RICHMOND, Virginia, August 26, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A notorious East Coast abortionist with numerous license revocations and a history of botched abortions is illegally exercising control over more than a dozen abortion facilities in three states, New Jersey’s attorney general has charged.
Steven Chase Brigham lost his New Jersey license in November 2014 for performing illegal abortions in Maryland and was then ordered by the state to divest his financial interest in the American Women’s Services abortion chain, which has sites in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.
In what the New Jersey attorney general is calling a bogus claim, Brigham purported to turn his interests over to another abortionist who performed abortions for the chain and then became medical director, Asbury Park Press reports.
“We are arguing that the transfer of ownership was a sham,” said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the AG’s office, “and that through the management services agreement, Brigham is still exerting control over the practice that ought to be exercised by an owner.”
While Brigham is illegally maintaining control over the abortion chain, Loriquet said there’s no evidence the abortionist “is engaging in any clinical practice.”
One of the New Jersey abortion facilities, Englewood Women’s Services, recently filed for bankruptcy after a federal judge awarded $6.5 million to a former patient in a malpractice case, NJ.com reported.
According to court documents, the Englewood facility is more than $51,000 behind on rent and an eviction is in the works. The bankruptcy filing seeking Chapter 11 protection lists “Dr. Steven C. Brigham” as the owner of the company.
Brigham is still on the New Jersey revoked physician list, Loriquet also said, and the abortionist owes the state more than $500,000 in fines and other costs.
Brigham has appealed the revocation, according to his attorney, Joseph Gorrell, with oral arguments before the state Board of Medical Examiners yet to be scheduled.
Aside from a record of botched abortions, Brigham, who estimated he has performed some 40,000 abortions in more than two decades as an abortionist — despite having never completing a residency in obstetrics or gynecology — also has a history of other dicey practices.
His New Jersey license was first suspended in 2010 after the AG said he was using a two-state scheme to avoid the state’s requirement that abortions be performed in a hospital or licensed health care facility after the 14 weeks’ gestation.
Brigham, who was not licensed to perform abortions past the first trimester, would begin late-term abortions in a New Jersey office but then order women to drive to his Maryland facility for him to complete the abortion.
The license revocation then followed in 2014, with a New Jersey Administrative Law Judge noting after reviewing Brigham’s lengthy record of disciplinary actions in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida that “Dr. Brigham has finally cut enough corners.”
The AG’s current investigation into Brigham’s control of the dozen-plus abortion facilities is connected to a complaint the state has against Vikram Kaji, an 80-year-old board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who is Brigham’s associate and has been medical director at the facilities.
Kaji began as a contract abortionist for Brigham in 1996, taking over as medical director at the facilities when Brigham’s license was suspended in 2010.
The medical board received a stock certificate in March 2015 ostensibly showing Brigham had transferred full ownership to Kaji. State documents also say the two abortionists sent in a transfer of ownership notice for three of the abortion locations to the State Department of Health, which registers the facilities.
Kaji had testified under oath before a board panel in May 2015, denying he was the abortion chain’s owner, the state’s complaint says. Kaji also said Brigham continued to function as owner in all facility locations in New Jersey and beyond.
Kaji “expressly testified that ‘there is no other person around, (Brigham’s) the only one who runs the show,’” the complaint states. Kaji said of the ownership transfer during his testimony, “It was just a technical paper transaction so the business could go on.”
A September 12-13 hearing is scheduled for suspension of Kaji’s license.
A former patient from one of the Maryland abortion facilities sued Brigham, Kaji and others in 2015 for a failed non-surgical abortion in 2012 that resulted in her child being born 10 weeks premature with hearing loss, developmental delays, heart defects, and other issues. A judge just granted her $6.5 million on August 5.
Controversy was present early and throughout Brigham’s abortion career.
After a three-state inquiry in the early 1990s, he left Pennsylvania in 1992, agreeing not to practice there again. New York revoked his license in 1994 for two botched late-term abortions and New Jersey attempted to pull his license at the same time for those incidents.
The American Women’s Services abortion chain has New Jersey sites in Toms River, Elizabeth, Englewood, Hamilton, Phillipsburg, Galloway, Voorhees, and Woodbridge.
In Maryland, the facilities are located in Baltimore, Cheverly, Frederick, and Silver Springs.
The chain had abortion facilities in both Virginia Beach and Fairfax, Virginia, but state regulators suspended the license of the Fairfax location in April after finding 52 pages’ worth of problems, including unsanitary equipment, expired medication, and failure to follow proper care protocols.