Clinic owner caught by pro-lifers at Chula Vista mill 2 months after her arrest for practicing medicine without a license

Los Angeles, CA – It has been learned that five abortion mills were raided on August 1, 2007, by a special unit of the LA Police Department called the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT), which is responsible for investigating crimes that impact public health. At that time two arrests were made on two women without medical backgrounds for practicing medicine without a license. Facts released by the LAPD are as follows:

Bertha Bugarin, 47, is charged in case number BA328497 with five felony counts of practicing medicine without certification and two misdemeanor counts of dispensing medication without a license, Her sister, Raquel Bugarin, 49, of Los Angeles, is charged in the same complaint with five felony counts of aiding or abetting the practice of medicine without certification.

Bertha Bugarin was released on $500,000 bail while Raquel posted bail of $100,000. Both women were ordered to stay away from four LA county abortion mills in the Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy abortion chain, which is owned by Bertha Bugarin.
However, two months later Bertha Bugarin was photographed by pro-lifer Luis Mendoza at the abortion chain’s Chula Vista office in San Diego County wearing a stethoscope around her neck. Since then Bugarin’s stay away order has been expanded to include the Chula Vista office.
The Bugarin sisters are scheduled to make a court appearance on March 3, 2008.
The abortion chain was temporarily closed then reopened under the name Clinica Medica Feminina Para La Communidad. The chain is now under the direction of the notoriously troubled abortionist Nolan Jones, who has been repeatedly disciplined by the California Medical Board for shoddy and dangerous practices, is no longer allowed to supervise physician’s assistants, and has had staff privileges revoked at a San Bernardino hospital.
Jones reported that he was $893,638.63 in debt at a bankruptcy hearing held in 2003, which included $267,428.74 owed to the U.S. Treasury department in reimbursement of Medicare overpayments he received.
“It looks like Bertha is finally out of the abortion business, but how Nolan Jones is still operating is beyond me,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, who helped expose the dangerous abortion practices at Clinica Medica mills before moving his offices to Wichita, Kansas in 2002. “Jones may be the worst of the bunch.”
Clinica Medica is perhaps one of the most dangerous abortion chains in America. Operation Rescue focused a prayer and exposure campaign on the Clinica Medica chain in 2000. As a result of these efforts, the chain lost several abortionists and diminished in size from 11 mills to five.
Former co-owner, Nicholas Braemer, lost his medical license in 2000 after numerous botched abortions, one of which resulted in at least one woman’s death. Since then Medical Director Laurence Reich lost his license after a second conviction of sexually molesting his abortion patients. Mohammed Dia surrendered his license after charges of malpractice and billing fraud. Phillip Rand was stripped of his license after over 40 malpractice suits, numerous botched abortions, and several license suspensions for gross negligence. Illegal abortionist Steven Turnipseed, identified to patients as “Dr. Steve,” disappeared after Operation Rescue discovered he had no medical license and turned him in to the authorities.
Clinica Medica’s current line-up of abortionists include George Flanigan, who has also been disciplined by the California Medical Board, and Mohammed A. Hamed, who botched an abortion on a patient in 2006, that was documented by pro-lifers.
“Bugarin has had a heck of a time keeping abortionists over the years and has always hired the very bottom of the barrel. It looks like when she couldn’t get one of her quack abortionists in the office, she did the job herself,” said Newman. “Bertha is a predator who has a mercenary attitude about abortions. Laws mean nothing to her, as is the case with so many abortionists. She has been quoted as preferring to target Hispanic communities with her mills, presumably since women there may not be in the country legally and will be less likely to report problems. The sooner Bertha and all of her cohorts are behind bars, the better.”
VIEW PHOTOS
Read a first hand account of what goes on inside the Chula Vista office, based on an interview with former clinic workers.