ARTICLES

Why Would Planned Parenthood Bother?

WOMANCARE'S MOVE AND ITS LEGAL WOES

Womancare-Planned Parenthood is on the move--again. On December 28, Womancare vacated its premises in the Knox Attorney Services building at Fourth Avenue and Juniper Street, which it occupied for less than two years following eviction from its prior location at Sixth Avenue between Palm and Olive.

According to Mark Salo, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties, which took over the feminist abortion clinic last year, "Womancare has been relocated to Fifth Avenue, a couple of blocks away," in the Webster Building at Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street. He added that the new location provides "family planning" services only. "Abortions have been transferred to our other locations." A check of Womancare's public telephone announcement confirmed that the new Hillcrest location provides only "family planning" services and advises abortion-seekers to phone Planned Parenthood's Mission Valley clinic.

News of the move first surfaced on December 22 when, according to pro-life picketer Cheryl Sullenger, an unidentified man "came out [of the Knox building] and asked us to leave because he does not want his building targeted by bombers. He said that many in the Knox legal services office, which shares the building with Womancare-Planned Parenthood, agree with [pro-lifers] and have never really liked the abortion business there. He said that they were finally able to terminate Womancare-Planned Parenthood's lease, and that they were due to move out Monday [December 28], and that they were relocating to North County." She said that in addition the sign indicating space for lease in the building, "There were no escorts, which is unheard of at that location at any time during the week, especially when killing is going on-- and it was (that day)."

Salo, however, denied that Womancare's lease had been terminated. "It was a planned move," he said. "The lease ran out." John Stark, one of Knox Services' original partners and currently a project manager with close ties to the company's business affairs, confirmed that "The lease ran out and all the parties are in agreement."

Sullenger and her daughter, Brenna, went to Womancare on December 28 to confirm the move. They observed a document disposal truck parked on the premises and large bins being wheeled to the truck from the Knox building. "The document shredding company was there bringing out dumpsters full of paperwork to be shredded," she said. "We knew it was for Womancare because the paperwork that was being shredded was in syringe packing boxes," added Brenna Sullenger. "But if they moved just a few blocks away, why the on-site shredding service?"

"On-site destruction is the safest method, in terms of degree of certainty that documents have really been destroyed." said Bob Carroll, owner of Data Disposal, Inc. in La Mesa, during a recent telephone interview. "That way, it never leaves your hands." This is in contrast to less secure methods, such as vendor pickup or customer drop-off at the disposal company's site, where documents are in the vendor's custody a short time prior to destruction.

Mounting legal claims may have been a motivation behind Womancare's decision to hire a mobile document disposal service. Currently Womancare is named as a defendant in at least six lawsuits charging malpractice, personal injury, negligence, and breach of contract.

In March, 1998, a malpractice suit was filed on behalf of Victoria Givens against former Womancare abortionist Joseph Durante for injuries sustained in utero when he attempted an unsuccessful abortion on her mother, Melisha Wise, in March, 1992. Acording to the complaint, Durante did not follow standard examination procedures or administer ultrasound to Wise before starting to abort her. Upon discovering he had underestimated the gestational age of her pregnancy, Durante had Wise rushed to Kaiser, where she gave birth to a live but premature and injured Victoria.

Former Womancare abortionist Phillip Rand is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuits of Marcia Lattimore, whose uterus was perforated by Rand in May, 1990, and said she was told by Rand that she "was eating the wrong foods" and Sherry Payton, who claimed she underwent a hysterectomy after Rand failed to remove all of the fetus and infected her uterus in February, 1988. Rand was also named in lawsuits by Pamela Battle, whom Rand caused to suffer toxemia and a detached placenta during childbirth, resulting in her son being born with massive brain damage and Debbie Brown, who "delivered" a dead fetus in her home after an abortion at Rand's Loma Portal office in September, 1990.

In 1991, Battle won her multi-million dollar suit against Rand, who subsequently declared bankruptcy in March, 1992, leaving the remaining plaintiffs unable to collect damages. However, on December 30, 1994, judge Jeffrey Miller ruled that Rand could not seek protection by declaring bankruptcy. Attorneys for Battle then sent writs of execution (to collect any payments to Rand) to Womancare abortion clinic, where Rand was the staff ob-gyn, and Sharp Cabrillo hospital.

Since around the time of Miller's ruling, it appears that Rand's financial problems multiplied successively until he was forced to vacate his office space at 304 Ivy St. last month. From September, 1994, through August, 1997, at least nine tax liens totalling $1,686,426 were entered against him. Seven of these, ranging from $532 to $342,255, were filed by the State of California, and two other liens, for $7,831 and $1,182,634, were filed by the IRS.

Rand's financial woes may also have infected the livelihoods others close to him. It appears his business relationship with Myron Schonbrun, from whom he leased office space at 304 Ivy Street, may have started to deteriorate as far back as September, 1997, when Schonbrun filed suit against Woman Care Health Center for breach of contract. Late last year, he put the 9100 square foot Ivy Street building up for sale at an asking price of $1.15 million, and Rand subsequently vacated his offices there.