Austin, TX — The Texas Medical Board has set new hearing dates for two abortionists related to complaints filed by Operation Rescue as a result of an undercover investigation conducted earlier this year.
Franz Theard and Douglas Karpen have both been scheduled for hearings on May 16, 2012. Theard is accused of coaching minor girls to cross state lines to avoid Texas parental notification laws and with illegally disposing of aborted baby remains. Karpen is accused of violating the state’s informed consent laws, but has a sordid history of abortion abuses dating back to 1988.
Operation Rescue has also been notified that the case against abortionist H. Brook Randal remains active, but has not yet been set for hearing.
“The fact that these hearings are being deferred months into the future shows that the charges against them are being taken very seriously,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We are happy that the Board is pursuing these cases, but of course we wish things were moving a little quicker.”
In all, ten abortionists face hearings to answer to Medical Board questions about their shoddy abortion practices.
Three abortionists, Robert Hanson, Alan Molson, and William W. West, Jr., already faced hearings on October 28, 2011. Newman appeared before the Board at that time and gave a witness statement against each abortionist. Publication of the results of those hearings is expected in February.
Hearings against an additional four abortionists, Pedro J. Kowalyszyn, Sherwood C. Lynn, Margaret Kini, and Robert L. Prince were delayed from their original October date and have not yet been reset.
Operation Rescue and The Survivors conducted a three-month undercover investigation of numerous Texas abortion clinics from December, 2010, through February, 2011. The research teams discovered abuses at every abortion clinic they investigated. Operation Rescue then filed complaints with the appropriate governmental oversight agencies.
In addition to ten abortionists facing Medical Board action, Operation Rescue’s complaints have netted $83,000 in fines against two abortion clinics and the waste disposal company Stericycle for the illegal disposal of aborted baby remains.
“The fact that ten abortionists face discipline and three businesses have been heavily fined substantiates our claims that America’s abortion clinics routinely operate outside the law. Our investigations touched on randomly selected abortion clinics, but there is no doubt that similar or worse abuses could be discovered if every American abortion clinic was investigated,” said Newman. “We pray these cases in Texas will send a strong message to abortionists everywhere that they are not above the law and that sooner or later, they will be brought to justice.”