Safety Checklist for Abortion Clinics

Our commitment at Woman to Woman Support Network is to help women considering abortion realize what is in their best interest. Here is a safety checklist that can help protect you against physical and emotional injuries.

1. Ask for the name of the doctor performing the abortion.

Abortion is legal; malpractice and substandard medical treatment are not. Unless you insist on knowing the name of the doctor you may not be told. In case of injury, the abortionist is relying on your not wanting anyone to know that you were ever at their clinic; he (or she) is also counting on your not knowing who to hold accountable for the malpractice. In order to protect your interests in case of injury, know your doctor's name.

2. Do not allow anyone to sell you an abortion prior to the eighth week of pregnancy.

Providers will sell you one but then will not "guarantee success" prior to the eighth week. The fetus is simply too small to locate. Abortion is already a blind procedure (by feel and guess work) and when done prior to the eighth week, the dangers of internal damage are severe. The suction tube may perforate your uterus and bowel. More commonly, the abortion is incomplete and part of the fetus is left behind, causing severe infection. This can lead to infertility and, in some cases, to toxic poisoning and death. Don't be a victim of someone's desire to make a quick cash sale.

3. Verify that the doctor is competent and caring by calling your state's Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.

In Rhode Island, the number to call is 401/222-3855. Call your own state's health department to get the phone number to call to check on doctors in your state. You do not have to give your name when making this call. Ask if there are or have been any complaints or malpractice suits lodged against your doctor and the abortion clinic. This is a matter of consumer protection. You should know if the doctor who will operate on you is competent. Some doctors have been under investigation for various malpractice and sexual assault offenses. Some clinics have malpractice judgments pending against them. Abortion providers routinely fail to inform clients about the risks of abortion. Many also have quality care problems. You deserve competent treatment, not substandard care. 

4. Check to see if the abortion center is a licensed medical clinic.

Abortion providers are not required by law to be licensed clinics and therefore are not required to provide the standard of medical care that women deserve and expect. Abortion is the only field of medicine that is unregulated. Make sure that you only go to a clinic that at least meets the minimum safety standards required for a medical clinic license. Some clinics advertise themselves as licensed private practices. This gives a misleading sense of meeting high standards. It is actually the opposite. Others may be equally misleading. Ask and then check to see if the information, as you understand it, is true.

5. Get a blood test or a laboratory quality urine test.

You may not be pregnant after all. We provide a laboratory quality urine test free of charge as a service to women. Because of the conflict of interest involved, do not confirm your pregnancy at the abortion center. Some doctors have had their licenses revoked for performing abortions on women who were not pregnant. Carol Everett, an abortion provider, testified in Congress that she regularly sold abortions to women who were not pregnant but who feared that they were. At centers like ours nationwide, advisors have seen numerous women who were told at abortion clinics that they were pregnant and who had made appointments for abortions but who tested negative in the pregnancy center offices. Make sure that you are tested by someone other than the abortion provider.

6. Demand your money back, should you change your mind, even when you're on the table.

Abortion providers know that this is an intensely agonizing decision and see women change their minds at the last minute because, as they say, "I simply can't kill my baby, no matter how difficult my circumstances." They may make you wait a long time, hoping once again that you'll change your mind. Know your rights. Don't be pressured.