The state Senate Judiciary Committee has approved legislation that would require clinics and doctor’s offices where abortions are performed to be licensed and inspected. Critics of the bill say its real purpose is to put abortion providers out of business.
At one point in the hearing, Judiciary Committee Chairman Rick Jones accused a clinic in metro Detroit of providing fetal remains to laboratories.
Clinic CEO Renee Chelian called Jones “a liar.”
“You have never taken the time to find out the facts because you are 100 percent wrong," she said. "I hope you’re embarrassed and you’ll take that back to whoever gave you that information.”
Jones says the information came from someone who contacted his office. And he acknowledged he does not know if it’s true.
Critics of the legislation say there’s nothing wrong with clinics being inspected – what’s wrong, they say, is making abortion clinics the only out-patient surgical centers subject to the requirement. They say the legislation would also discourage doctors from becoming OBGYN's, and make it harder for women to safely abort a pregnancy.