Month: September 2012

From Dr. Anthony Levantino, former abortion provider:

“Along the way you find out you make a lot of money doing abortions…I’ll give you an example. When I am going to deliver a baby, I’m going to have that woman in my office for seven to eight months; she will have unlimited office visits. I get calls all hours of the day and night. More often than not, I’m getting up in the middle of the night. In Eastern New York, I can tell you, at this time of year, it’s not a particularly fun thing to do: to go out in a blizzard and drive to the hospital, sit by a bedside for hours watching somebody in labor, accomplishing the delivery, hoping to God that everything works out well, as it usually does. And then following her afterward; follow-up visits in the office. Then you wait and you expect that everything’s over. Usually it is over, but sometimes its not. Six or seven years later you suddenly get a request from a lawyer that they want the medical records because the baby has a problem of some sort. That doesn’t mean you’re responsible, but this nation is set up in such a way that families, if they have a deformed or an unhealthy child for any reason, and health care costs being what they are…You have no recourse; you have no source of funds other than going back and suing the people who did the delivery in the first place……Or, I can do an abortion. I can work in an abortion clinic. I work 9 to 5; I’m never bothered at night; I never have to go out on weekends; I more money than my obstetrician brethren. And I don’t have to face the liability. That’s a big factor, a huge perk.”

“In my practice, we were averaging between $250 and $500 for an abortion, and it was cash. That’s the only time as a doctor you can say, either pay me up front or I’m not going to take care of you. It’s totally elective… Either you have the money or you don’t. And they get it.”

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From Carol Everett, former abortion clinic owner and worker

“I have seen doctors walk out after three hours work and split $4,500 between them on a Saturday morning. More, if you go longer into the day, of course. The doctor walks in, sees the patient for the first time, pats her on the leg, says, Hi, baby, how are you? You call them ‘baby’ so you don’t have to remember their name….And he doesn’t really ask her any questions. It’s just get the abortion done. If he discovers that she may be further along than anyone thought she was, they stop right there, collect the money, and then finish the procedure…If abortion is such a good thing, why don’t they go ahead and do the abortion then, and trust you to pay the $200 later? That’s not the way it is.”

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In another interview, Everett said:

Q.: what is the governing force behind the abortion industry?

A.: money. Is a very lucrative business. It is the largest unregulated industry and our nation. Most of the clinics are running chains because it’s so profitable.

Q.: how much money were you making the abortion industry before you quit?

A.: I was getting a commission of $25 on every abortion I “sold”. In 1983, the year I got out, I would’ve pocketed approximately $250,000. But, in 1984 we expected to be operating five clinics, terminating about 40,000 pregnancies, and with that projection I plan to net 1 million. Money, money, money — that’s where my heart was.

“What I Saw in the Abortion Industry” Human Life Alliance Advertising Supplement

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At the clinic featured in Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996) clinic workers complain about the clinic’s focus on profits.

The fact that money seemed to be the bottom line to the clinic administrators bothered many of the workers. On page 147 clinic worker Rae says:

“I think the fact that the Center is losing that primary focus on being a feminist [workplace] is because of the almighty dollar…It’s about business, and the Center doesn’t want to say that, and that’s what they [the administrators] should say…They shouldn’t say other things to contradict that because that’s what they’re about. And that’s why they have so much problems at the clinic…because they always make people feel like they have the space to say what they feel but please know that it won’t make a difference.”

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Dr. James Pendergraft, abortionist and former owner of a chain of abortion clinics, was the subject of a feature article in the Florida Trend (June 1999) in which author Cynthia Barnett interviewed him. She says:

“Pendergraft isn’t bashful about making money in his line of work….he says he went into a profession he believes in, and it happens to be profitable…He will not reveal annual revenues, but says his clinics are “very economically viable.”

She goes on to say:

“His in-your-face salesmanship leaves many- including other clinic operators- uncomfortable….Maggie Gifford, a spokeswoman for the Florida Coalition of Independent Abortion Providers, for nearly 20 years has run Alternatives of Tampa, a small abortion clinic….Gifford calls Pendergraft, who once worked for her “a new breed of cat.” She and other Florida clinic operators say every market Pendergraft has chosen was well-served by established clinics…and they say that when Pendergraft opens his doors in a new city. such as Tampa, he drops prices to spur competition.”

Barnett gives Pendergraft’s response:

“[he says] he goes into new markets aggressively to attract patients who will respond to the level of care in his clinics and spread the word. He says he chooses locations based on evaluations of long-term supply and demand.”

Interestingly, Pendergraft was later convicted of extortion and send to jail.

Quoted by Life Dynamics

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From the article “Abortion Businesses Struggle to Compete Against Others” (New York Times Dec. 31, 2000)

“Renee Chelian was worried about her abortion business. With competitors charging lower prices, she needed something special to draw customers. So she created an almost spa-like atmosphere in her offices, with low light in the rooms, aromatherapy, candles and relaxing music.”

The article says that while abortion advocates often bemoan the fact that rural areas usually have no local abortion clinics, the truth is that “abortion businesses have little choice but to cluster in cities- that is the only way they can find enough women to have abortions.”

The author quotes abortion clinic owner Ruth Arick (owner of Choice Pursuits in DeLand, Florida) saying that a population of about 200,000 is needed to support a full-fledged abortion business.

The author also says

“Some abortion practitioners have refused to train colleagues, fearing that they will only help a potential competitor in a lucrative, cash-only business.”

This article in a mainstream source (can’t get less pro-life than the New York Times) seems to suggest that the reason for abortion provider shortages is not anti-abortion intimidation, as so many abortion advocates claim, but simple greed.

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An old reference but still compelling, this quote comes from a pro-choice author Magda Denes who interviewed abortionists at one abortion clinic:

“It’s not a purely altruistic aspect either. The money that’s involved is also a big factor in why to do this. And I think that most doctors who do abortions also do them for the money sake. It’s a big motive, and certainly it’s nothing to be hypocritical about.”

Magda Denes, PhD. In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital (New York: Basic Books inc) 1976, page 144

She also quotes one doctor saying:

“I practice medicine not to make a living and yet I like to make money at it. We made a lot of money in abortions. I don’t really know why I did it. I sort of fell into it…. We did set up a very good program. But then I could see from the point of view of management that they were less interested in the best program than in the best paying program. For the first two or three months I didn’t do any of the abortions…I took over gradually and work two days a week and I found that I work very hard, but it made an awful lot of money.” (P225-226)

He was the Chief of Gynecological and Obstetrical Services at the abortion clinic.

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In an interview printed in the Boston Phoenix, it stated that abortion doctor William Rashbaum began performing abortions in New York City, which had quickly become the abortion capital of the country. The clinic where he worked was open round the clock, with three sets of doctors and nurses each taking eight-hour shifts.

Rashbaum described working in a high volume abortion mill as a place where, “You would go home with a g*damn barrel of money.”

The Boston Phoenix: Cruel to be kind, In the twilight of his career, a late-term-abortion doctor tells all , Issue Date: December 5 – 11, 2003

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