A new study says Illinois is facing a serious women’s health crisis and the Illinois Department of Public Health is receiving the heat for the crisis. A new report, released by Illinois Right to Life, documents serious health violations and regulatory loopholes in women’s clinics that engager the health and safety of female patients statewide. The report reveals these facts:

Fact: 63% of Illinois abortion clinics open today have not had a health and sanitary inspection in between two and three and a half years.

Fact: 40% of the clinics licensed by the state between 2000 and 2014 went between 14 and 17 years without health inspections. Details here.

Fact: Illinois’ five Planned Parenthood clinics that perform abortions are not licensed and therefore did not receive health and sanitary inspections from the Illinois Department of Public Health between 2000-2014. Details here.

The 66-page study exposes negligent policies, faulty implementation, and incompetent practices that allow Illinois’ substandard women’s reproductive health facilities to operate with virtually no oversight.

“It’s quite scary,” explained Emily Zender, Executive Director of Illinois Right to Life, the organization that conducted the research. “While news reports warn of MRSA, urge flu vaccination, and praise hospital Ebola training, abortion providers are allowed to perform invasive surgical procedures in unsanitary conditions.” Details here.

“What is even more unconscionable is that the Department of Public Health failed to produce any documentation showing that women who had abortions in unsterile clinics were warned of the potential risks,” [details here] Zender added. “No woman should leave an abortion clinic needing HIV testing, a tetanus shot or hospital emergency treatment, yet for 15 years the Illinois Department of Public Health has abdicated all responsibility to ensure licensed abortion clinics are safe and sanitary.”

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The report states some health violations documented at various Illinois women’s clinics include [details here]:

No registered nurse was employed.

Medical personnel were observed retrieving a paper towel from the garbage to cover food trays.

Reportedly gynecological cannulas were stained with a brown substance.

Suction machine in the operating room contained clear water with specks of floating debris in it.

Nine cups with medication in them also contained crumbs.

Two boxes of Nuva Rings (inserted contraceptive medication) were stored in the refrigerator with a liter of cola.

The facility failed to ensure a pre-anesthesia evaluation was conducted prior to administration of anesthesia on some patients.

Biohazard laboratory refrigerator contained fetal tissue alongside medications and food.

These accounts infer that abortion in Illinois is anything but safe. The state requires tanning salons to have annual inspections, nursing homes must receive inspections every 15 months, and Chicago restaurants are also subject to a once yearly inspection. Abortion clinics in Illinois are inspected an average of once every nine years, and in fact, no sanitary inspection policy for licensed women’s clinics exists. [details here]

While Illinois Right to Life’s pro-life stance may provoke accusations of bias, the sources cited in the report come directly from the Illinois Department of Public Health or the mainstream media.

“If you support legalized abortion, you also support protecting the safety of women who choose to have abortions. Dangerous, unsanitary clinic conditions and unlicensed surgical facilities are unacceptable under any circumstances,” said Zender. “The State of Illinois has failed women. Refusal to immediately enact reform abandons women to the prospect of unsterile surgical tools, dirty operating rooms, and inadequate medical attention. Two clinics have already shutdown after health inspections revealed dangerously unsanitary conditions inside. Gosnell-esque abortion clinics are not welcome in Illinois.”

Read the full report: Illinois Department of Public Health puts Women’s Health at Risk