By Cheryl Sullenger
San Diego, CA – FPA Women’s Health, a chain of California abortion facilities, has shut down its troubled office on Miramar Road in San Diego, effective on Friday, November 17, 2017.
The San Diego location was the site of an incident involving abortionist Robert Santella and pro-life activist Zephaniah Mel. Santella threatened Mel with a pair of surgical scissors during a bizarre demonic rant, that included hissing and a confession that he loved killing children during abortions.
That behavior, along with complaints of malpractice and botched abortions, resulted in Santella’s firing from the abortion chain, which he had been affiliated with for over 30 years. Santella was forced to surrender his medical license after the California Medical Board charged him with negligence and unprofessional conduct.

Operation Rescue confirmed that Santella’s medical license has been surrendered and his private office on College Avenue in San Diego, where he also conducted abortions, is also closed.
The FPA office was also the scene of several medical emergencies that required ambulance transport, including one in September 2015, when a mother accompanying her daughter for an abortion was forced to call an ambulance for her bleeding daughter when the FPA Women’s Health staff refused. Her action likely saved her daughter’s life.
FPA Women’s Health has had a presence in San Diego County since the 1980s. The high-volume abortion business, which once boasted that its “doctors” spent only three minutes per patient completing abortions, has been forced to move a number of times.
While located in La Mesa, California, in the 1990s, the FPA abortion facility was the site of numerous large pro-life sit-ins, that resulted in the arrests of several peaceful protesters. In early 2002, the abortion business’ landlord finally evicted them from their office. FPA relocated Sixth Avenue across from Balboa Park, until being forced to move again when the building they occupied was slated for demolition. Their most recent address on Miramar Road was considered an odd location since it was situated in the middle of a furniture mall.
Two years ago, a pro-life alternatives facility, Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center, moved in next door to the abortion facility, and impacted FPA’s business by offering women assistance and positive alternatives to abortion.
Now, Operation Rescue has confirmed that the San Diego FPA abortion business is relocating once again, this time to the more conservative East County community of El Cajon. That facility is located at 1625 E. Main Street, Suite 202, in El Cajon — right next to an Albertson’s grocery store, which is sure to create tension in the community.
“We are thankful that this abortion business has been once again forced to move, thanks to the prayers and action of pro-life activists, who have been so faithful on the sidewalks throughout the decades. When abortion businesses relocate, it usually results in a loss of business – which means babies’ lives are spared,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “We pray the El Cajon FPA office shuts down soon and has nowhere to relocate.”