Sharonville, Ohio – The infamous late-term abortionist Martin Haskell has been told by a Hamilton County magistrate that he plans to end an injunction that is keeping Haskell’s Sharonville abortion business open. That would force Haskell to shut down his Women’s Med Center, which has been operating in the Cincinnati suburb of Sharonville, without the required hospital transfer agreement.
“For years, Haskell has been operating as if he is above the law. Finally, it appears that the Courts are sending him the message that this is not so,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Since Haskell has a history of sending women injured by abortions to local hospitals, it is dangerous to allow him to continue operating without a valid transfer agreement. We look forward to the enforcement of the ODH closure order that will protect women and their babies from Haskell’s reckless practices.”
Haskell, whose own “courtesy” hospital privileges were terminated several years ago, was operating under a variance issued by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) that waived the transfer agreement requirement as long as Haskell maintained ODH-approved written agreements with two physicians to provide hospital care for his injured abortion patients that require emergency hospital treatment.
In January, the Ohio Department of Health, frustrated with Haskell’s unauthorized alterations to his agreements with an ever-changing list of troubled abortionists, rejected his application to renew his variance and rescinded Haskell’s clinic license.
“There is a history of problems with this particular ambulatory surgery facility and operator,” an ODH spokeswoman told the Cincinnati Enquirer in January. “The agency no longer has confidence that this ambulatory surgery facility will take necessary steps to operate in accordance with regulations.”
Monday’s hearing was the result of Haskell’s appeal of that January closure order.
On Monday, Magistrate Michael Bachman ruled that the ODH had the authority to close abortion businesses and told Haskell that he intends to uphold the ODH closure order. Bachman is scheduled to vacate the injunction on July 10 and order Haskell to shutter his Sharonville facility by the end of business that day. Haskell has indicated he will continue to fight to stay open.
Haskell had a history of making emergency care agreements with abortionists of questionable competency, including Walter T. Bowers, whose incompetence was publicly exposed by Operation Rescue, which discovered that he had been banned from the practice of obstetrics in Kentucky and was placed on five years of probation.
Operation Rescue recently documented four medical emergencies at Haskell’s two Ohio abortion clinics, emphasizing the need for Haskell to maintain a valid hospital transfer agreement as legally required. OR worked with Greater Cincinnati Right to Life to seek the closure of Haskell’s Sharonville facility.