Columbus — Today, the Ohio Department of Health released the Hearing Examiner’s Report and Recommendation following their investigation of claims against Capital Care Toledo and a $40,000 fine ODH proposed for the clinic. Finding that “this case did not involve serious or life-threatening harm,” the hearing officer found that four of the five claims from ODH were unfounded and proposed a reduction of the fine from $40,000 to $3,000.
The following statement can be attributed to Kellie Copeland, Executive Director for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio:
“The Ohio Department of Health has been used by the Kasich administration as a political weapon against abortion clinics, and this has been going on for far too long. The state should not treat them differently than any other ambulatory surgical facility. Instead, Kasich’s ODH staff created outrageous and unfounded accusations against a trusted health care provider. In fact, ODH’s own inspector testified that Capital Care did not violate the rules ODH claimed they violated.
“ODH waited five months to spring these claims of violations and the $40,000 fine, releasing it on the eve of the Ohio Supreme Court arguments involving the clinic. Capital care was given due process and a hearing where ODH failed to prove four of the five violations. After careful review and a thorough investigation the ODH hearing officer has released his findings and recommended that the fine be reduced to $3,000.
“We applaud the hearing officer for their thorough and complete investigation and hope that ODH will accept this recommendation from their own hearing officer and the investigation that they conducted.”
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