PRO-LIFE NEWS IN BRIEF

By Liz Townsend

Brigham Plans to Open New York Clinic

Abortionist Steven Brigham, who has been the subject of investigations for botched abortions and other violations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, and California, bought a building in Tonawanda, New York, and plans to open a clinic there, according to the Buffalo News.

Brigham's company, American HealthCare Services, purchased the building January 31, the News reported. "We will make it a medical office," Brigham told the newspaper. "We're not sure what services. We are not ruling out abortions."

He later told the News that strong opposition from the community may force him to limit clinic services to "family practice, wellness services, and dermatology."

Brigham's New York state medical license was revoked in December 1994 after several complaints of injuries and incompetence, including a 1993 case in which a 20-year-old woman had to undergo a hysterectomy as a result of a late-term abortion Brigham performed, the New York Times reported.

In 2000, Brigham served a 120-day sentence in a New York state jail for failing to file corporate tax returns in 1994 and 1995 for an abortion clinic he owned in Colonie, New York.

Currently, Brigham owns or partially owns abortion clinics in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, according to the Buffalo News. The newspaper also reported that he is seeking to open another clinic in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Even pro-abortionists do not support Brigham's expanding business. "We have serious concerns about the quality of care he provides," Vicki Saporta, executive director of the National Abortion Federation, told the News.

"He has a really negative past," said Melinda DuBois, director of the only abortion clinic in Buffalo, according to the News. "We are concerned about a physician whose license has been revoked in New York state and has questionable medical practices."

Pendergraft Released from Jail during Appeal

Florida abortionist James Scott Pendergraft IV and associate Michael Spielvogel, convicted of attempted extortion, conspiracy, and mail fraud, left prison February 27 after a court ruled that they should be freed while their appeals are being heard, according to the Ocala Star-Banner. The two men have been incarcerated since July.

Pendergraft and Spielvogel were convicted February 1, 2001, for fraudulently accusing a Marion County official of threatening them and later demanding millions of dollars from the county, the Star-Banner reported.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ordered their release after a February 26 hearing, according to the Associated Press (AP). Lawyers for Pendergraft and Spielvogel argued that their sentences of 46 and 41 months, respectively, were too long and that a prosecutor used a derogatory racial remark during the trial, the AP reported.

Pendergraft owns five abortion clinics in Florida, all of which are still operating, according to press reports. According to his publicist, Marti Mackenzie, he will be performing abortions again soon.

"I think he will be back to work very quickly," Mackenzie told the Orlando Sentinel.

Abortion of Baby with Dwarfism Will Not Be Investigated

A coroner in Victoria, Australia, refused to investigate the February 2000 death of a 32-week-old unborn baby who was aborted because she had dwarfism. Coroner Jacinta Heffey announced in late January that since the baby was not born alive, it is not a "reportable" death, according to The Age.

Doctors at Royal Women's Hospital in Victoria aborted the baby after her mother threatened to commit suicide, The Age reported. The baby girl, named Jessica by her mother, had a non-lethal form of dwarfism, according to the Sunday Herald Sun.

According to a spokesman, Heffey "had reviewed the hospital records and concluded she had no jurisdiction because the baby was stillborn," the Herald Sun reported. "[T]he coroner's court only had jurisdiction over reportable deaths and since there was no birth there was no death."

Pro-lifers, disability rights activists, and many others expressed outrage over the coroner's ruling, stating that it effectively allows abortion up to birth without fear of prosecution. "We now have a situation where nine-month abortions are now allowed, whatever we have sitting on our criminal code," National Party Senator Julian McGauran told the Herald Sun. "But what of nine months and five minutes?

"In the minutes after birth, after it is discovered there has been a misdiagnosis or a complication, does the woman have renewed rights? There is no difference in such a baby, in or out of the womb."

That the baby, only a few weeks from birth, was killed because she had dwarfism angered many in Australia. "We should never buy into the mentality that short-statured people are better off dead or we are better off without them," Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart told the Herald Sun. "Sadly, that is exactly the message that has been communicated by this recent decision and the laws and medical practices behind it."

British Hospital Pays Mother for Letting Her Baby Die

After diagnosing an unborn baby with possible birth defects, a doctor at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds, England, allegedly delayed treatment and caused the baby to die in his mother's womb. The hospital apologized and agreed to an out-of- court settlement to compensate the baby's mother for his death, but did not admit to any wrong-doing, the Telegraph reported.

Liam Wilson was due to be born in a month when his mother Hayley was told in January 1998 that he had "inter-uterine growth retardation," which meant he was not growing at a normal rate. A week before his due date, his mother was told of a further complication, that the baby's blood was not filtering through the placenta properly, according to the Telegraph.

Mrs. Wilson asserted that instead of performing an emergency Caesarean section to save Liam's life, Dr. Tarek El Gendy allegedly decided on his own to let Liam die, assuming that his mother would not want a child who may have suffered brain damage, the Telegraph reported. El Gendy delayed the operation and Liam was stillborn.

"There is no doubt I would have asked them to try to save Liam, no matter how brain damaged he would have been, but no one asked me my opinion," Mrs. Wilson told the Telegraph. "They made the decision for me and it has taken four years of heartache and anguish to finally get an apology."

When the hospital refused to apologize for Liam's death and the doctor's negligence, Mrs. Wilson filed a lawsuit. Finally, in February, the hospital agreed to pay her £50,000 and apologized for her "distress," according to the Telegraph. The doctor left England in September 1998 and now works in Saudi Arabia.

"This was never about money," Mrs. Wilson told the newspaper. "All I ever wanted was an apology. If they had apologized to me they could have saved everyone a lot of pain and I would not have pursued the case."

Kansas Senate to Debate "Choose Life" License Plates

Kansas may soon join Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama as the only states whose legislatures have authorized specialty "Choose Life" license plates. Proceeds from sale of the plates in Kansas would assist crisis pregnancy centers to encourage adoption.

The state Senate Transportation Committee approved the bill February 26, and it now moves to the full Senate for debate and a vote, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The bright-yellow license plate, which would cost between $25 and $100, features the "Choose Life" slogan and a child-like drawing of a boy and a girl.

"This will allow Kansans the 'choice' of placing a positive message in favor of life on their license plate," said Kansans for Life Executive Director Joan Hawkins, "and will provide a stream of revenue to encourage adoption. It advances our mission of promoting a culture of life in Kansas."

Pro-abortion groups have challenged the license plates in each state, and a Planned Parenthood official warned the Transportation Committee that Kansas would be no different, according to the AP. "I cautioned the committee it could be subject to lawsuits," Carla Mahany, Kansas public affairs director for Planned Parenthood, told the AP. "Court cases that have addressed the issue have properly assumed 'Choose Life' is an anti-choice slogan."

"It says choose life," countered Hawkins, according to the AP. "It's all about choice."

The Florida license plates have already raised over $700,000 for adoption programs. Court cases are still proceeding in Louisiana and South Carolina, and Alabama is waiting for 1,000 plate requests before production begins, the AP reported.