The family of an abortion doctor found medically preserved fetal remains while going through his property after he passed away.
On Thursday (September 12), an attorney representing Dr. Ulrich Klopfer notified the Will County Coroner’s Office in Illinois that the doctor’s family had discovered what appeared to be fetal remains following his death on September 3.
The family requested the proper removal of the remains and in a statement the Will County Sheriff’s Office said detectives, Crime Scene Investigators and representatives from the Will County Coroner’s Office were directed to an area of the property ‘where 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains were located’.
The Will County Coroner’s Office took possession of the remains.
According to WNDU News, Klopfer had abortion clinics in South Bend, Fort Wayne and Gary, Indiana, though his property was located in Illinois.
The local sheriff’s department said there was ‘no evidence that any medical procedures were conducted at the property’.
The state suspended Klopfer’s license in 2016, when the doctor was 71, for a minimum of six months after he was accused of failing to complete and submit records to the state Department of Health when abortions were performed on two 13-year-old girls.
The doctor also allegedly failed to provide counselling information to patients undergoing abortion procedures, as was required by state law.
The testimony reportedly indicated Klopfer had been using the same sort of abortion and sedation procedures he had used since the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, the doctor claimed he had never had a patient die or go into cardiac arrest in the 43 years he had been performing abortions.
Klopfer also spoke of performing an abortion on a 10-year-old girl at an Illinois hospital after she had been raped by her uncle. He is said not to have notified the police about the child abuse and he allowed her to return home with her parents, who reportedly knew about the rape and had refused to prosecute the uncle.
According to ABC 57, the suspension came after a 2014 Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) review which resulted in Klopfer’s clinic being cited for 27 deficiencies.
Another review was conducted by the ISDH in 2015, during which the doctor said patients seeking medical abortions were given the abortion medication during their initial consultation instead of 18 hours later, as required by law.
It is unclear if Klopfer had his licence reinstated.
The preserved remains were removed from the doctor’s property and the Will County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois’ coroner and the state’s attorney are conducting an ongoing investigation.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.