The New York Health Department has spent little time inspecting abortion clinics over the past twelve years, according to a new report out Monday.
Documents obtained by the New York Post reveal a striking lack of oversight among the state’s 25 abortion facilities.
According to the report, from 2000 – 2012, eight of the 25 clinics were never inspected. Five were inspected once in that 12 year span and eight were inspected two or three times over that timeframe.
In 12 years, the inspectors conducted inspections 45 times at the 25 facilities.
The pro-life Chiaroscuro Foundation obtained the information via a Freedom of Information Act, following the debacle with murderous Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell — whose “House of Horrors” abortion facility was not inspected for over 15 years.
In 2012, New York City saw 73,815 pregnancies aborted, and 130,000 statewide.
“New York has one of the highest abortion rates in the country. More oversight is needed. Abortion clinics are as much a public concern as tanning salons. There should be regular inspections of all licensed abortion clinics,” Greg Pfundstein executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation told the Post. “Right now, New York is only inspecting a fraction of abortion providers, and only very rarely. It’s hard to know which facilities are safe.”
And while the state regulates 25 clinics, the Post notes that pro-choice advocates say there are over 200 providers in the state.
Indeed, while abortion facilities largely have avoided the scrutinizing eye of inspectors, city restaurants undergo an inspection and grading annually and, as the Post notes, a new law will require tanning beds to be inspected every two years.
The New York Health Department did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment, but did offer additional information in a letter reported by the Post.
“Some facilities are not required to have ‘abortion services’ in their operating certificates in order to perform abortions,” Health Department records-access official Elizabeth Sullivan explained.
“The Department does not otherwise maintain a list of every Article 28 facility that performs abortions,” she added.
According to the Post, in 14 years the state has only shut down a single clinic, upon discovering one of the doctors, at his previous job, had been fired and arrested for carving his initials into a pregnant woman’s stomach.
The revelation led the Health Department to inspect the facility — discovering a number of serious safety violations. The clinic was fined $60,000 and eventually allowed to reopen.