William Saletan on Abortion Politics and the Regulation of Abortion Clinics

Salon.com: The Back Alley  2011: How the politics of abortion protects bad clinics, by William Saletan:

. . . What happened in Kermit Gosnell's clinic, according to a Philadelphia grand jury—reckless anesthesia, poor sanitation, regulatory neglect, and lethal mistreatment of two women—could turn out to be one of this country's worst unsafe-abortion scandals since Roe v. Wade. But it wouldn't be the first such scandal.

As measured by mortality risk to the woman, abortion is one of the safest surgeries practiced today. It's certainly safer than childbirth. But sometimes, shoddy abortionists are protected by a unique kind of regulatory failure. Scrutiny of pregnancy termination, unlike other procedures, is often perceived and resisted as political. . . .