Sharonville clinic halts abortions, quits court fight

This story was originally published Aug. 20. As of Aug. 28, Complete Healthcare for Women in Columbus has decided to stop surgical abortions.

A Sharonville clinic has ceased performing abortions, abandoning its court fight and leaving the Cincinnati metropolitan area with one abortion clinic.

Women's Med had appealed in court the Ohio Department of Health's ruling to revoke its surgical license. The clinic hasn't been able to attain a patient-transfer agreement with a local private hospital as a new law requires. Ohio law allows the state health department to grant exceptions to such rules, but the department denied Women's Med a so-called "variance" as it had received in past years.

On Friday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jerome Metz Jr. ruled he lacked jurisdiction to override the order from the health department. Ohio rules give the state health department's director "sole discretion" to decide whether such clinics can operate without a transfer agreement – in which local hospitals agree to admit clinic patients if needed.

Women's Med – also known as the Lebanon Road Surgery Center – said Wednesday it would not appeal Metz's decision.

Instead, it will see patients in Cincinnati for their legally required pre-abortion appointment, then send them to its Dayton facility, also owned by Martin and Val Haskell, for abortions.

"Abortion access is now severely endangered for Cincinnati-area women with only one provider remaining," Val Haskell said in a statement. "This sole provider is also soon to be closed if Gov. (John) Kasich has his way."

Wednesday's decision will leave Ohio with 10 abortion clinics, down from 14 at the beginning of 2013, before new state regulations went into place. Of the remaining 10, three are in limbo because of the transfer-agreement law, an abortion restriction whose latest version went into effect last year.

The president of Ohio Right to Life, which has worked with lawmakers on most abortion restrictions, called the end of abortions at Women's Med "good public policy for Ohio."

"If a facility fails to ensure that they are operating at the legally required health and safety standards to protect women, then certainly they should close," Michael Gonidakis said in a statement. "This appears to be the end of a long battle to protect life in Greater Cincinnati."

The Sharonville clinic's owners decided to abandon its court battle because of the cost of the legal fight. The center's doctors prefer to concentrate on providing medical services to patients, attorney Dorothea Langsam told reporters. It will continue to provide other women's reproductive health care services.

"The cost and the energy that is required to litigate is not considered worth it," Langsam said. "It's a difficult day. ... It is disappointing for those who care about reproductive health care.

"It certainly makes it more difficult for them to exercise the legal right to obtain an abortion."

The clinic also will drop the request it made earlier this month, asking a judge to keep the clinic open because, the clinic said, the decision to close it was "politically motivated."

Not so, said health department spokeswoman Melanie Amato. "The Ohio Department of Health is committed to acting within its authority to uphold state laws and regulations designed to protect the health and safety of Ohio residents," she said in a statement.

Kasich, whose administration includes the health department, has said: "I just think we need to follow the law. That's what the health department did."

Southwest Ohio women seeking an abortion now have two remaining options. Both of those clinics are hoping the health department will allow them to stay open.

Planned Parenthood in Mount Auburn lacks a patient-transfer agreement, as does the second Women's Med facility in Dayton. They're are waiting to hear whether the health department will grant them exceptions to the transfer-agreement rule. If the state health department denies them the variance, the Cincinnati metropolitan region – including Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana – would become the largest in the country without an abortion clinic, according to an Enquirer analysis.

A clinic in Toledo is also fighting to stay open through an appeals battle similar to that of Women's Med.

The Mount Auburn Planned Parenthood facility is prepared for "an influx of patients that resulted from" Wednesday's announcement. The wait time for an abortion there is currently one to two weeks, Planned Parenthood spokesman Rick Pendersaid.

"We see this as wholly politically motivated and medically unnecessary," Pender said of the fight that led to Wednesday's announcement.

He declined to reveal how many abortions the Mount Auburn clinic performs. Hamilton County facilities performed 4,610 abortions in 2012, according to health department statistics, and figures from Women's Med indicate the center provided roughly 2,000 procedures annually.

The Sharonville clinic was the only one in Cincinnati that performed abortions later in pregnancy – through the 22nd week of gestation. Now, those patients seeking later abortions because of a fetal anomaly or a health-threatening condition must go to Dayton.

More than half of the clinic's patients have incomes that place them at or below the poverty level, "so, transportation to Dayton (for an abortion) is difficult," Langsam said.

Ohio abortion clinics

Ohio started 2013 with 14 abortion clinics. Here's an update on the status of each one.

• Elizabeth Campbell Surgical Center (Planned Parenthood), Mount Auburn – No patient-transfer agreement; has applied to health department for variance
• Women's Med, Sharonville – As of Tuesday, stopped performing abortions. No transfer agreement; health department denied variance request. Judge ruled against the clinic which won't appeal.
• Women's Med, Dayton – No transfer agreement. Health department reviewing variance request
• Capital Care Network, Toledo – Health department has declined to accept transfer agreement with a Michigan hospital an hour away. Appealing in court
• Center for Choice, Toledo – Closed in July 2013 after it lost its transfer agreement and was found to have what abortion-rights advocates call minor health violations
• Complete Healthcare for Women, Columbus – Transfer agreement in place
• East Columbus Health Center (Planned Parenthood) – Transfer agreement in place
• Founder's Women's Health Center, Columbus – Transfer agreement in place
• Akron Women's Medical Group – Transfer agreement in place
• Capital Care Network, Akron – Closed in April 2013 because of health violations. Another clinic seeking to open in the same location; so far license request has been denied
• Abortion Access – Center for Women's Health, Cleveland - Closed by owner in October
• Cleveland Surgi-Center – Transfer agreement in place, although not currently performing abortions because it is looking for a new location
• Preterm, Cleveland – Transfer agreement in place
• Bedford Heights Health Center (Planned Parenthood) –Transfer agreement in place