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LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska doctor who has been targeted by anti-abortion activists because he provides late-term abortions, will start working at a Germantown women's clinic Monday.

Carhart will provide regular services at Reproductive Health Services, but will not work there full-time, said Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation.

A staff member at the clinic Monday directed all media calls to the National Abortion Federation, the D.C.-based professional association of abortion providers. The clinic is a member of the federation, which sets standards for abortion care and offers security and other support to member clinics.

Carhart chose the Maryland location because the state's abortion laws are more permissive than many others, including Nebraska, where his practice has been based since 1985.

"Maryland is a progressive state and a woman's access to contraceptives, emergency contraceptives and abortion is better than many other states in the Deep South or the Midwest," Saporta said. "Maryland should be proud that they are rated as a state that protects women's access to contraceptives and abortion. Such actions protect women's health and save women's' lives."

Maryland's Freedom of Choice Act prohibits the state from interfering in a woman's decision to terminate her pregnancy at early stages or at any time if the termination procedure is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman or if the fetus is affected by genetic defect or serious deformity or abnormality.

NARAL Pro-Choice America, a national pro-choice advocacy group, gives Maryland an "A" grade for the state's abortion laws. Maryland is ranked fifth nationwide in that group's evaluation of women's reproductive rights.

Anti-abortion groups have vowed to protest Carhart's move to Maryland.

Operation Rescue, which is based in Wichita, is working with Maryland and Washington, D.C. pro-life groups to "employ peaceful, legal means to halt Carhart's plans to do late-term abortions in Germantown," according to a statement on the group's website, which also vows an aggressive challenge to the operation.

The Christian Defense Coalition will hold a press conference and two-hour prayer protest near the clinic at 11 a.m. Monday, Carhart's first scheduled day at the clinic.

Saporta said late-term abortions – those performed after a fetus could survive outside the womb – are done only in dire circumstances. She cited the need for an expectant mother to undergo chemotherapy or babies that have developed without brains.

"These women really don't have a choice," she said.

The federation's security director was in Germantown on Tuesday working with clinic staff and he will return next week for more training, Saporta said.

"We are also working with law enforcement to make sure that any protests that take place are legally conducted and that protesters do not act illegally or do not impede women from getting the care that they need," she said.

Reproductive Health Services is a privately-owned women's clinic with facilities in Germantown and Hyattsville. The clinics currently offer abortions up to the 19th week of pregnancy.

dgaines@gazette.net