Planned Parenthood vehemently opposes any laws requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Abortion advocates often refer to such laws as TRAP laws – Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers – and say their sole purpose is to put undue burden and stigma on abortionists. But is that the truth behind these laws?

First, let’s be clear about what laws requiring admitting privileges are. These laws simply require that any medical professional that performs any type of invasive surgical procedure hold admitting privileges at a hospital close to the clinic where the procedures are being performed. Admitting privileges simply means the medical professional is allowed to attend to the needs of their patient should something go wrong and the person need to be admitted to the hospital.

So, in essence, all these laws are doing is to require a person performing medical procedures be allowed to serve their patient at a local hospital should something go wrong. That seems like an easy to understand, common sense requirement for any medical professional; one that a doctor would gladly endorse in an effort to serve his or her patients.

In fact, so common is this practice of requiring admitting privileges that at least 32 professional medical associations have this requirement for their doctors. A recent article explains:

“In 2003, an ACS/AMA (American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association) had a meeting…The participants unanimously came to the conclusion that: ‘Physicians performing office-based surgery must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, a transfer agreement with another physician who has admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, or maintain an emergency transfer agreement with a nearby hospital.’”

In other words, a group of the most prestigious physician groups in the country agreed that admitting privileges for doctors was an essential requirement to ensure the highest level of quality service for people. The obvious need for this requirement in order to protect the safety of patients is another common sense benefit. So concretely convinced of the need for this requirement were these medical groups that every single one attending the meeting signed off on the requirement. In all, 32 medical associations hold this requirement. They are:

1. Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care
2. American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery,
3. American Academy of Dermatology,
4. American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,
5. American Academy of Ophthalmology,
6. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons,
7. American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery,
8. American Academy of Pediatrics,
9. American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities,
10. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
11. American College of Surgeons,
12. American Medical Association,
13. American Osteopathic Association,
14. American Society for Dermatologic Surgery,
15. American Society for Reproductive Medicine,
16. American Society of Anesthesiologists,
17. American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery,
18. American Society of General Surgeons,
19. American Society of Plastic Surgeons,
20. American Urological Association,
21. Federation of State Medical Boards,
22. Indiana State Medical Society,
23. Institute for Medical Quality-California Medical Association,
24. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations,
25. Kansas Medical Society,
26. Massachusetts Medical Society,
27. Medical Association of the State of Alabama,
28. Medical Society of the State of New York,
29. Missouri State Medical Association,
30. National Committee for Quality Assurance,
31. Pennsylvania Medical Society, and
32. Society of Interventional Radiology.

Does the abortion industry believe it is more important than these distinguished associations? Do they believe they are somehow better and therefore not in need of such requirements? If all these groups find no undue burden in this requirement is such a claim just a fabrication of the abortion industry?

The reality is that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry fights such laws and requirements not because they cause undue burden on abortionists, but because they bring an unregulated abortion industry under health and safety regulations. When the abortion industry is brought under regulations they often close because they cannot comply with basic medical regulations. They often allow non-medically trained persons to perform medical procedures, do not clean and sterilize their clinics, and mix drugs they give to patients resulting in complications and death.

While the abortion industry screams about a “war on women” to anyone that even hints at supporting these common sense health and safety regulations, they are in fact the ones that care little about the health and safety of women. To ignore common sense health and safety regulations that every other medical association embraces is absurd. It signals a lack of concern for the women you supposedly care about.

A good example of this absurdity is the abortion clinic near my home in Charleston, WV. This clinic has been opened since 1976 where it performs an average of 5 abortions a day, every day. And yet not one person from the state has been inside this clinic to inspect it since it opened in 1976!

If you own a veterinary clinic, beauty parlor, or tattoo studio you will have someone from the state in your place of business every 3 months without fail to inspect and make sure the law is being followed. And yet a place performing invasive medical procedures on women gets a pass. This is simply unacceptable.

It obviously takes uncommon common sense in order to bring common sense health and safety regulations to the abortion industry. While I would think abortionists would gladly embrace these regulations in order to ensure quality and safety for their patients, they prove once again that such things don’t matter. Money and killing, that’s the bottom line.