Pa. to crack down on abortion clinics

• Tweet

HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania Gov. Jim Corbett has ordered annual inspections for all freestanding abortion clinics following murder charges against a Philadelphia doctor.

Corbett, at a news conference Tuesday in Harrisburg, announced a shakeup in the departments of Health and State, which oversee clinics and professional licensing, and the dismissal of six officials, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who operated the Women's Medical Society, has been charged with the murder of a patient who died after an abortion and seven infants who were allegedly killed with scissors after being delivered alive. A grand jury report found the clinic in West Philadelphia had not been inspected since 1993.

Hospital clinics are already subject to annual inspections. Corbett also ordered state officials to set up a computer system to track complaints against abortion clinics.

"This happened because people weren't doing their jobs, plain and simple," Corbett said. "This doesn't even rise to the level of government running amok. It was government not running at all."

Corbett said three state employees involved in the Gosnell case have quit. Another eight are protected by civil service rules and union contracts and remain on the payroll pending disciplinary action.