March 29, 2024
Local News

Will County authorities find more than 2,200 'preserved fetal remains'

Preserved fetal remains discovered in home of dead abortion doctor

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More than 2,200 preserved fetal remains were found on the property of a dead abortion doctor, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

The remains were found on the property of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who was described by the South Bend Tribune in 2016 as “likely Indiana’s most prolific abortion doctor.”

Court records show Klopfer lived on Pine Court in Crete Township.

An attorney for Klopfer’s family contacted the Will County Coroner’s Office on Thursday about the discovery of what appeared to be fetal remains, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Klopfer died Sept. 3.

Sheriff’s detectives and representatives from the coroner’s office found 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains, according to the release.

The coroner’s office took possession of the remains.

Sheriff’s deputies were stationed at the house – where a dumpster was placed in the driveway – Friday night.

Two men stood in the driveway of the home next door, smoking cigarettes and watching the activity along the Pine Court cul-de-sac.

Neither man would give his name. One said he knew the man who lived in the home next door “a little bit.”

The man said they were unaware of why the police were at the house, and both expressed surprise when told of the information released by the sheriff’s office.

“Holy [expletive],” one of the men said when informed.

A woman could be seen walking quickly at the back of the residence Friday night.

“The family is cooperating fully with this investigation,” according to the release from the sheriff’s office.

“There is no evidence that any medical procedures were conducted at the property,” according to the release.

An ongoing investigation into the discovered fetal remains is being conducted by the offices of the Will County sheriff, coroner and state’s attorney.

Klopfer was practicing in South Bend, Indiana, in 2016, when the Indiana Medical Licensing Board suspended his license.

An article in the South Bend Tribune about Klopfer, 71 at the time, said he "is likely Indiana's most prolific abortion doctor in history, with numbers going into the tens of thousands of procedures in multiple counties over several decades."

Klopfer began performing abortions in 1973 after its legalization by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, according to the article. He had performed abortions in South Bend, Gary and Fort Wayne.