Complaints of unlicensed abortions filed against Lafayette Planned Parenthood
Marc Tuttle, left, director of Indianapolis Right to Life, introduces Tippecanoe County Right to Life board member Kevin Niebrugge, right, at a press conference held by the northern Indiana pro-life organization in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Lafayette, Ind., on May 19. (Submitted photo by Jodi Smith)
By Natalie Hoefer
On May 19, a press conference was held outside of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Lafayette, Ind., to announce that complaints were filed against that facility for reporting two unlicensed surgical abortions in March. The facility is only licensed to offer chemical abortions.
Complaints were filed with the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) and the Lafayette police department.
Tippecanoe County Right to Life held the press conference outside the PP abortion center where the alleged infractions took place.
The unlicensed procedures were discovered when members of pro-life organizations reviewed the facility’s state-mandated monthly Termination of Pregnancy Reports (TPRs).
“We were surprised we saw two abortions that were done in March that were marked as surgical abortions,” said Tippecanoe County Right to Life board member Kevin Niebrugge during the press conference. Niebrugge filed the complaints as a citizen of Tippecanoe County. “The reason that’s surprising is this facility is not licensed to perform surgical abortions. They can only perform chemical abortions.”
The two reports were signed by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the abortion provider filmed in a 2015 undercover video eating salad while discussing how to harvest fetal parts and tissue for sale. She was named medical director for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) in 2019.
“Having that doctor here at this facility is alarming, and having them perform illegal abortions here is alarming, and knowing she is traveling and working in our state is alarming,” Niebrugge said.
Sidewalk counselors at the PP abortion centers in Bloomington and Indianapolis have also reported seeing Nucatola in those facilities.
“Since she took over [as PPINK medical director], we’ve been watching, and I mean watching,” said Indiana Right to Life lobbyist and Susan B. Anthony List state director Jodi Smith in an interview with The Criterion.
“Our goal [in filing the complaints] is to attract attention to the fact that this notorious person is in our town and state, and that we’ll be watching every single, solitary thing she does.”
Right to Life of Indianapolis director Marc Tuttle served as moderator for the press conference. He noted any legal action against the facility awaits a police investigation.
“We’ll have to wait to see what happens after that,” he said. “Our hope is that it will be referred on to the attorney general to look into license revocation” for both Nucatola and the Lafayette PP abortion center.
According to Smith, filing erroneous TPRs in Indiana is a Class A misdemeanor that could result in Nucatola being fined by the ISDH.
“Everything goes at the speed of molasses with these things,” Smith said.
But she said announcing the filing of the claims at the press conference is important, because “people, and especially Catholic communities, want to know there are people working out there so hard and so diligently to try to catch these abortion doctors. We try very hard to hold them accountable when they break the rules.
“We keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and never giving an inch.”
As of the time The Criterion went to press, it was unknown if Planned Parenthood had responded to the complaints. †
Related story: Complaints filed about abortion centers open during ban
