Des Moines, IA — Today the Iowa Board of Medicine issued a press release announcing the formation of an ad hoc committee to study the use of telemedicine in Iowa.

The following is a statement from Operation Rescue President Troy Newman in response to that announcement:

We were aware that the Iowa Board of Medicine formed this ad hoc committee because we attended the Board meeting on Aug. 20 where it was announced.

We are glad that telemedicine will be studied and hope that the committee will especially focus on the misuse of telemedicine by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which distributes dangerous abortion pills through a remote controlled push button system that denies the patient access to examination by a licensed physician as well as any meaningful doctor/patient relationship.

However, due to the way nearly 30 citizens were treated at the last Board meeting, we have concerns that the Board may not give our concerns for the health and safety of women fair consideration.

At the Aug. 20 meeting in which the Board solicited public comment on telemedicine, the Board, without notice, limited access to the meeting to only six people, then limited the total length of comments on telemedicine to only 10 minutes. The rest of the citizens, some who drove several hours to be heard, were forced by the Board to stand outside in the rain. There were health care professionals, attorneys, clergy, and leaders of a number of different groups that represented the concerns of thousands of Iowans that simply were not heard, or were limited in some cases to mere seconds of comment. Despite whatever the Board may say, that act clearly communicated to us that the Board is completely uninterested in hearing our concerns.

In addition, we have received documentation regarding the relationship between certain IBM staff members and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland that further erodes our confidence that the Board is capable of sound judgment regarding any issue related to Planned Parenthood. We plan to release our documentation on Monday.

Background

Washington, DC – A federal judge issued a temporary injunction on Monday blocking any Federal funds from going to life-destructive experimentation on human embryos. This ruling negates a 2009 Executive Order signed by Pres. Barack Obama that opened up the doors to tax-payer funding of human embryonic stem cell experimentation, which had been banned by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that the funding must stop because embryonic stem cell research “necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo.”

“We applaud this ruling that will protect innocent human beings in the very earliest stages of development from death and exploitation through unethical experimentation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“Without Federal tax dollars, many of these so-called ‘research’ labs will be unable to continue their live human experimentation, which shows little or no hope of developing usable cures. On the other hand, adult stem cell research has already provided effective treatments for diseases and conditions. It is our hope that the biotech industry will abandon their unethical and immoral efforts to take the lives of innocent human beings for the purposes of their ill-conceived experiments, and will instead work to advance medicine through the ethical research of adult human stem cells.

Operation Rescue was among the first pro-life groups in the nation to oppose human embryonic stem cell experimentation and conducted the first ever protest of it at Geron laboratories in Menlo Park, California, in 1999.

Operation Rescue congratulates Nightlight Christian Adoptions and the other groups who filed this suit for their victory in protecting human life.

News reports indicate that tens of millions of tax dollars that were in the process of being released for live human embryonic experimentation have been frozen and will not be distributed to biotech facilities. The Obama Administration plans to appeal the ruling.

Columbus, OH – Documents and information provided by an abortion whistleblower indicate that botched abortions occur much more often than the public is led to believe. Transcripts provided to Operation Rescue show disturbing information about two botched abortions that took place at different abortion clinics in Columbus, Ohio, within the past month.

“It is our understanding from conversations with our confidential sources in Ohio that abortion patients in Columbus end up in the local emergency rooms with alarming frequency. Our whistleblower says that these two incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. The true number of abortion complications is hidden from the public and it now appears that complications requiring emergency hospitalization have reached epidemic proportions,” said Newman.

Operation Rescue is demanding that the Medical Board of Ohio conduct inspections and close the dangerous abortion clinics in Columbus and around the state.

This is the latest of many tips that has come to Operation Rescue since it announced its Abortion Whistleblower Program.

Whistleblowers have been rocking the abortion cartel by coming forward with evidence of abortion abuses, including the following:

• Former employees of late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart submitted affidavits detailing illegal abortions, unlicensed staff dispensing drugs and performing medical tasks for which they were not qualified, and other offenses. This launched investigations by the Nebraska Attorney General and Health Department.
• A whistleblower confirmed abortion abuses that have been occurring at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa where dangerous abortion pills are being administered through a remote-controlled push-button scheme known as “telemed abortion.” A medical board investigation is ongoing.
• Whistleblowers in California helped expose the fact that abortionist Andrew Rutland was violating the terms of his probation by doing abortions without the required supervision of another physician. He faces almost certain license revocation at a hearing scheduled for early next year.
• Operation Rescue blew the whistle on illegal late-term abortion referrals provided by abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus in Kansas. Neuhaus now faces disciplinary action after Kansas authorities filed an 11-count petition against her based on OR’s complaint.
• Two victims of forced abortions done by Michigan abortionist Alberto Hodari came forward to tell of their horrific ordeals. Both women filed medical board complaints and one has sued. Currently, all seven of Hodari’s Detroit area abortion mills are up for sale.

Read full article with documentation
Read about Operation Rescue’s Abortion Whistleblower’s program.