CEC For Life, along with Executive Director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, Dana Cody, and several other Birmingham pro-lifers, attended court proceedings today during which Diane Derzis and her attorneys withdrew their previous motion to dismiss a lawsuit currently filed against Derzis, Patrick Smith, and abortionist Bruce Norman by the Alabama Department of Public Health for operating as an illegal, unlicensed abortion clinic.
Derzis’ facility, the New Woman All Women abortion mill, was shut down as of May 2012, when Derzis surrendered her abortion provider license. However, since that time, Derzis and her associates have defiantly continued to continue operating as an abortion facility, now claiming to be a “doctor’s office” and, therefore, supposedly outside of the Alabama Department of Public Health’s jurisdiction.
The presiding circuit court judge, Judge Joseph Boohaker, met with ADPH’s and Derzis’ attorneys for nearly an hour before today’s proceedings began. Shortly after, the motion to dismiss was not only withdrawn, but Judge Boohaker also ruled to expedite the schedule for the actual hearing, which will now be held August 5, 2013. The judge added that Derzis’ attorneys could submit a “serious” motion to dismiss on that date.
Fr. Terry Gensemer comments, “We are very satisfied with the outcome of today’s proceedings, but we are going to continue following ADPH’s investigation as closely as we can. Today’s decision gave the Alabama Department of Public Health a wide open door for shutting down Derzis’ back-alley abortion mill. I truly pray that ADPH uses this opportunity to preserve the lives of Alabama women and children and close the doors of this facility for good.”
