Pro-life supporters want Birmingham Planned Parenthood shut down

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - The days could be numbered for the last remaining abortion provider in Birmingham.

Pro-life activists say Planned Parenthood of Birmingham performed a botched abortion while it was on probation, and that is enough to force the state to shut it down.

In a new lawsuit filed in state court, a woman named Roberta Clark alleges she was the victim of malpractice at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham.

Clark says an untrained worker gave her an ultrasound, and then a doctor gave her a pelvic exam, told her her baby was around eight weeks old, then performed an abortion.

But 25 days later, Clark was still having nausea and bleeding and went to the ER at Princeton Hospital, where she says another ultrasound showed she was still pregnant, and that the fetus was developing inside her fallopian tube.

"When she went for the abortion, they should've recognized on the ultrasound that there was nothing in the uterus," said biologist Sue Turner of Alabama Physicians for Life.

Turner says documents from the lawsuit prove the abortion doctor should've realized the procedure didn't work when he got test results back a few days later.

"Planned Parenthood really did a terrible thing by not contacting her to let her know the fetus was still in there and that she undoubtedly had a tubal, or ectopic pregnancy," Turner said.

"This would imply that, while Dr. Umoren knew he had performed an unsuccessful abortion, he chose not to inform Ms. Clark, placing her life, instead, in further danger," said Father Terry Gensemer, a pro-life minister leading a protest outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham.

This allegedly happened in August and September of 2010, in the middle of the clinic's one-year probation for previous violations.

If the allegations are true, pro-life groups say that's all the state would need to shut the clinic down.

"These are outrageous violations of state law, and the health department should revoke the license of Planned Parenthood, and Alabama legislators must make sure no tax money is funding Planned Parenthood's illicit activity," Gensemer said.

FOX6 News contacted Planned Parenthood and received this reply:

Today, we learned that a complaint has been filed against our health center in Birmingham, Alabama. At Planned Parenthood, we care deeply about the health and safety of each and every patient. We do not publicly discuss private patient matters and we take very seriously and follow the HIPAA Rules that forbid the disclosure of patient information, including that we do not confirm whether or not someone was seen at our health centers.

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