Preterm abortion facility defies Cease and Desist order to end abortions while local law enforcement are forced to exposing fatal flaw in enforcement of emergency directives.

Preterm, an abortion provider in Cleveland, is one of eight abortion business in Ohio that are high on the list for being contagious hot-houses for the spread of COVID-19 and on March 18th, a state of emergency health directive was issued to them by the Director of Health Dr. Amy Acton, to cease performing abortion so as to protect the lives of clients and patients from the virus.

This directive was ignored by all eight businesses, forcing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, to issue a Cease and Desist order, effective Saturday March 21^st, 2020. Attorney General Yost’s office has stated that directive applies to all providers in Ohio as reported in the Columbus Dispatch,    ” … Bethany McCorkle, Yost’s communication director, said the order to stop all non-essential or elective surgeries and procedures that require personal protective equipment applies to all clinics.”

Governor DeWine and his Lt. Governor Jon Husted together with their Director of Health Dr. Acton have been on national and local news channels stressing the fact that to ignore Dr. Action’s health directives threatens the health and safety of citizens in Ohio and surrounding states. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Governor Mike DeWine and his Attorney General Dave Yost for their quick action in issuing the C&D orders. But the debacle continues!

Despite the Attorney General’s C&D order, Preterm, the largest abortion provider in Ohio, was open for business as usual on Saturday March 21^st in defiance of the order.  Preterm clients come from all over the state as well as surrounding states to access the facilities abortion services.

Attorney General Dave Yost and Governor Mike DeWine were both immediately informed of this blatant breach of the C&D order by Molly Smith, President of Cleveland Right to Life. She was advised that under Ohio’s law, local law enforcement is responsible for enforcing such directives.

In keeping with the advice received, law enforcement in the City of Cleveland’s 4^th district was contacted by Smith who lodged a formal complaint with the Commander at the precinct stating that Preterm was operating illegally.  Police officers were dispatched to Preterm shortly after the complaint was received.

From that point on it became very apparent that the Governor, the Lt. Governor, the Attorney General, and the Director of Health have no power to enforce the multitude of directives that they have issued as evidenced by what transpired at Preterm after the complaint was made:

The police officers responded to the complaint and entered Preterm only to exit shortly afterward without any action being taken despite being told by Preterm management that they would not comply with the C&D. And so … back to business as usual at Preterm!

Toothless Tiger

In conversation with the officers on the scene here is what we learned. Local law enforcement does not have authority to shut down any business who defies the state of emergency directives. That authority resides only in the hands of the Governor! Oh, and by the way – for the local law enforcement to assist in enforcing the law the Governor would need to personally request their assistance.

After declaring a State of Emergency and issuing directives relevant to protecting Ohio citizens from the COVID-19 virus, the Governor and the AG say that they do not have the authority to enforce the directives or any C&D orders resulting from citizens defying those directives.

That authority, they say, is in the hands of local law enforcement who are the only ones who can enforce the directives. But local law enforcement says they do not have the authority to enforce the directives or the C&D – that must be done by the Governor! And round and round we go! Back to square one – issue directive, ignore directives, issue more directives, ignore these directives and hey presto business as usual! You can’t make this stuff up!

So, we must ask, why the directives and state of emergency declarations in the first place? (We have just learned that the same scenario is playing out in other Ohio cities!

To recap: we now have a ‘health’ facility who refuses to comply with Ohio’s top health officers’ orders, literally thumbs their noses at the Governor, the Lt. Governor, the Attorney General and the Director of Health and there appears to be nothing anyone can do about this!

The irresponsible action at Preterm abortion facility will result in 100’s if not 1000’s Ohioans being exposed to COVID-19, thus spreading the virus into every community in the state as well as surrounding states.

Additionally, the lack of clear enforcement directives has put local law enforcement in an extremely difficult position. They are expected to protect the communities, are called in to do so, but have no authority to enforce any of the current state of emergency directives, making the whole exercise a joke! And yet sadly, according to the DeWine/Husted team, this pandemic is not a joke! The DeWine administration too is caught in a catch-22 scenario.

As people’s lives are devastated, not only by the virus but by economic collapse throughout the State, the directives could be increasingly ignored when people realize, as the abortion industry has already demonstrated, there is nothing the governor or law enforcement can do to them as they return to business as usual.

It has been suggested that the Governor might be considering martial law in order to fix this ludicrous situation. To do so will be a MASSIVE overkill and totally unnecessary in this already precarious state in which we find ourselves.

Thankfully, there is a solution here and it is pretty simple.

Abortion facilities are licensed medical clinics and can only operate with valid licenses, issued by the Ohio Department of Health. No license, no business. No different from a bar or restaurant or hair salon who need a state license to operate.

Our research shows that Preterm does not have a license to operate and has not had one since 3/31/2019!

They have been illegally operating for a year. Furthermore, four other abortion providers in Ohio are also operating without licenses. Yes… you read that correctly.  Five abortion facilities are operating without licenses.

Governor DeWine is aware of this situation and Cleveland Right to Life is confident that he will act quickly to rectify this serious health hazard which further threatens Ohio citizens as they fight the current pandemic, by ordering Director Acton to enforce her department’s rules. Furthermore, Cleveland Right to Life has the Governor’s word that abortion providers will not be exempt from these health directives.