Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says a state investigation into Planned Parenthood clinics found that three that provide abortions have been disposing of fetal remains in landfills. But the organization denies that claim and has filed a federal lawsuit against the state over DeWine’s statements.
Initially, Ohio’s investigation was undertaken to find out if Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio were engaging in unlawful sale of fetal tissue to bio-research companies. The investigation came about after a series of controversial videos claimed to show Planned Parenthood officials in other states selling fetal remains.
Those videos, made by anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, have set off a firestorm of controversy around Planned Parenthood, including attempts by congressional Republicans to strip federal funding from the organization. That fight nearly pushed the government to the brink of a shutdown earlier this year.
Planned Parenthood says the videos have been heavily edited and that officials were actually discussing handling costs associated with donating the tissues to medical research. Donation of fetal tissue is legal in some states, but not Ohio.
The AG’s investigation found no evidence that clinics in the state are engaged in the practice, but it says it did find another potential breech of state rules, but not necessarily state law, around the handling of fetal remains.
DeWine announced that Ohio will pursue civil penalties against Planned Parenthood over the allegations that three Planned Parenthood clinics in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland contract with a medical waste company that has disposed of abortion remains in landfills. On Dec. 14, DeWine filed a suit in federal court seeking to keep the organization from doing so in the future. That move was blocked by the court Dec. 15.
DeWine says that practice violates a state rule requiring such remains be disposed of in a humane way. The rule is not specific about what does and does not constitute humane disposal of remains, and it is unclear if the alleged behavior breaks any state laws.
Republican state lawmakers have been working on legislation that would require Planned Parenthood to cremate or bury all fetal remains. Clinics that did not do so would face 1st-degree misdemeanor charges under the proposed law.
“I don’t think most Ohioans believe this is a proper disposal, a humane disposal,” DeWine said after the announcement Dec. 11.
Cincinnati’s Elizabeth Campbell Surgical Center in Mount Auburn contracts fetal tissue removal to Accu Medical Waste Services, based in Marietta. DeWine says that company then takes the remains to a landfill in Kentucky.
Planned Parenthood says it hasn’t broken any rules and that the announcement is politically motivated. The organization points out that its techniques for disposing of remains are the same as other medical organizations and that the state has inspected its clinics for years and never raised issues with their practices.
“Politicians in Ohio will stop at nothing to ban abortion in all cases in our state,” Stephanie Knight, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said Dec. 13. “We’re asking a federal court to prevent the state from this plainly political attempt to restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortion.”
