Salt Lake City, Utah – Utah abortionist Nicola Riley has admitted that she lied to the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) about a criminal conviction and incarceration in order to gain licensure in that state.

As part of a settlement agreement with DOPL Riley admitted her deception and must now pay a fine of $10,000 to be paid over 18 months. She also has three months to write and submit an essay to DOPL describing how her unprofessional conduct has affected her patients and her profession.

“While we are happy that the DOPL acted to discipline Riley for lying, we are disappointed in the relatively light punishment considering the seriousness of the offense,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “This sounds more like a school detention assignment than discipline for lying to obtain a medical license. Other states have taken her deception much more seriously.”

Riley is best known for her involvement with the notorious Steven Chase Brigham in a botched late-term abortion at a secret abortion clinic in Elkton, Maryland, last year. Riley’s Maryland license has been suspended.

Operation Rescue conducted further research on Riley and discovered she had a criminal conviction during her service in the U.S. Army. Operation Rescue received a copy of her criminal record through an open records request and discovered that she had grossly misrepresented her involvement in a credit card/identity theft ring on her medical license applications in the states of Maryland, Wyoming, and Utah.

On those applications she stated that she served one year at Ft. Leavenworth Military Prison for not quickly reporting the credit card fraud that was being perpetrated by her subordinates. In truth, Riley was herself deeply involved in fraudulently obtaining credit cards by using personal information stolen during her military duties. She then made large purchases using the fraudulent credit cards. Riley actually served 30 months in prison for her crimes.

Operation Rescue forwarded the documents to medical oversight boards in all three states where Riley held licenses. Maryland has filed formal charges against Riley for lying on her medical license application. Wyoming forced Riley to surrender her license there or face revocation hearings. Utah has barred Riley from doing abortions but so far has allowed her to keep her license pending the outcome of the Maryland disciplinary action.

“Riley’s entire medical career is based on a lie. Riley broke a sacred trust that makes her completely unfit for the practice of medicine. A doctor that cannot be trusted to tell the truth cannot be trusted at all,” said Newman.

Read Press Release from the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing

Wichita, KS – Yesterday, Federal Court Judge J. Thomas Marten ordered the State of Kansas to immediately resume quarterly Title X payments to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri even though the state has no valid contract with Planned Parenthood that would legitimize such an order.

On August 1, 2011, Marten set aside a new Kansas law that allowed the state to reprioritize how Title X family planning funds were disbursed even though the state had already redirected the money to legitimate health care providers not associated with abortion. Planned Parenthood was back in court yesterday demanding that payments resume immediately. Kansas had offered to pay Planned Parenthood monthly – only for services rendered – while the case was on appeal, but Marten insisted on full quarterly payments regardless of services.

To make matters worse, Marten ruled that Planned Parenthood should not post a bond, making it nearly impossible for the state to recover any of the forced payments to Planned Parenthood in the event that the 10th Circuit Appeals Court overturns Marten’s errant ruling.

“Marten is forcing Kansas tax-payers to fund a private organization with which it has no valid contract. That is completely improper. One cannot enforce contracts that do not exist. Services that Planned Parenthood would seek to supply are available through legitimate health care providers. There is no harm to the public. This is the very definition of judicial tyranny,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“Judge Marten should have recused himself from this case because of his personal relationship with Planned Parenthood’s attorney Lee Thompson,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It has been our observation over the years following abortion-related cases in Wichita’s Federal Court that Marten has a bias in favor of Thompson and has made no secret of their long friendship. When Thompson is involved or has some interest in a case, Marten generally favors Thompson, whether the ruling makes good legal sense or not.”

Earlier, Planned Parenthood filed papers informing Marten that unless the Title X funds were paid, it would be forced to close its Hays clinic and halt the use of a sliding fee scale at its Wichita clinic. Both clinics were said to have posted loss of $220,000 last year, even though Planned Parenthood received $330,000 in tax money to prop up the failing offices.

While no abortions are done in Hays or Wichita, those clinics act as “feeder clinics” soliciting and scheduling abortion customers for Planned Parenthood’s Overland Park abortion clinic, making them integral components of Planned Parenthood’s abortion business. Federal law prohibits the disbursement of federal tax dollars to abortion businesses.

“Judge Marten had overstepped his bounds and trampled on the rights of the states to make and enforce their own laws and contracts. A judge should not decide which health provider receives Title X money as long as the funds are disbursed according to law,” said Newman. “The appeals court will likely rule in favor of Kansas law, but the damage will be done as far as the loss of tax dollars is concerned, thanks to Marten and his blatant cronyism.”

Hays, Kansas – A Planned Parenthood referral clinic in Hays, Kansas, that sees just over 900 people annually is slated to close on September 2, 2011, unless Planned Parenthood received a guarantee that Title X tax money will be restored.

Earlier this year, Kansas passed a law that allowed the state to reprioritize the distribution of Title X family planning funds to legitimate clinics and hospitals.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri had been receiving $330,000 in public funds annually. This year those funds were disbursed to other clinics and hospitals that can supply family planning services without any ties to abortion. Planned Parenthood is now trying to use the courts to get that money back.

Last month, Federal Judge Thomas Marten ordered that the tax dollars be restored to Planned Parenthood even though the state had no existing contract with the state’s largest supplier of abortions. Planned Parenthood had argued that losing the public funds would cause “irreparable harm” and argued that all the money was used to keep non-abortion clinics open in Hays and Wichita. That ruling is on appeal.

“Planned Parenthood sees Title X money as their private entitlement program. Planned Parenthood has no right to demand that the people fork over their hard-earned tax money to keep their failing abortion business afloat,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “If Planned Parenthood has to close clinics because business cannot support them, that is their problem, not the tax-payers’.”

Hays and Wichita clinics act as “feeder clinics” for the abortion clinic located in Overland Park. They solicit customers, sell them abortions, and schedule the clients for the procedure. These feeder clinics are integral components to Planned Parenthood’s abortion business. Without their abortion marketing programs and referrals, abortions done in Overland Park would decline. It is disingenuous to claim the “feeder clinics” have nothing to do with Planned Parenthood’s abortion business.

“Because of their important role of Planned Parenthood’s abortion business, these clinics should not qualify for Federal Funding through Title X,” said Newman. “The truth is that other medical facilities are perfectly qualified to provide legitimate family planning services to communities, and are now doing so, but Planned Parenthood is wrongly trying to scare the public with the false claim that people will be without needed medical care if they don’t get our tax money. That simply is not true.”

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has struggled since being charged with 107 criminal counts in 2007. That case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in October.