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Abortionist Brigham's New
Jersey License Suspended Part Three of Four By Liz Townsend
The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners suspended the license of abortionist Steven Chase Brigham October 13, after a nine-hour hearing that detailed his scheme of beginning abortions in New Jersey and then transporting them to Maryland to dismember and remove the dead babies. Quoting from an account provided by the state Attorney General's Office, the Courier Post reported that the decision "called Dr. Steven Brigham a 'clear and imminent danger to the public's health, safety and welfare.'" Brigham has been the subject of investigations for botched abortions and other violations in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, and California. He stood accused of operating a secret abortion clinic that performed late abortions in a two-step process that took place in New Jersey and Maryland. New Jersey law requires abortions over 14 weeks to be done in a hospital or ambulatory care facility. Brigham's clinic is not licensed as such a facility, and he lacks both hospital admitting privileges and obstetrical training in the state. "Dr. Brigham has consistently and repetitively engaged in manipulative and deceptive behavior designed to circumvent the requirements of the board's termination of pregnancy regulation and to eviscerate the protections that those regulations seek to afford to New Jersey patients," the board said in its ruling. Brigham's defense, as anticipated, was that since he was cleared of similar charges in the state in 1996, the board effectively had already approved his actions, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. The state, however, contended that his current scheme was different. Deputy Attorney General Jeri Warhaftig told the board that in the most recent cases Brigham did not merely dilate the women's cervixes in New Jersey and then bring them to Maryland for the actual abortion. He also gave the women drugs that caused "fetal demise," putting them at "points of no return beyond which an abortion cannot be discontinued," Warhaftig said, according to the Star-Ledger. Since New Jersey law requires abortions over 14 weeks to be done in a hospital or ambulatory care facility, and Brigham's Voorhees clinic is not licensed as such, the abortions he began there violated state law and put the women at risk of serious injury, according to the attorney general's office. The board agreed, stating that "his continued practice presents a clear and imminent danger," the Star-Ledger reported. The case now moves to a hearing before an administrative law judge, according to the Star-Ledger. "The board will review the judge's initial decision before making a final ruling, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office." Brigham's attorney Joseph Gorrell told the newspaper that the board's ruling was "clearly and unequivocally wrong on the facts and the law," and said that the next hearing should occur within three to six months. For more information about the case, see http://www.nrlc.org/NewsToday/LoseLicense.html. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
