By Cheryl Sullenger
San Diego, CA – A San Diego abortionist who was caught on video last year threatening a pro-life activist with scissors in the midst of a demonic rant, has agreed to surrender his medical license on December 31, 2017.
Robert John Santella, 74, was featured in a YouTube video as he hissed and threatened a pro-life activist with scissors while admitting he had a “darkened heart.”
The California Medical Board (CMB) sought disciplinary action against Santella for his unprofessional conduct in an amended accusation filed on July 17, 2017. The accusation expressed shock that Santella growled at the pro-life activist and admitted he loved killing babies in a guttural voice even while other patients — and at least one child — entered the abortion facility behind him.
After video of the incident went viral, Santella was fired by a hospital group where he was affiliated, and later, by the FPA Women’s Health abortion facility. Undeterred, Santella resumed his abortion business at his long-time College-area private practice office.
Santella was also charged by the CMB for wrongly prescribing controlled substances to six patients, while failing to perform a physical examination or document reasons for the prescriptions in medical records. He also ignored test results and symptoms of other serious conditions.
When asked why he prescribed opioids to one patient with a history of substance abuse, he callously replied, “[I]n desperation I would refill her medications somehow just to get rid of her.”
Santella was also charged with repeated negligent acts in his treatment of a woman who suffered a botched second trimester abortion at FPA Women’s Health in San Diego on September 5, 2015, which was first reported by Operation Rescue.

During the abortion, patient T.B. lost over a half gallon of blood (2000 mL). Later efforts to halt the hemorrhaging failed. Despite her deteriorating condition, Santella refused to transport her for emergency care. Fearing her daughter might die, T.B.’s mother called for an ambulance.
That call saved her daughter’s life.
When T.B. finally arrived at the hospital, she was in hemorrhagic shock and suffering from an incomplete abortion, perforated uterus, and other internal injuries. She underwent an emergency hysterectomy to save her life, according to the CMB’s amended accusations.
“We have long identified Santella as a danger to the public and are relieved after all these years that Santella will soon surrender his medical license,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
Adding pressure on Santella to voluntarily relinquish his license was the fact that, as a repeat offender, he qualified for more severe discipline.
In the 1983, the California Medical Board suspended Santella’s medical license for 60 days and placed him on probation for five years after it found him guilty of gross negligence and incompetence in the treatment of three patients.
In 2000, Santella’s medical license was revoked for failing to maintain adequate medical records. That revocation was stayed and Santella served four years on probation.
Santella is expected to close his private abortion business at the end of the year.
Read Santella’s August 22, 2017 Surrender Order