The attorneys general from Indiana and Illinois have announced their intention to investigate the more than 2,000 fetal remains discovered last week inside the home of former abortionist Ulrich George Klopfer. The medically preserved remains, evidently from unborn children Klopfer aborted during his decades of work, were found by his family in his home in northeastern Illinois after his death in early September.
Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill said in a statement earlier this week that he and Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul will work together to investigate how and why the fetal remains ended up in Klopfer’s home.
“The grisly discovery of these fetal remains at the Illinois home of a deceased abortion doctor shocks the conscience,” Hill said. “Further, we have reason to believe there is an Indiana connection to these remains.”
Klopfer performed abortions primarily in Indiana — his Illinois medical license expired in the 1990s — beginning in the late 1970s. He did much of his work in the Women’s Pavilion abortion clinic in South Bend, but he also performed abortions in Fort Wayne and Gary. Some state lawmakers have suggested that he was the most prolific abortionist in the state, performing thousands of the procedures in his decades of work.
After the sheriff’s office in Will County, Ill., announced the gruesome discovery late Friday evening, the county coroner’s took possession of the remains, and local law enforcement began an investigation. According to the Herald and Review in Decatur, Ill., the investigation spearheaded by Hill and Raoul will include examining Klopfer’s former clinics to determine whether any fetal remains also were improperly stored on the premises.
On Monday, Vice President Mike Pence called for a full investigation of the situation, and RealClearPolitics reported that a deputy communications director from the White House had echoed that call. Their comments came on the heels of several U.S. representatives and state lawmakers in Indiana demanding a thorough examination of how Klopfer came to possess these fetal remains.
South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg — who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination and who was mayor during the last several years of Klopfer’s tenure in South Bend, including when the doctor had his medical license indefinitely suspended for violating state regulations — has yet to comment on the news. His campaign did not respond to National Review’s request for comment.