Contact:  Bill O'Reilly, 212-396-9117           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What is Status of Promised State Health Dept. Inspections?  

CHIAROSCURO FOUNDATION FOLLOWS UP ON

PROMISE OF ABORTION CLINIC INSPECTIONS

New York--Apr. 24...The New York State Health Department promised in an April 8 interview with the New York Post to inspect New York abortion clinics "in the coming days," some of which had not been inspected in more than a dozen years. The New York-based Chiaroscuro Foundation, which works to reduce the number of abortions in New York and to help young mothers carry children to term, today asked the Department of Health whether those inspections have now been completed.

"It's been two weeks since a Health Department spokesman promised inspections, and we expect that they have now been completed," said Chiaroscuro Foundation President Greg Pfundstein. "We are also hopeful that the Health Department can now answer why the majority of surgical abortion facilities in New York, approximately 200 of them, have no state inspection requirement.  Does the State Health Department think it's okay that abortion facilities go uninspected year after year by New York?"

A New York Post expose on the lack of inspections revealed that New York City restaurants and tanning salons have more stringent inspection requirements than these surgical facilities.

"Whether one is pro-life or pro-choice -- or someplace in between -- these facilities must be made safe for New York women," Mr. Pfundstein continued.  "On that we must all agree."