they were concerned that a ruling against the clinics could have widening repercussions, perhaps limiting federal protection in general when individuals exercising a federal right face a massive demonstration by opposing forces.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court stripped abortion clinics yesterday of most of the protection of federal civil rights law, including the key part used repeatedly against blockades designed to shut them down.It was a sweeping victory for the most militant elements of the anti-abortion movement and for the Bush administration in its final week in office.Accepting fully the arguments made by Operation Rescue, with the administration's backing, the court may have gone further than at any time in the 20-year history of abortion rights to remove federal protection for those exercising that right -- a right that the court partly reaffirmed in June.

WASHINGTON -- Blockading abortion clinics -- a tactic frequently used by abortion foes in the last decade -- would become a federal crime under a bill proposed yesterday by Maryland Rep. Constance A. Morella.If passed, the bill would overturn the effect of the Supreme Court decision last month banning the use of a Reconstruction-era civil rights law to protect abortion facilities.Without the federal statute, clinics must now rely on a patchwork of state and local codes to stay open in the face of blockades, rather than the more effective federal protection.

A proposal to license and regulate clinics that perform abortions in Maryland appears all but dead in the legislature this year, according to a sponsor of the bill now before the state Senate. Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Baltimore County Republican and anesthesiologist, said that while he believes he has the six votes needed to win passage of his bill in the Education, Health and Environment Committee, he does not believe the committee's chairwoman, Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, will consider it. "I don't think it will appear on any more vote lists," Harris said yesterday.

A group of students at the Johns Hopkins University is reviving a campus anti-abortion group that members say will perform "sidewalk counseling" - attempting to discourage pregnant women entering clinics from going through with the procedure. But critics worry that the tactics of Voice for Life will harm the vulnerable women the group says it is trying to help. On Tuesday, a panel of undergraduates will review a decision by the Hopkins Student Government Association to deny recognition to the group.

State health officials have suspended surgical abortion procedures at three clinics, including one in Baltimore where a patient suffered cardiac arrest and later died at a hospital. The physician who performed the abortion at Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street wasn't certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, state officials said in a letter Friday to the General Assembly. Although the cardiac arrest was caused by underlying health conditions and not the abortion, investigators found that it raised questions whether doctors at the clinic can handle an abortion that goes wrong.

Great nations and proud empires have always collapsed from within before they were conquered from without. President Barack Obama's re-election mirrors the self-indulgent, greedy and envious nation we are rapidly becoming. Pollsters Michael Barone and Dick Morris got it horribly wrong. Both predicted a 300 electoral-vote win for Mitt Romney. It was President Obama who reached that mark. The central message coming out of the election seems to be that we are no longer the America of our Founders, or even the America that existed during World War II, which produced our "Greatest Generation.

Tony Lambros letter concerning the Affordable Care Act ("Justices join assault on U.S. Constitution," July 4) is so full of distortions that it is nearly impossible to point out all of them. Despite charges in the letter to the contrary, recess appointments by President Barack Obama were legally made while Congress was, in fact, in recess, contrary to the assertion in the letter. Executive orders do not and never required Congressional oversight. The executive order on contraception never involved visiting abortion clinics.

Jessica Valenti's op-ed "A war on women" (March 5) would have been better titled "A war on Republicans. " Abortion is not for women, it is for men! Men who engage in sexual acts forced or consensual and take no responsibility for the intercourse that could result in pregnancy. Abortion is not a choice, it is a consequence. The slogan "A woman's right to choose" is erroneous. Many women do not show up at abortion clinics because they choose. Most women did not willingly plan an unwanted pregnancy, did they?

Two doctors who Maryland authorities say botched an abortion last year in Elkton have been indicted on murder charges - in what appears to be the first use of the state's fetal homicide law involving a medical professional performing surgery. "We're in uncharted territory," Cecil County State's Attorney Edward D.E. Rollins said Friday. He declined to comment further because the indictment remains sealed until the suspects are arraigned in Maryland. They were arrested Wednesday in New Jersey and in Utah.

Denise Crowe dropped her toddler off with a sitter in February 2006 and drove with a friend to an Anne Arundel County clinic to get an abortion. It cost about $800. "She thought that she'd just have it done and nobody would know," said Stephanie White, her mother. White told lawmakers Wednesday that her daughter walked into a clinic run by a man who had been the subject of complaints. The day of the procedure, White said, an unqualified staff member pumped her daughter full of drugs.