Posted on 06/28/2016 5:26:06 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell
John Jansen April 3, 2015 | Chicago, Illinois | LifeNews
Imagine you run a shoddy abortion clinic that amasses a $36,000 fine by your state’s health department after an 18-year old patient dies.
“Women’s Aid Center” Abortion Business “Providing the Support and Care You Deserve”
You file for bankruptcy, but your case is dismissed.
Then, you close out your bank account, dissolve your old company, change your name, and move to a different location.
When the state comes calling, you say the old company doesn’t exist anymore, so the state’s out of luck.
You couldn’t get away with that, could you?
Believe it or not, the Pro-Life Action League has learned that an Illinois Appellate Court has just decided [PDF] that a Chicago abortion clinic can do just that by requiring the owner to pay a mere $77.
Abortion Clinic Owner Felt “Victimized” by “Unfair” Health Department Inspection
To understand how things got to this point, we have to back up a few years.
On September 6-7, 2011, inspectors with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) visited the Women’s Aid Clinic abortion facility, located in the northern Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood, for the first time in 15 years.
What they found shocked them. According to the IDPH:
The condition of the facility has deteriorated to a point where “the public interest, health, safety, or welfare imperatively requires” that the facility’s license be suspended on an emergency basis. (210 ILCS 5/10f(c)).
The full report from the IDPH’s 2011 inspection of Women’s Aid Clinic is posted here [PDF]. (It’s also worth noting that Women’s Aid owner Larisa Rozansky later told an AP reporter that she felt “victimized by the surprise inspection,” which she called “unfair.”)
Six weeks later, on October 21, 2011 the state assessed [PDF] Women’s Aid Clinic with a fine of $36,000 for a host of serious violations, including failure to perform CPR on 18-year old Antonesha Ross, who died following an abortion. The state also suspended the license of Women’s Aid to operate as a pregnancy termination specialty center (PTSC) and prohibited the facility from performing surgical abortions—although it is still permitted to perform medication abortions.
Knowing a fine was coming, Women’s Aid owner Larisa Rozansky filed for bankruptcy [PDF] on October 10, but her case was dismissed a few weeks later.
And although Rozansky wrote a letter to the IDPH stating [PDF] that Women’s Aid Clinic would be closing on November 10, 2011, Women’s Aid Clinic continued to advertise surgical abortions and do business under the very name “Women’s Aid Clinic” for several months thereafter.
In January 2012, activists working with the Pro-Life Action League notified the IDPH that Women’s Aid was continuing to advertise surgical abortions. Following a cease and desist letter from the the IDPH’s William Bell in March 2012, Women’s Aid eventually took it down from its website.
In that letter [PDF], the IDPH also reminded Rozansky that if she did not pay the $36,000 fine, the matter would be turned over to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Rozansky responded with a letter [PDF] saying that “Women’s Aid Clinic does not exist and does not have any assets or associated bank accounts.”
On April 5, 2012, I reported that Women’s Aid Clinic was still very much in operation, and spoke with William Bell at the Illinois Department of Public Health. Per his request, I put my concerns in writing and asked him to forward them to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and urge their office to begin proceedings against Women’s Aid to collect the $36,000 fine.
The following month, Women’s Aid Clinic was evicted [PDF] from its Lincolnwood location by its landlord, Hunter Properties, for failing to pay $50,000 in back rent.
In June 2012, Women’s Aid Clinic moved from Lincolnwood to its current location in Chicago and changed its name to Women’s Aid Center.
In August 2012, the state Attorney General’s office filed suit [PDF] against Women’s Aid in Cook County Court in Chicago to begin collection proceedings. The wheels of justice turn slowly, and after numerous continuances in the case, Rozansky’s attorney, Scott Skaletsky, requested an evidentiary hearing, which was held on December 3, 2013.
Illinois Department of Public Health visited the Women’s Aid Clinic abortion facility for the first time in 15 years
I attended that hearing, during which Rozansky admitted to Assistant Attorney General Vincent Kan that Women’s Aid Center (the “new” corporation) still used the same phone number and website as Women’s Aid Clinic (the “old” corporation), and for a period of time processed credit cards via the same Merchant Services Account number as Women’s Aid Clinic (the “old” corporation that incurred the $36,000 fine).
Clearly, Kan argued, this shows that Women’s Aid Center was a successor company to Women’s Aid Clinic, and that funds from the new Women’s Aid Center should be turned over to pay the fine.
Following that hearing, the case was continued until January 14, 2014, and I was once again in court to hear the attorneys make their closing arguments.
Skaletsky, Rozansky’s attorney, argued that Women’s Aid Clinic and Women’s Aid Center were two “totally different businesses,” and that when Women’s Aid Clinic closed in March 2012, it had a mere $77 in its bank account. Skaletsky then told Cook County Judge Alexander White that Rozansky would be willing to write a check to the state for $77 to “make this go away.”
Shockingly, Judge White bought that argument, and ordered Rozansky to send a check for $77 to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
In response, the Pro-Life Action League asked Illinois residents to take action by calling the State Attorney General’s office and urging them to appeal Judge White’s ruling and keep pushing to collect more money—which they did.
But just last week, on March 23, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois effectively rubber-stamped [PDF] the judge’s decision.
This doesn’t even come close to being a slap on the wrist for abortion clinic owner Larisa Rozansky. She’s getting off scot-free.
Think of the very dangerous precedent this sets. You can run a shoddy, dangerous abortion clinic, and even if you rack up tens of thousands of dollars in fines by state health inspectors, you can weasel your way out of it by draining your bank account, closing down, declaring the business no longer exists, moving, and reopening under a different name (albeit with the same phone number, website, and Merchant Services account number), employing stall tactics at every opportunity throughout the protracted legal process—and you can get away with it.
Apparently, this is justice the Chicago way.
LifeNews Note: John Jansen writes for the Pro-Life Action League.
Animal Shelter Fine Statistics compiled by search for “Animal Shelter Fines”
| $77 Percent of | 1.5% | 0.5% | 30.8% | ||
| Average Fine: | $5,305 | Max Fine: | $16,550 | Min Fine: | $250 |
The Cost of Antonesha Ross’ Life: $77
|
||||
| FineDate | ShelterName | FineAmount | Location | Citation |
| 13-Jan-15 | Paws to the Rescue Animal Shelter | $9,800 | Marion, South Carolina | Lack of financial accountability |
| 30-Sep-13 | Franklin County Animal Shelter | $5,000 | Louisburg, North Carolina | Shooting a dog |
| 09-May-14 | Saginaw County Animal Care Center | $16,550 | Saginaw, Michigan | Numerous improprieties |
| 26-Sep-14 | Rutherford County Animal Shelter | $5,000 | Rutherfordton, North Carolina | Filthy conditions |
| 06-Mar-15 | Cabarrus County Animal Shelter | $1,500 | Concord, North Carolina | Euthanasia without authority |
| 01-Sep-10 | Jefferson County Animal Shelter | $10,000 | Mount Vernon, Illinois | Improperly euthanizing animals |
| 24-Nov-10 | Sutter County Animal Shelter | $3,000 | Yuba City, California | Rat infestation |
| 15-Oct-86 | Animal Care League | $250 | Voorhies, Pennsylvania | Numerous improprieties |
| 01-Aug-14 | A Buddy for Life | $750 | Elkton, Maryland | Licensure violation |
| 12-Mar-12 | Spring Valley Animal Shelter | $1,200 | Spring Valley, New York | Lack of Animal Control Officer |
Abortion effectively began in Texas: Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee litigated Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton to subject humans to the treatment of spay and neuter clinics.
It’s a good tactic and one I myself am employing in Illinois ,, I have a building there owned by a now defunct corp I controlled.. The locals started looking at me as a cash cow with fines and lawsuits so I just dissolved the business... I did not however restart the business and keep all the same business relationships with vendors as they did in this case .. that isn’t kosher... they can have the bricks...
This shows the power of the radical man-hating feminazis. Politicians are under their power.
Also, the power of the animal rights wackos.
One believes human babies are $h!t, the other believes animals are superior to humans.
Abortion is the only absolute right and it isn’t even in the Constitution.
Planned Parenthood is celebrating that the Supreme Court has ruled that they need not observe any standards. These clinics that manufacture death will become even more horrendous, and the left will cheer and the media will remain silent. The spirit of Josef Mengele has found a home.
In Memphis there is a piece of a grass (weeds) adjacent to the zoo which has been used for overflow zoo parking for years. The zoo is among the countries’ finest and a major tourist attraction for the city. It is nestled in an older liberal granola area of town, full of gays, artists, and progs. Some of these urban nutters recently adopted that piece of grass—called The Greensward—and made it a cause célèbre.On the weekends nuts stand out there and harass families who park in the grass. They shout, protest, and block cars to the point some have been arrested. All around the zoo, homes have “save the Greensward” signs. Some of them have huge banners saying the same. The media has played it up and many have threatened boycotts of businesses who support the zoo, such as Fedex.
My point: Planned Parenthood is in that same neighborhood, roughly 1/2 mile from the Greensward, but none of those folks are worried about saving babies. No signs, no protests (other than the few Christians who quietly and dutifully protest), no blocking cars, nothing, not a word for unborn life. They are more worried about Johnson grass than the legal holocaust going in in their own neighborhood. People are sick!
No doubt the Supreme Court will see to it that they get their $77 back - with interest in the millions, no doubt funded by our tax dollars.
This abortion victory in Texas works nicely according to the Liberal master plan. In the not to distant future if Killery somehow avoids prison and becomes president, the stage will be set to emulate China’s policy of one boy and one girl per family. Abortion will be mandatory. The 80% needy population will live in tall hi-rises and a weekly food package will be delivered to them. All automobiles, guns and ammo will be confiscated. The end of the American experiment.
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