The Lincoln Journal Star finally got around to reporting the remarkable fact that surgical abortions have temporarily stopped at Planned Parenthood centers in Lincoln and Omaha. We know...but that's because we're out there sidewalk counseling. Indeed, we've been able to rejoice at the closure of this element of Planned Parenthood's insidious and violent business for over 5 weeks now, including at the Sioux City PP which the newspaper story doesn't mention.In fact, there's quite a bit that the Journal Star doesn't tell us as Julie Schmit-Albin explains in her remarks following the story.
First, the Journal Star report:
Abortions in Lincoln and Council Bluffs, Iowa, have been temporarily halted due to a leave of absence by a key member of the Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs medical staff.
Bobbie Kierstead, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs, said abortion services were suspended sometime in the past few weeks and would return soon — which she defined as a matter of weeks. “(It) doesn’t mean three months from now.” Kierstead said she could not provide more information about the person on leave, citing human resources privacy issues. “It very definitely is temporary,” Kierstead said of the suspension of services.
News of the temporary halt was included in the May issue of Vital Signs, a publication of Lincoln Right to Life. The pamphlet said: “The Planned Parenthood abortion facilities in Lincoln and Council Bluffs, Iowa, have apparently suspended abortion appointments. We are not certain as to the circumstances, or as to how long this may last but we celebrate the wonderful news that lives are not taken at either location.”Kierstead said Planned Parenthood maintains two health centers in Lincoln providing a full range of reproductive health care, and abortions are provided at one of them. A call to Lincoln Right to Life was not answered.
Julie Schmit-Albin wrote the following response which was printed in the comments section of the LSJ online edition:
" The flip side of this is the medical malpractice lawsuit filed against Planned Parenthood of Ne/Council Bluffs and Meryl Seversen, the abortionist. The suit was filed in August 2007 following a botched abortion at the PP South Street facility where a woman had to be taken to a hospital for an emergency hysterectomy. Does the cessation of abortions have anything to do with A: PP and the abortionist facing a lawsuit and/or B: any complaints that may have been filed with the Nebr. Dept. of Health & Human Services regarding the botched abortion? There is certainly more to this story than just a "personnel issue". It would seem the LJS would want to dig further into this. "
Julie continues in this e-mail sent to colleagues:
"There's more here than meets the eye...Something tells me if news this big hit the pro-life side; the articles and TV reports would be huge, wondering what was going on, etc. No calls from the LJS were made to NRL about this and apparently the only number they had for Lincoln Right to Life they did not get an answer on.We need to ask the media in both Lincoln and Omaha to cover this story in depth, including the video of Chris Funk of PP currently playing on YouTube which outlines PP's future plans in both Nebraska and Iowa. Plans to close the Omaha Dodge St. PP and build a new, larger facility somewhere else in Omaha? The cessation of taking Title X funds for their Nebraska programs and concentrating on getting additional new state funding from Iowa which just came through its legislative session? The temporary (according to this article) cessation of abortions (Praise God!) at PP's Lincoln South St. facility due to a medical employee being on leave?
Does the medical malpractice lawsuit filed against PP of NE/Council Bluffs and abortionist Meryl Severson have anything to do with the ceasing of abortions at this time? What about any complaints filed at DHHS re: the lawsuit? Have they been put on probation by DHHS? Inquiring minds want to know. There seems to be a lot of changes going on with PP of Ne/Council Bluffs and one would think the media would find it worth reporting. Guess it's our job to raise the questions and ask the media why the full story is not being covered."
