This post is written in response to Terry Hull’s post, “Attack Abortion with Red Tape?” (01/21/06).
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Terry, I do not have to have the attitude of “attack abortion” in order to protect society. Society does not have to tolerate the deaths and injuries from improperly conducted abortions, improperly staffed abortion clinics, and inadequately certified and trained abortionists. These are facts any legislature can address under the police power of the state. Abortion is a group of medical procedures that should be carefully regulated to protect the patients.

An abortion clinic with inadequate insurance coverage and inadequate net capital is a menace. Adequate capital and adequate insurance should be made a licensure prerequisite. Abortion clinics should have to meet the same criteria as any hospital operating room rather than the standards of tattoo parlors. Abortion clinics’ staffing should be on a par with skilled nursing facilities rather than nursing homes, and on a par with the ER of any hospital.

Abortion, like pregnancy itself, is among the most dangerous things a young woman does, and society has a tremendous responsibility to carefully scrutinize the abortion industry to make certain these people are protected. We should do no less regulation for abortion patients than we do to protect hospital patients.

The regulatory attempts that you listed, Terry, are intellectually interesting, but do not address the technical types of regulation I am describing. We spend more time and money in this country on regulating financial advisors than we do abortionists. Because of the public’s focus on the abortion issue itself, the abortion infrastructure is flying below the radar, politically speaking, and should be the focus of just as much effort.

Finally, the abortion industry has more free rides than the tobacco industry once had with regard to taxation. Abortionists are not repaying the state for the aftermath of failed surgeries, psychological injury, and latent disability. While the medical services of the abortionist may not be different from other body invasive medical procedures for tax purposes, the abortion clinics themselves do not support the infracture supported by hospitals, for example, and thus the state is required to fund the gap.

My personal hope, that one day abortion will be regarded as the murder it truly is, may or may not be fulfilled in my lifetime. But, the tragic consequences of having an unregulated medical sub-industry can be immediately addressed. The abortion industry lobby has so far prevented these ugly secrets from being exposed. It would be less expensive and less litigious to deal with the problem than to ignore it while we spend decades attempting to garner support for constitutional changes and Article III judges (who are appointed for life).