From beginning to end, 2011 was a year the light was shed on the seedy underbelly of the abortion industry. High profile cases of abortionists being charged with murder, Michigan abortion clinics being closed and undercover investigation by prolifers all received headlines. Below are just a few cases of the abortion industry being exposed in 2011.
In January of 2011, abortionist Kermit Gosnell, along with his wife and a number of his unlicensed employees were arrested and charged with killing a female patient and seven children who survived abortions. Gosnell allegedly killed seven "viable and alive" infants using scissors to sever their spinal cords. After Gosnell’s arrest, the release of a grand jury investigation and the description of Gosnell’s filthy abortion clinic, at least 11 Pennsylvania state employees, who took no action to shut down Gosnell’s clinic, were fired or resigned. Throughout the year, Gosnell’s employees have pled guilty to various crimes for the roles they played in Gosnell’s clinic. In light of the failings of Pennsylvania’s government agencies to inspect abortion clinics around the state, the Pennsylvania legislature passed and Governor Tom Corbett signed legislation in December of 2011 to regulate and regularly inspect Pennsylvania’s abortion clinics.
In February of 2011, the youth-led prolife organization Live Action released a number of hidden camera videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s willingness to help undercover actors posing as sex traffickers get abortions for underage girls. The undercover investigation led to the firing of a manager at one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic and encouraged legislators working to defund Planned Parenthood. While efforts to defund Planned Parenthood stalled in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House voted 240-185 passing legislation to defund America’s leading abortion provider.
In November of 2011, Michigan's prolife Attorney General Bill Schuette announced that two abortion clinics in Michigan closed permanently. The Lansing Health Care Clinic and Saginaw Women's Choice Clinic were temporarily closed by the order of an Eaton County judge earlier in November after Schuette accused them of operating illegally because neither was incorporated by a medical professional. The clinic owners are prevented from operating an abortion clinic in Michigan ever again. The investigation into these abortion clinics began after a local prolifer discovered the remains of aborted children in the Lansing abortion clinic’s dumpster.
At the end of December 2011, Maryland authorities charged abortionists Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley with various counts of murder. Brigham is a notorious abortionist and abortion clinic owner who has a long history of problems with the law. He has had his license to practice medicine suspended in numerous states. After Brigham and Riley botched an abortion on a young woman in 2010, authorities searched one of Brigham's clinics and found evidence of Brigham performing illegal late‑term abortions.
To learn more about abortion, other prolife issues and how to become involved in our effort to expose the abortion industry’s seedy underbelly, visit Right to Life of Michigan at www.rtl.org.
