No charges filed against late abortionist Ulrich Klopfer after 2,200 baby parts were found in home
No charges will be filed as a result of an investigation into Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, the late abortionist who kept remains of aborted babies in his garage, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill announced.
In a statement last Wednesday, Hill’s office shared the conclusion of its investigation into Klopfer, whose family found thousands of aborted baby remains in his garage in Will County, Illinois after his death in September 2019.
“The remains, mostly found in molding boxes and old Styrofoam coolers containing large, red medical waste bags, were in various states of decay,” the statement explains.
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“Each remain appeared to have been placed in a small, clear, plastic specimen bag for purposes of being medically preserved in a chemical suspected to be formalin, a formaldehyde derivative. However, many of the bags degraded over time and/or suffered damage, resulting in leakage from the individual bags into the outer bag, box, or cooler.”
While Klopfer resided in Illinois, he was licensed to practice medicine in Indiana and served as medical director for women’s health clinics in South Bend, Fort Wayne and Gary until his license was indefinitely suspended in 2016 by the Indiana Medical Licensing Board.
The discovery of 2,246 aborted fetal remains in Klopfer’s garage triggered an investigation, which resulted in the finding of additional fetal remains at other properties owned or rented by Klopfer as well as inside his Mercedes-Benz.
The investigation revealed that “Dr. Klopfer failed to arrange for the appropriate disposition of patient health records or notify his patients regarding their records from his closed medical practice.”
Additionally, investigators found that he “failed to effectuate the proper disposition of the fetal remains as required by Indiana law.”
Since the probe concluded that “no one is believed to have assisted Dr. Klopfer in his actions” and “because Dr. Klopfer is dead, he cannot be charged with a crime or with medical misconduct.” No charges were filed as a result of the investigation.
“This horrific ordeal is exactly why we need strong laws to ensure the dignified disposition of fetal remains,” Hill, a Republican, said in a statement. “I was humbled to provide these precious babies a proper burial in South Bend. We hope the results of our investigation provide much-needed closure to everyone who has been impacted by this gruesome case.”
Three years before Klopfer’s death, then-Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a measure that required abortion providers to dispose of the remains of aborted babies the same way they dispose of human remains.
While the law faced a court challenge, it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019. The investigation into Klopfer spurred additional reforms to the state’s abortion laws.
A measure amending Indiana law to require abortion providers to inform women who have abortions that they have a right to “dispose of the remains of the aborted fetus by interment … or cremation through a licensee” or “have the health care facility or abortion clinic dispose of the remains of the aborted fetus by interment … or cremation through a licensee” was signed into law last year.
Additionally, Senate Bill 299 requires “the pregnant woman to inform the health care facility or abortion clinic of the pregnant woman’s decision for disposition or, in the case of an abortion induced by an abortion inducing drug, whether the pregnant woman will return the aborted fetus to the health care facility or abortion clinic for disposition.”
The law also mandates that burial transit permits containing “multiple aborted fetal remains … be accompanied by a log prescribed by the state department containing certain information, except in certain circumstances, about each fetus included under the burial transit permit.”
Klopfer is not the first abortionist to gain attention for his efforts to preserve aborted babies’ body parts.
As Dr. Kermit Gosnell stood trial for murdering babies who survived botched abortions in 2013, jurors were told about the severed hands and feet Gosnell kept in jars of formaldehyde as well as clogged toilets filled with aborted babies’ arms and legs.”
