Recent inspections by the Pennsylvania Department of Health show a disturbing pattern of abortion facilities openly violating basic health standards. Most notably, the Philadelphia Women’s Center, one of the most notorious abortion facilities in Pennsylvania, failed its recent building inspection, according to records from the PA Department of Health.

           

An inspection report dated February 25, 2025, demonstrates how abortion centers fall woefully short of basic health and safety standards. The report states that the eight-story building “was not in compliance with the…requirements of the Life Safety Code…”

           

On the basis of a document review and interview, “it was determined the facility failed to ensure fire alarm systems, such as smoke detection devices, were maintained and tested as required, affecting the entire component.” Furthermore, “it was determined the facility failed to properly maintain and test the automatic wet sprinkler system, affecting the entire facility.” The facility could not provide documentation for the following: “internal valve inspection (5 yr); internal pipe (inspection) (5 yr); obstruction investigation.” In addition, “it was determined the facility failed to maintain inspection of Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment, affecting the entire facility.” Moreover, “it was determined the facility failed to ensure medical gas cylinders were properly stored, affecting one of eight levels in the facility.”  One is left to wonder how any other business could survive with such a flagrant violation of safety regulations.

           

In its latest building inspection report, the Philadelphia Women’s Center has shown its contempt for the law and for the safety of the women who enter its doors. For the sake of pregnant women in the Commonwealth, it should be held accountable.

 

Meanwhile, another week--and more proof that abortion facilities in Pennsylvania are shortchanging women’s health. The latest example comes from the Planned Parenthood in York, PA, which recently failed inspection by the PA Department of Health. An inspection report dated March 19, 2025 shows that the facility was not in compliance with PA law. According to the report, “Each medical facility shall have readily available equipment and drugs necessary for resuscitation.”

           

If local anesthesia is used to perform an abortion during the first trimester, a number of pieces of equipment must be ready for use to resuscitate. These include a suction source, oxygen source, assorted size oral airways, a laryngoscope, bag and mask for assisted ventilation, intravenous fluids, intravenous catheters, and emergency drugs for shock. An individual must also be on hand to monitor respiratory rates, blood pressure, and heart rates. But, based on observation and an interview with staff, health inspectors determined that Planned Parenthood York “failed to have all required equipment available for resuscitative services.”

 

In addition, based on observation, a review of facility policy, and an interview with staff, regulators found that the abortion center “failed to complete Automated External Defibrillator (AED) checks to ensure the equipment was operating properly.”

 

Once again, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation, is undermining the health and safety of women through its negligence. The women of Pennsylvania deserve better. The failed inspections in Philadelphia and York make one wonder whether the Pennsylvania abortion industry has learned any lessons from the “Gosnell experience.”

 

Abortionist Kermit Gosnell routinely violated health and safety standards at his West Philadelphia abortion center, but his facility went uninspected for years. That was because pro-abortion Gubernatorial Administrations determined that health inspections could threaten access to abortion. Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” eventually led to his conviction of murdering three newborn infants and causing the death of a female immigrant patient, Karnamaya Mongar. He is currently serving a life sentence of his crimes.

 

After the Gosnell scandal came to light, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed an abortion center regulation law. The law required that abortion facilities follow the same requirements as ambulatory surgical facilities. It also mandated regular inspections, including unannounced investigations.

 

Once the law went into effect, more than a half-dozen abortion operations shut their doors because they either could not or would not meet basic health and safety standards. The law also became a model for the rest of the nation.

 

Now, pro-abortion lawmakers in the PA General Assembly are trying to rescind the law, ignoring the health risks to women associated with uninspected abortion facilities. The dismantling of abortion center regulation would have a grave impact on the safety of women throughout Pennsylvania.

 

The routine safety failures of abortion centers in the Commonwealth are a disgrace. They also demonstrate that the abortion industry is more interested in making money than protecting women from harm. It is a travesty that abortion facilities are permitted to routinely break the law with little in the way of consequences. It is a public health issue that demands immediate attention from Pennsylvania’s elected officials and state regulators.