By Cheryl Sullenger
Wichita, Kansas – From the revocation of a notorious abortionist’s medical license, to an abortionist jailed, and others under investigation, the theme for 2018 focused on enforcement that brought abortionists who break the law to justice.
“I have often said that if all the existing laws already on the books were enforced, abortion clinics would shut down in droves,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “When abortion clinics close, lives are saved.”
But for Operation Rescue, enforcement is just a small part of what we do. Each day, we research and document abortion abuses. We use that documentation to file complaints with the appropriate authorities, then demand that the laws be enforced. We work with legislators, lobbyists, and lawyers who use our data to enact common sense pro-life legislation and defend it in court when challenged.
We also expose abortion abuses and the abusers who perpetrate them through our substantial internet presence that now includes three websites (OperationRescue.org, AbortionDocs.org, and Abortion911.com) and social media outreaches, including an active YouTube channel, (which have drawn the ire of pro-abortion suppression and censorship.) We further bypass the media information roadblocks with a vast direct e-mail following and press releases.
Here are Operation Rescue’s top ten achievements of 2018.
1. Annual Abortion Clinic Surveys: Each year Operation Rescue contacts each abortion facility in the United States and gathers information about their services. It is a massive yearly undertaking that provides the most accurate accounting of the Abortion Cartel in the nation, bar none. Our 2018 survey is now completed and our findings are scheduled for release in two parts the week of January 7, 2019. Click here to review our previous annual survey reports.
2. Florida abortionist James Pendergraft’s license revoked: For decades, James Scott Pendergraft IV has endangered the public with his shoddy abortion practices and frequent criminal behavior. Operation Rescue has worked for years to bring him to justice. When Pendergraft was arrested (and was later convicted) in South Carolina in 2015 for operating an illegal abortion and drug distribution racket out of his vehicle, authorities did not release his name. Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger was able to document his identity and file a complaint against him with the Florida Board of Medicine. That resulted in the permanent revocation of his medical license in December. Learn more.
3. Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen under investigation by the FBI: In 2013, Operation Rescue released an exposé on Karpen based on information provided by four of his employees. They provided photographic evidence that supported their allegation that Karpen was killing babies born alive during sloppy late-term abortions. That prompted several unsuccessful efforts to prosecute him for his alleged crimes, including a 2016 criminal referral to the Department of Justice made by a House Investigative Panel. But we never gave up! With the advent of the new Trump administration, Operation Rescue sent a letter to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking an investigation into Karpen’s practices. In May 2018, the Department of Justice informed Operation Rescue that the case had been referred to the FBI for further investigation. Learn more.
4. New York Abortionist Robert Rho convicted and jailed: In October 2016, abortionist Robert Rho was arrested and charged with manslaughter in the death one of his late-term abortion patients, Jaime Morales. Rho was forced to close his Flushing abortion facility and surrender his medical license. After two years of delays Rho finally was tried in a Queens, New York courtroom. Operation Rescue’s representative, Lauren Handy, provided eye-witness accounts of the trial that were reported by Operation Rescue before any other media began reporting on the trial. It is likely his trial would have been completely ignored if not for the reporting of Operation Rescue. To avoid a longer jail sentence, Rho took a plea bargain agreement just before the jury reported its verdict. He pled guilty to a lesser charge of Criminally Negligent Homicide and was sentenced to serve sixteen months to four years in state prison. Rho is currently incarcerated. Learn more.
5. Protect Life Rule to deny Planned Parenthood Title X funding: Operation Rescue worked with a coalition of pro-life groups led by the Susan B. Anthony List and Kansas Republican Ron Estes to change the rules for awarding Title X grant money to exclude any organization that conducts or refers for abortions. Expected to go into effect in the Spring of 2019, this new rule will deprive Planned Parenthood of millions in taxpayer funding each year. Operation Rescue was proud to contribute to accomplishing this rule change that was endorsed by President Donald J. Trump. Learn more.
6. Launch of Abortion911.com: The Abortion Cartel constantly misrepresents abortion as one of the safest of medical procedures. With years of documentation to the contrary, Operation Rescue launched a new web site in August called Abortion911.com, which contains every medical emergency at abortion facilities documented by Operation Rescue over years of research. It also includes exposés on every abortion patient death covered by Operation Rescue, including three abortion-related deaths of that were covered by Operation Rescue in 2018. You can help us prove that abortion is NOT safe! If you have witnessed a medical emergency or ambulance presence at an abortion facility, please send your information to us at ReportAbortion911@zoho.com. If your information is urgent, please call 316-683-6790 ext. 112. Learn more.
7. Newman on Netflix: Operation Rescue President Troy Newman appeared in the 2018 Netflix documentary, Reversing Roe. Despite the film’s pro-abortion bent, Newman gives a compelling defense of the pre-born and discussed themes covered Abortion Free, a book he co-wrote with Cheryl Sullenger, that serves as a manual on how to build an Abortion-Free America one community at a time. Learn more.
8. Renewed interest in The Trial of Kermit Gosnell: With the release of the long-awaited movie about the Gosnell trial, there has been renewed interest in the case and the book written by Cheryl Sullenger, who personally attended the trial. Operation Rescue’s work in reporting daily from the trial eventually prompted national coverage of the trial and the atrocities Gosnell and his staff of unqualified workers inflicted on women and babies who were born alive during late-term abortions only to be brutally murdered. The movie gave a nod to Sullenger’s work by featuring the character of the blogger who was based, in part, on her. Learn more.
9. Two waste companies quit servicing Carhart’s Maryland abortion business: After exposing a waste disposal company that was disposing of aborted baby remains from LeRoy Carhart’s full-term abortion facility in Bethesda, Maryland, it cancelled its contract within 24 hours. Operation Rescue learned of a second waste disposal company that stepped in to help keep Carhart’s clinic operating, but also quit just days after a contact campaign was launched. Operation Rescue has teamed with Created Equal to expose Carhart’s current waste disposal company that justifies its collaboration with the Abortion Cartel with hypocritical religious excuses. Learn more.
10. Eye-Opening Special Investigative Reports: In 2018, Operation Rescue published several special investigative reports on abortion abuses that included failed inspection reports, a warning about a dangerous criminal abortionist who was inexplicably relicensed this year, an uptick in complications to the use of the Abortion Pill, and even an exposé on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is a radical supporter of unrestricted government-funded abortions and lowering the age of consent to 12 years old. Read these Special Reports.
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Operation Rescue serves a unique mission within the pro-life movement and exists solely on contributions from private donors. We appreciate everyone who had stood by Operation Rescue and made these accomplishments possible. Follow this link to give to Operation Rescue.