Operation Rescue plans to file a complaint demanding criminal charges against scofflaw abortionist Stephen C. Brigham

Elkton, Maryland – Troubled abortionist Steven Chase Brigham has been issued a cease and desist order by the Maryland State Board of Physicians ordering him to stop the illegal practice of medicine, including abortions, at five locations throughout Maryland because he does not and never has been licensed in that state.

The order, dated August 25, 2010, indicates that Brigham has been practicing illegally in Maryland since January, 2010.

It referred to an incident that occurred on August 13, 2010, where Brigham had begun a surgical procedure presumed to be an abortion, since that is the sole focus of his business. However, something went wrong and Brigham instructed the woman to travel to his abortion clinic in Elkton to complete the procedure “on an urgent basis.”

“The health of Maryland patients is being endangered by the Respondent’s unlicensed practice of medicine in this State,” the order read.

The Maryland locations involved are located in Baltimore, Cheverly, Fredrick, College Park, and Elkton. Currently, all the clinics remain open and staffed by other abortionists.

Brigham operates a number of abortion mills in several states under the name American Women’s Services.

Brigham has been under investigation and discipline throughout his entire 20-year career. He voluntarily retired his medical license in Pennsylvania while under investigation just six years after graduating from medical school. Since then, Brigham had medical licenses revoked in New York and Florida, and received disciplinary action in California and New Jersey. He served 120 days in jail in 1998 for Medicaid fraud.

A judge once ordered him to stop advertising his abortions as “painless” and “safe.”

“The only thing that will stop Brigham from committing illegal abortions that endanger the lives of women is to toss him in jail for a long time,” said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. “Traditional means of discipline simply don’t work with this guy. He has found that he can get away with just about anything without much more than a slap on the wrist. The only way to protect women from Brigham’s predatory and unsafe abortion business is to criminally charge him and order all his mills closed. We plan to file a complaint with the authorities and demand criminal charges before the end of the week.”

Read the Order

Abortion clinic cleared “SWAT style” by police, stopping abortions for nearly two hours

Albuquerque, NM – A man was arrested Saturday, August 28, outside Southwestern Women’s Options, a late-term abortion clinic operated by Curtis Boyd in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after he threatened to shoot two pro-life women who were offering help to abortion-bound women.

The unidentified man and his wife were escorting their daughter into the abortion clinic when the wife and daughter walked over to the pro-life women to discuss alternatives to abortion. The man became angry and ushered his family members toward the clinic.

“When we come out, I’m going to put a bullet in your head if you talk to her,” the man told the pro-life women, whose identities are being withheld for their security.

Witnesses said that the man then lifted his shirt to show the women a dark object that was partially tucked into his trousers. The women recognized the object as a gun and called the police.

“The police responded appropriately and took him away in handcuffs,” said former Operation Rescue intern Bud Shaver, who arrived on the scene in time to witness the arrest and the clearing of the clinic by police.

“They cleared Boyd’s clinic to search for the gun SWAT style. Everyone, including staff, had to come out with their hands up.”

The area was cordoned off and the clinic was closed to patients for nearly two hours while police conducted their investigation.

It is currently unknown if a gun was recovered by police or what charges were brought against the man.

Death threats against pro-lifers have been viewed with greater concern in the wake of the shooting death of activist Jim Pouillon of Owosso, Michigan, who was gunned down last year as he held a pro-life sign outside a local high school. The killer admitted that he murdered Pouillon because he did not agree with his public abortion protests.

Shaver told Operation Rescue that he has been threatened a number of times since he has been in Albuquerque, but the police never responded in the way they did on Saturday.

“We are thankful that no one was injured and that the police took appropriate action,” said Newman. “Violence against pro-lifers has become something that we have to guard against every day. Those who reach out to women in front of abortion clinics should not be afraid to continue to do so, but should always have security and an awareness of their surroundings in mind.”

VIEW THE PHOTOS

Des Moines, Iowa – An open records request for public documents has been denied by the Iowa Medical Board, which tipped off Planned Parenthood of the Heartland that the request for public records had been made. Planned Parenthood then filed a suit against a medical watchdog group to block the release of the documents.

Operation Rescue was contacted by the Citizen’s Information Center located in Boston, Massachusetts, a group that conducts research on the medical industry through public records. They sent OR a copy of a law suit filed against the CIC by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland on August 9, 2010, in Polk County, Iowa, asking the court to enjoin the release of public records to the CIC. As of this writing, no court hearing date has been set and no injunction has been issued.

Along with the petition, the CIC sent Operation Rescue a series of emails that clearly show that their public records request was forwarded to Planned Parenthood of the Heartland by an Iowa Board of Medicine staff member.

Operation Rescue has released a copy of the suit filed by Planned Parenthood against the CIC as well as a series of e-mail communications that were provided to the CIC by Amy Van Maanen, Director of Licensure & Administration at the Iowa Board of Medicine. (Links below)

On August 9, 2010, attorney for Planned Parenthood Mike Falkstrom sent an e-mail to Kent Nebel, Director of Legal Affairs for the Iowa Medical Board. Falkstrom stated:

Kent,

We’re filing to enjoin the release of records today. I apologize for the delay, there were scheduling issues with taking affidavits and I was unable to get them until last week. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks!
Mike Falkstrom

“That e-mail implies a working relationship and prior communication between Mr. Nebel and the Planned Parenthood attorney concerning the open records request. Why would the IBM work with Planned Parenthood to obstruct a citizen from accessing public records? What is the IBM helping Planned Parenthood to hide?” asked Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

The file in question is the medical license application for Planned Parenthood abortionist Susan Haskell, an osteopath who is involved in the controversial remote-controlled dispensing of abortion drugs known as telemed abortions.

Operation Rescue confirmed with the IBM that medical license applications are in fact public records.

“We have obtained medical license applications from a number of states on our own and the usual procedure is for the medical boards to redact any personal information, such as home addresses and phone numbers. We have never seen a case where access to a medical license application was denied,” said Newman.

In a conversation with Operation Rescue on Friday, Kent Nebel indicated that he was required by law to inform Haskell that an open records request had been made for her license application in order to give her the opportunity to obtain an injunction. He cited Iowa Code Section 22.8.

OR was told that this code requires the IBM to give notice to the physicians when public records requests are made, however ‘notice’ requirement in 22.8.1 is clearly a requirement to notify the records requester that the custodian of records has filed for injunctive relief.

“It is a misreading of the statute to say that the subject of the records must be notified,” said Newman.

As for any potential “harm” claim that may come from the release of public records, any private information can be easily redacted, as is the practice in nearly every other state. Medical license applications are public record for reasons of accountability. Under Iowa law, “inconvenience or embarrassment” are not legitimate reasons to deny public records requests or to get an injunction.

“If Haskell doesn’t want her applications inspected by the public, which has a legal right to do so, maybe she shouldn’t working in the medical field where she knows certain information will be considered open record,” said Newman.

“We believe that Mr. Nebel acted improperly by forwarding the CIC open record request to Planned Parenthood and denying the CIC the records that were legally requested. This incident diminishes our confidence that the Board is capable of acting properly on complaints before them involving Planned Parenthood’s dangerous telemed abortion pill distribution scheme.”

As for the petition itself, Planned Parenthood makes numerous of unfounded assumptions about the CIC that Operation Rescue is told are completely false and border on paranoid hysteria.

“Planned Parenthood has no idea who this private watchdog group is, so they jumped to the unfounded assumption that it is a ‘anti-abortion’ group bent on engaging in illegal activity. They really have no idea why the CIC even wants the records, so they manufactured some fictional conspiracy. They worry the CIC may use the information to ’slander’ Haskell, yet they are doing worse to the CIC by attacking their reputation in this outlandish and completely baseless petition. It is the very definition of hypocrisy,” said Newman.

Operation Rescue plans to release additional documents at a later date that we believe shows a protective and apparently improper relationship between the Iowa Attorney General’s office and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

“There is evidence that the Iowa Attorney General may be involved in collusion and even corruption to protect Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from accountability to the laws of the State of Iowa,” said Newman. “We plan to release that additional documentation soon and allow the public to decide.”

View the petition: PPH v. CIC
View the email exchange between PPH and the IBM