Sole Cincy abortion clinic to remain open through May

COLUMBUS — Cincinnati’s sole abortion clinic will remain open through at least May 2016 following last-minute approval from Ohio Department of Health.

On Friday, state health department director Richard Hodges approved the Mount Auburn Planned Parenthood’s request for an exception to state law that all abortion clinics must have a transfer agreement with a local, private hospital. The exception, called a variance, now expires May 31, 2016.

Hodges denied Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s first variance request in September, and moved to close the abortion provider. That would have made Cincinnati the largest metropolitan area in the country without an abortion clinic.

The number of abortion clinics in Ohio has dwindled in recent years as the Republican-led legislature and Gov. John Kasich approved more restrictions on access to abortions. The Cincinnati area lost another clinic last year, when a facility in Sharonville stopped providing surgical abortions after its license was revoked.

But Hodges approved the Mount Auburn clinic’s request Friday – the last day he could under a new deadline passed by state lawmakers.

Under the new deadline, the health department has only 60 days to make a decision on variance requests. If the department doesn’t give an answer within 60 days, or denies the request for an exception, the abortion clinics automatically lose their licenses.

“We are very pleased that our variance was approved by the Ohio Department of Health. This ensures that we can continue to operate at least through May of 2016,” Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio spokesman Danielle Craig said.

Still, Craig said, the restrictions, such as requiring a transfer agreement with local hospitals and prohibiting public hospitals from working with abortion clinics, are unconstitutional because they place “an undue burden on women seeking safe and legal abortion.”

The Mount Auburn clinic and Women’s Med in Dayton, Southwest Ohio’s two remaining abortion providers, filed a lawsuit in federal court this fall to dispute the health department’s new power.

Attorneys will continue to fight the automatic denial after 60 days and the requirement that clinics partner with local hospitals even though Hodges approved the variance, attorney Jennifer Branch said.

“Everything is still in play,” Branch said.

Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis said Hodges owes Ohioans and lawmakers answers for the “mind-boggling decision.”

“It’s unfortunate that the Department of Health supports Planned Parenthood and their blatant disregard for Ohio’s health and safety standards. We have worked tirelessly to enact strong pro-life laws to protect women, yet with a stroke of a pen, the abortion industry received a free pass and is allowed to skirt the law,” Gonidakis said.

Hodges denied Planned Parenthood’s first request because it had too few doctors to accept patients in case of an emergency. The first request listed three doctors. A previously approved request listed four.

So, Planned Parenthood submitted a second request for a variance and included four doctors. Hodges approved that request Friday.

Women’s Med in Dayton is appealing Ohio Department of Health’s effort to close the Dayton clinic after its variance was denied. That clinic has not submitted a second request, but it will have a hearing on the proposed closure, Ohio Department of Health spokesman Russ Kennedy said.