Wichita ? A Wichita abortion clinic has been told to stop using La Quinta Corp. hotel rooms to perform medical services and to stop using the hotel’s name in information about the clinic.

La Quinta Corp., based in Irving, Texas, notified the Women’s Health Care Services of its requests after an investigation prompted by complaints from the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

Operation Rescue was told by a woman who had an abortion last year that the clinic used La Quinta for women who were having abortions, said Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue.

Sullenger said the women would check into the hotel on Monday, then go to the clinic to terminate the pregnancy. The women then returned to the hotel, where nurses would check their condition over the next couple of days as contractions intensified.

Members of Operation Rescue protested in front of a La Quinta hotel in Wichita last month during events linked to the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

“We have not given any individual, group, organization or facility authorization to administer medical services at any of our hotels,” La Quinta spokeswoman Teresa Ferguson wrote in an e-mail response to questions from The Wichita Eagle. “We have notified the clinic in Wichita about our position on this matter.

“We have, on the other hand, found representations that we believe may have created a perception that we have a business partnership with this clinic. This is not the case! As such, we have asked that anyone using our name in conjunction with this type of business immediately stop using our name.”

A spokeswoman for Women’s Health Care Services, which is owned by Dr. George Tiller, declined comment. Tiller and his clinic have been the focus of anti-abortion groups for years because he performs late-term abortions.

Ferguson said that La Quinta’s investigation found that the hotel was being included on referral Web sites, and that it was part of the information Tiller had provided the Web sites.

Like many hotel chains, Ferguson wrote in her e-mail, La Quinta offers a medical rate to guests. Privacy laws do not allow the hotel to verify that the guest is actually receiving medical treatment. And it does not matter what the person is being treated for as long as none of the treatment takes place at the hotel.

“We cannot legally ask a guest the reason for their stay or discriminate against any guest on the basis of their gender, personal beliefs or choices,” Ferguson said in the e-mail.