UPDATE: This evening the New Jersey Board of Physicians officially revoked Steven Chase Brigham’s medical license and ordered him to pay fines totaling $150,000. He could be ordered later to pay an estimated $500,000 in court costs. More details coming soon.
By Cheryl Sullenger
Trenton, NJ – After Kermit Gosnell, he’s been called the “worst abortionist in America.”
This morning, the notorious New Jersey abortionist Steven Chase Brigham faced the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners at a hearing that will eventually decide whether or not his last remaining medical license will be revoked.
A woman answering the phone at the Board’s offices today told Operation Rescue that it could take “a few days” for the Board to come to a decision after today’s hearing.
“Given this man’s horrific track record, anything less than revocation is unthinkable, and would only continue to put the lives of women in jeopardy,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.
Brigham has been accused of practicing medicine without a license in Maryland during a bi-state late-term abortion scheme he ran to avoid abortion limits in his home state of New Jersey. His nefarious practices were discovered in 2010 when he and his associate, abortionist Nicola Riley, severely botched a late-term abortion on an 18-year old patient, rupturing her uterus and pulling out part of her bowel. The majority of the baby’s body was thrust into the patient’s abdominal cavity. Brigham drove the injured patient to a nearby hospital emergency room, where his suspicious behavior prompted hospital staff to call the police.
The patient was air-lifted to a Baltimore hospital where emergency surgery was required to save her life.
Police raided Brigham’s clandestine Elkton, Maryland, abortion facility and discovered the remains of over 30 late-term babies stored in a bloody freezer. In December, 2010, Brigham and Riley were arrested and charged with murder in the deaths of 11 babies who were killed during illegal abortions. Those charges were later dropped after an expert witness for the prosecution withdrew from the case.
Nicola Riley’s Maryland medical license was revoked last year citing fraudulent and deceptive behavior.
Last October, Administrative Judge Jeff Masin heard testimony in Brigham’s disciplinary case and recommended in August that Brigham should have his last remaining medical license revoked and pay a fine of $30,000 along with other costs. Masin ruled that Brigham had engaged in a pattern of deception, engaged in illegal late-term abortions, and operated in Maryland without being licensed in that state.
Brigham has battled legal issues throughout his entire career, having had his licenses revoked in New York and Florida. He surrendered this Pennsylvania license under pressure and was ordered to never hold ownership of an abortion facility in that state again – an order he violated last year by opening an abortion facility in Philadelphia, which was soon closed by the state after pro-life activists complained.
Brigham’s abortion facilities in Maryland were also closed by the state after dangerous practices were repeatedly found, including a patient death at one of his offices he ran out of a residential condominium complex.
Despite the orders, Brigham continues to troll for abortion customers in those states. The phones for his defunct clinics still ring into his American Women’s Services central appointment line.
According to New Jersey law, unlicensed practitioners are not allowed to hold ownership in medical facilities in that state, so if Brigham’s license is finally revoked, he should be ordered to shut down his eight abortion offices in New Jersey.
It is believed that Brigham currently operates 17 abortion facilities in at least four states. Because he has been run out of one state after another, he has taken to the practice of attempting to conceal his ownership of abortion centers, five of which are so far under the radar that their whereabouts are currently unknown.
Whatever the New Jersey Board decides, it is not expected to affect the remaining abortion facilities he continues to own in Virginia, Delaware, and Florida.
“Steven Brigham is the kind of man that is not affected by traditional discipline. We strongly believe that jailing him is the only way to stop him from operating illegally and secretly, as he has done his entire career,” said Newman. “However, license revocation will ensure that he cannot ever practice again, and if he does, his old jail cell awaits him.”
Read the heavily documented story, “Botched Abortion Nightmare” to learn more about Brigham.