Governor Bevin Holds Planned Parenthood Accountable for Operating Unlicensed Abortion Facility

FRANKFORT, Ky  – On Thursday, Governor Matt Bevin announced that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. for operating a facility in which 23 abortions were performed unlawfully from December 3, 2015 through January 28, 2016.

“Although I am an unapologetically prolife individual, I recognize and accept that there are some laws on the books that I do not necessarily agree with,” said Governor Bevin. “However, we are a nation of laws, and my job is to ensure that they are followed regardless of my personal opinion. This administration will have no tolerance for the type of brazen disregard that Planned Parenthood has shown for both the safety of women and the rule of law. We will hold Planned Parenthood accountable for knowingly endangering their patients by providing illegal abortions at a facility that was not properly licensed nor prepared to handle an emergency.”

Background:

Kentucky’s laws regarding the operation of abortion facilities are clear: such facilities must first obtain a license before performing abortions, and there is a significant fine for any abortion performed without a license. Furthermore, in order to protect the health and safety of women, Kentucky law prescribes strict requirements for licensure.

On November 19, 2015, in the waning days of the administration of former Governor Steven L. Beshear, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., filed an application with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services for a license to operate an abortion facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

Attached to Planned Parenthood’s license application were purported “transfer agreements,” which are essential prerequisites for a license. Transfer agreements are not only essential for obtaining a license, but they are also essential for ensuring the safety of patients. Despite the importance of these agreements, the documents submitted by Planned Parenthood were a complete sham.

Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood did not have an abortion facility license, and the glaringly obvious fact that it did not have transfer agreements in place, Planned Parenthood knowingly and callously endangered the lives of its patients and began performing abortions at its facility on December 3, 2015.

On December 7, 2015, one day before the Beshear Administration left office, the then head of the Cabinet’s Office of Inspector General, Maryellen Mynear, ignored or overlooked these facts and retroactively confirmed to Planned Parenthood that it was a “long standing OIG policy” that abortion clinics could begin operations without a license. The reality, however, is that the Cabinet had never had such a policy relating to abortion facilities. Mynear’s actions ignored clear statutory law and were without authority.

In addition, Planned Parenthood was seeking to accelerate the licensure process to be completed before its sympathetic advocate willing to ignore the law, Mynear, left the Cabinet for a new job in early January, 2016.

Between December 3, 2015, and January 28, 2016, when the Cabinet learned Planned Parenthood had been operating an unlicensed abortion facility without hospital and ambulance transfer agreements, Planned Parenthood performed twenty-three (23) abortions, placing its patients at extreme risk to their health, safety, and lives had an emergency occurred. Because of its blatant violations of law, Planned Parenthood should be required to pay fines in the maximum amount allowed by law in order to punish it for its callous and knowing violations of law and to deter it and others from such violations in the future.

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