The parent company of a now-defunct State College abortion clinic has been ordered to cease its remaining abortion services in Pennsylvania.
American Medical Associates, parent of the former State College Medical Services, recently employed an unlicensed nurse at a Pittsburgh abortion clinic, according to the state Department of Health.
That breached the terms of a strict 2004 agreement between the health department and the medical group, which had earlier legal woes, department records show.
In a July 7 order, deputy state health secretary Robert Torres cited the license violation in Pittsburgh and ordered that American Medical Associates shut down all its abortion facilities in the state, including those in Allentown, Erie and Pittsburgh.
But the company’s State College Medical Services clinic, 900 W. College Ave., has not offered abortion services since April 2007, according to the health department. It was State College’s only registered abortion provider.
It was not immediately clear Friday why State College Medical Services stopped offering abortion services. A message left for the company was not answered, and an attorney representing the group, Julia Gabis, said she would have no comment beyond an article published this week in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Gabis believes that the health department’s order ‘violates … constitutional rights and reflects selective enforcement against abortion providers,’ the Inquirer reported. Gabis told the newspaper that ‘We intend to appeal this decision to the Commonwealth Court.’
StateCollege.com will continue to follow this developing story.
