Regional News: North Dakota Abortion Center Says It Will Do Record Number of Abortions

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 2, 2008

Fargo, ND (LifeNews.com) -- There is just one abortion business in the state of North Dakota, and its director says she expects it to set a record this year for the number of abortions done. The Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo has been the subject of criticism in the past over bogus medical malpractice insurance and how abortion affects women.

The abortion center has been doing abortions for just over ten years and did a record 1,358 abortions in 2003 and another 1,238 abortions last year.

Tammi Kromenaker, Rid River's director, tells the Associated Press that the center is on pace for its highest number of annual abortions and is doing about 25 abortions a week.

She contends the number of abortions is on the rise because college students have seen funding for birth control and contraception cut.

Red River came under fire in August 2004 for refusing to divulge information about an apparently bogus malpractice insurance policy it purchased from an illegitimate Bermuda-based company.

Jim Poolman, the state's Insurance Commissioner, issued a subpoena to obtain the records when Jane Bovard, the owner of the abortion business, refused to provide them.

"All we're trying to do is help her make sure [Red River] is covered by legitimate malpractice insurance," Poolman told the Fargo Forum newspaper at the time.

The investigation set off a national scandal over whether other abortion businesses across the country have legitimate malpractice insurance.

Red River was party to a lawsuit in 2003 about whether it was misleading patients by not disclosing the fact that abortion can increase a woman's chances for contracting breast cancer.

Amy Jo Kjolsrud, a former state resident, sued for false advertising. Kjolsrud was a sidewalk counselor outside the abortion business, and she said one Red River brochure said medical research did not support any claim that abortion increased a woman's risk for breast cancer.

However, at the time, 16 out of 17 statistically significant studies reported increased breast cancer risk among women having abortions, and 7 studies reported a more than two-fold increased risk.

The North Dakota Supreme Court eventually ruled that Kjolsrud did have legal standing.