Page 7 - AT

A7
U.S. NEWS Monday 16 SepteMber 2019
Over 2,000 fetal

remains found at

ex-doctor's home

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — More than night that "we are horrified"
2,000 medically preserved by the discovery of the fetal
fetal remains have been remains at Klopfer's Illinois
found at the Illinois home of residence. He called for
a former Indiana abortion Indiana authorities to help
clinic doctor who died last determine whether those This image made from a Dec. 1, 2015, video provided by WNDU-
week, authorities said. remains have any connec- TV shows Ulrich Klopfer in South Bend, Ind.
The Will County Sheriff's Of- tion to abortion operations Associated Press
fice said in a news release in Indiana. Court upheld an Indiana oversees abortion clinic
late Friday that an attorney "These sickening reports un- law requiring the burial or regulation, has integrated
for Dr. Ulrich Klopfer's fam- derscore why the abortion cremation of fetal remains that law's provisions into the
ily contacted the coroner's industry must be held to the following abortions in the agency's existing licensing
office Thursday about pos- highest scrutiny," Fichter state. That law was signed process.
sible fetal remains being said in the statement. by Vice President Mike Prior to the ruling, Indiana
found at the home in an A message left Saturday Pence in 2016 when he was clinics could turn over fe-
unincorporated part of Will by The Associated Press for Indiana's governor, but it tal remains to processors
County in northeastern Il- a spokesman for Gov. Eric was the subject of legal who handle the disposal
linois. Holcomb asking if Indiana challenges. of human tissues or oth-
The sheriff's office said au- officials would investigate The Indiana State Depart- er medical material by
thorities found 2,246 pre- was not immediately re- ment of Health, which incineration.q
served fetal remains but turned.
there's no evidence medi- Klopfer's license was sus-
cal procedures were per- pended by Indiana's Medi-
formed at the home. cal Licensing Board in No-
The coroner's office took vember 2016 after the pan-
possession of the remains. el found a number of viola-
An investigation is under- tions, including a failure to
way. ensure that qualified staff
A message left Saturday was present when patients
seeking additional com- received or recovered
ment on the discovery was from medications given
not returned by the Will before and during abortion
County Sheriff's Office in- procedures.
vestigations department. Klopfer was no longer prac-
Klopfer, who died Sept. 3, ticing by that time, but he
was a longtime doctor at told the panel he had nev-
an abortion clinic in South er lost a patient in 43 years
Bend, Indiana. It closed of doing abortions and that
after the state revoked he hoped to eventually re-
the clinic's license in 2015. open his clinics.
The Indiana State Depart- In June 2014, Klopfer was
ment of Health had pre- charged in St. Joseph
viously issued complaints County, Indiana, with a
against the clinic, accus- misdemeanor for failure to
ing it of lacking a registry of file a timely public report.
patients, policies regarding He was accused of wait-
medical abortion, and a ing months to report an
governing body to deter- abortion he provided to
mine policies. a 13-year-old girl in South
The state agency also ac- Bend. That charge was
cused the clinic of failing later dropped after Klopfer
to document that patients completed a pre-trial diver-
get state-mandated edu- sion program.
cation at least 18 hours be- Republican U.S. Rep.
fore an abortion. Jackie Walorski, R-Indiana,
Klopfer was believed to be called the discovery of the
Indiana's most prolific abor- fetal remains "sickening be-
tion doctor, with thousands yond words" in a statement
of procedures performed released by her office.
in multiple Indiana coun- "He was responsible for
ties over several decades, thousands of abortions in
the South Bend Tribune re- Indiana, and his careless
ported. treatment of human re-
Mike Fichter, the president mains is an outrage," she
of Indiana Right to Life, said said in her statement.
in a statement sent Friday In May, the U.S. Supreme