BALTIMORE, MD, December 4, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New Jersey prosecutors investigating troubled abortionist Steven Brigham say that Brigham lied when he told New Jersey regulators he was covered by insurance at his practice in the state.
Brigham claimed that he had insurance with the company as late as 2011, and just a month ago produced what the prosecution has charged was fraudulent paperwork claiming he had malpractice insurance. That certificate was from a company in Bermuda that hasn't issued insurance since 2006 and whose operator was imprisoned in 2007 for insurance fraud and money laundering.
Brigham, whose license was revoked in the 1990s for evading state regulations, is in the midst of appealing a 2010 decision that again revoked his license over charges that he illegally practiced late-term abortion procedures in multiple states. If he loses, he would be barred from practicing medicine across the United States.
Brigham’s clinic in Maryland, which has since been shut down, was unregistered with the state, and he himself did not have a medical license in the state. Despite this, he shuttled women from his New Jersey clinic to a facility in Maryland, where abortion laws are more lax, where he and his staff completed late-term abortions already begun at the New Jersey facility.
The insurance issue was brought to the attention of prosecutors by one woman whose uterus was perforated at the Maryland clinic. She was eventually brought to a hospital by Brigham, and was subsequently airlifted to Johns Hopkins Health Center. The woman, who sued Brigham, dropped the lawsuit after learning he didn't have insurance.
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After the woman's case was made public, Maryland officials investigated and found 35 frozen fetuses at the Maryland clinic. Brigham was charged with murder, but after an expert witness declined to testify charges were dropped.
Two of Brigham's abortion facilities in Pennsylvania have also been shut down. However, other clinics, part of his larger business American Women's Services, are still open in New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida. Brigham is not licensed to practice in any state while his appeal is pending.
The New York Times reported earlier this year that the discoveries at Brigham's Maryland facility resulted in more strict abortion regulations in the state. While the procedure is still largely unregulated compared to other states, licensing and other regulations have been implemented.
Brigham's violations of the law and basic safety standards have drawn criticism not only from opponents of abortion, but also pro-abortion activists and fellow abortionists.
According to Sharona Coutts, Director of Investigations and Research for the pro-abortion website RH Reality Check, “legitimate abortion providers from New Jersey and neighboring states alerted authorities to Brigham’s dangerous conduct, furnishing warnings [for decades] they say went largely unheeded.” Coutts says her site's investigation “shows that New Jersey officials responsible for overseeing healthcare in that state could have prevented injuries to this and subsequent patients, had they acted on warnings about Brigham that predicted this exact scenario.”
“The fact that authorities continue to allow dangerous abortionists like Brigham and [colleague Nicola] Riley to exploit the system is appalling and places the lives of women in continual danger,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman today. “It is clear both are proven liars and habitual law-breakers. Even the abortion groups who traditionally defend even the most heinous acts of abortionists understand how dangerous Brigham is and have publicly thrown him under the bus.
“If these groups can see how bad he is, it should be obvious to authorities in every state he is doing business,” he said. “Brigham and Riley simply do not respond to traditional forms of discipline. The only way to ensure that they are not out there victimizing people is to lock them up.”