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ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, April 11, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Pennsylvania Department of Health has closed an abortion clinic belonging to notorious abortionist Steven Chase Brigham in Allentown, after previous inspections found violations of health and safety standards.

The department did not renew the license for Allentown Medical Services (AMS) when it expired on March 31. However, a state pro-life leader told LifeSiteNews.com a clerical error resulted in its license being reissued last week. After AMS lost its lease, the license was once again revoked.

Mary Paris of the Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania told LifeSiteNews the lieutenant governor personally told her the abortion clinic had been closed.

Paris led protests for its closure after a state health department report found a “thick” pool of dried blood at the bottom of a freezer, fetal body parts, and such “sterile” instruments as speculums with “an accumulation of brown debris in the hinge areas.”

After the department ordered Brigham to sever all ties with abortion clinics in the state, he transferred ownership an organization called “Rose Health Services,” which was created by his mother, Judith Fitch. Paris said it was a shell game to allow profits to continue rolling in despite the law. She said the closure was “overdue” but welcome.

Brigham – who owns a string of 15 abortion clinics in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia – developed a terrible reputation after having his medical license suspended, rescinded, or surrendered in five other states. He regularly hired unqualified workers to staff his clinics.

In 1994, New York State officials found Brigham guilty of “gross negligence” and “inexcusably bad judgment” following two botched abortions. A year later, the state convicted him of tax evasion. “In 1997, Brigham employed an ob-gyn doctor who was suspended for a number of issues, including sexually abusing his clients.” 

Brigham would often begin late-term abortions in New Jersey, then complete the procedures at his office in Elkton, Maryland – where he had no license to practice.

Officials in Maryland charged Brigham and his associate, Nicola Irene Riley, with murder for aborting children after viability, the first such use of the law in the state. However, the charges were dismissed in March, because the prosecutor was not certain the abortion had taken place in Maryland.

Paris told LifeSiteNews she would remain vigilant to assure he did not reopen his offices and threaten women’s health for profit again. “The guy’s ruthless,” Paris said. “He’s going to try to do every single thing he can” to start up his dangerous business again.

(A July 2011 protest in Allentown)