In what is the latest in a string of health and safety abuses at abortion centers across the country, North Dakota officials are looking into whether abortions were done by a practitioner without a valid medical license.
The case follows others in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey where a chain of abortion businesses have various abortion practitioners under investigation by state officials.
In the North Dakota case, abortion practitioner Tami Lynn Holst Thorndike has medical licenses in Colorado and in South Dakota but her north Dakota license expired on June 30.
Tammi Kromenaker, the director of the Red River abortion center, the only one in the state, tried to dismiss any concern and told the Bismarck Tribune it was merely an “administrative oversight.”
“This is a paperwork matter and not a reflection of her abilities or competency as a physician,” Kromenaker said. “She has never had a black mark on her record.
“I expect to have full resolution with no problem,” she said.
Still, pro-life advocates alerted state and local officials after an email bounced around local circles asking people to speak up once the information became known about the expired medical license. Local police received two dozen calls about the license.
Fargo Police Chief Keith Ternes declined to say whether police investigated the abortion clinic, but did say the information in a report it compiled will be forwarded to state authorities.
“We’re ready to forward our report to the state’s attorney’s office for review,” he said.
However, Ternes would not say whether abortions were done after Thorndike’s medical license expired. She reportedly does abortions at the Fargo business six times a year and is not expected to make another trip this year.
“That certainly was one of the aspects that the investigation thoroughly examined,” Ternes said, according to the Forum.
Cass County State’s Attorney Birch Burdick told the newspaper that expired medical licenses don’t typically result in fines, although the offending party receives a warning letter calling for corrective action.
But Duane Houdek, executive secretary of the North Dakota Board of Medical Examiners, told the Tribune that people who allow their medical license to expire pay triple the normal fees associated with having one.
