Staff Report

A Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Magistrate has upheld a decision to deny a license to the Lebanon Road Surgery Center in Sharonville. The Lebanon Road Surgery Center is an abortion facility.

Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati reported Monday that Magistrate Michael Bachman heard oral arguments for Lebanon Road Surgery Center vs. State of Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and upheld the ODH decision to deny a license, meaning the clinic must shut down.

Bachman’s ruling set July 10 as a deadline for attorneys for the state to submit a draft of his decision, but his decision cannot overrule the previous judge in the case without that’ judge’s approval. Attorneys for either side will have 14 days to file objections and if any are filed, they will go to Judge Jerome Metz, the original trial judge in the case. Judge Metz has no deadline for accepting or rejecting Monday’s ruling.

The ODH reached a decision to deny a license in October of 2013. The facility had its license revoked for failing to have a transfer agreement with a local hospital as stipulated by Ohio law. The clinic then applied for a variance, and continued to operate during that time. After being denied a variance, the abortion facility appealed and a stay of execution was ordered by Judge Metz concerning the order to close. The Lebanon Road Surgery Center has remained open during the appeal.

“There is a history of problems with Lebanon Road Surgery Center and its operator,” Tessie Pollock, a spokesman for the ODH, said in January, “and after a lengthy review and hearing process the agency no longer has confidence in the operators’ ability or commitment to following Ohio’s regulations for ambulatory surgical facilities.”

The earliest the abortion facility could be shut down by this process is July 10 but more appeals are expected. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that any appeals would go to Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals.

Story posted July 1, 2014