Elkton, Maryland – Abortionist Nicola Irene Riley was arraigned this morning in a Cecil County court on charges that she murdered a healthy, viable pre-born child during an illegal late-term abortion last year. She has been ordered held on a $300,000 bond at the Cecil County Detention Center.

“Riley is charged with murder in the first degree, the most serious of criminal charges. It is inappropriate for her to be released on bail of any amount. It is our hope that she cannot make bail and will remain behind bars where she belongs,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.

UPDATE: Riley posted bail just hours after her hearing and has been released from jail.

Riley’s attorneys have filed motions to dismiss the case and have made public statements that the charges were inappropriate since abortion is legal in Maryland.

However, Maryland law does provide for murder charges if a viable pre-born baby is killed in the commission of a crime. The case is feared by abortion advocates because they are concerned that the issues in this case could strike at the heart of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in America. The 39th memorial of that decision will be marked this weekend.

Also charged is her employer, the notorious Steven Chase Brigham, who was released on $500,000 bail on January 6, 2012.

Brigham and Riley were indicted after a 16-month Grand Jury investigation prompted by a severely botched late-term abortion on a 21-week baby boy that landed the mother in the hospital with injuries that required emergency surgery to save her life. Medical personnel notified police after Riley and Brigham transported the injured women to a nearby emergency room in a private vehicle and then delayed her care while they behaved suspiciously. Police raided the Elkton abortion clinic and discovered the bodies of 35 late-term babies stored in a freezer.

Brigham never held a Maryland medical license. Riley’s Maryland license was suspended in September, 2010. It was later discovered by Operation Rescue that Riley had misrepresented to medical boards in three states a previous criminal felony conviction that led to her serving three years in a Federal Military Prison. That information was reported to authorities. Since then, Wyoming forced Riley to surrender her license, the Maryland Board of Physicians file additional charges against her for lying to obtain licensure, her home state of Utah has banned her from doing abortions in that state.

View Riley’s profile at AbortionDocs.org
View Brigham’s profile at AbotionDocs.org

Elkton, Maryland – Nicola Riley has been transported from the Salt Lake City Jail and is now on her way to Maryland to face charges of murder related to the killing of healthy, viable late-term babies at a secret late-term abortion mill operated by the notorious Steven Chase Brigham.

A judge in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Riley was being held without bail, noted at a status hearing held this morning that Riley had been transported to Maryland, and therefore would dismiss the fugitive warrant that prompted her arrest on December 28, 2011.

Riley has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

“Because of the seriousness of her charges, we think bail is inappropriate. Riley has a criminal history and a history of lying. She simply cannot be trusted,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.

Riley’s employer, abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, has also been charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He was arraigned in Maryland and released on $500,000 bond on January 6, 2012.

In another development, Brigham has filed motions to suppress evidence against him, including evidence obtained by search and seizure. He is asking that he and Riley be tried separately and that each offense be tried in separate trials.

“The legal wrangling and attempts at delay have already begun,” said Newman. “It is obvious that Brigham is trying to cost the state lots of money to try him. We hope the judge in this matter sees through this obstructive kind of defense and denies Brigham’s motions so that he can more forward to a speedy trial.”

View Riley’s profile at AbortionDocs.org

Washington, DC – Pro-Life Nation, an initiative of Operation Rescue, has launched its inaugural project, AbortionDocs.org, a database that will be of tremendous use to the Pro-life Movement and will aid the work as we move toward the day when abortion is finally abolished in America.

The AbortionDocs.org site is a searchable database that endeavors to list every surgical abortion clinic, every “abortion pill-only” clinic, and every abortionist in the United States. The website will soon contain the largest collection of documents ever compiled on the abortion cartel, with new documents being uploaded every day. Documents include photos, medical license applications, malpractice suits, disciplinary records, news articles, videos, criminal histories, and more.

“For the first time ever a centralized database has been created listing every abortion center in the United States. We have built a good foundation in compiling the most accurate and up-to-date list of abortion clinics known to exist,” said Troy Newman, President of Pro-Life Nation and Operation Rescue. “We are still compiling names of the abortionists who work in them. Also, the huge task of uploading the volumes of documents we have in our files has only just begun. AbortionDocs.org is a work in progress that will be maintained on a daily basis to ensure that the most accurate information possible is being presented.”

Pro-Life Nation is looking to partner with key pro-life leaders to contribute to the Abortiondocs.org database so that the true scope of abortion abuses that occur daily in this country can be documented and exposed to the American people.

The AbortionDocs.org website was two years and countless man hours in the making. The list can be used in a number of ways to expose abortion abuses committed by abortionists and their clinics. Activists around the nation can use it as a resource to identify abortion clinics in their areas so they can maintain a prayerful presence there, and discover the histories of the abortionists so women seeking abortions can be fully informed and warned of the dangers specific to a particular abortionist or clinic.

“In 1991, there were over 2,176 surgical abortion clinics in America. Today there are 663. Nearly 70% of all surgical abortion clinics have closed for good and that trend is continuing nationally,” said Newman. “We encourage folks to log on to AbortionDocs.org regularly and watch the number of abortion clinics click down.”