“A Night for Life”
St. Anne Parish Family Life Center
5200 Saufley Field Road
Pensacola, FL
Sunday, September 19th at 7 PM
You don’t want to miss this evening to hear how 40 Days for Life has impacted the Pensacola Community and how you can be part of this life changing campaign.
Musical guest Sharmane Adams
All Faiths Welcome
Spread the word to everyone you know and bring someone with you!
40DFL Kick-Off Flyer Fall 2010 PDF
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
Three weeks ago, physician Steven Brigham led a car caravan of patients from his Voorhees abortion clinic to his facility in Elkton, Md. After one of the patients was critically injured during her surgery there, Brigham put the semiconscious, bleeding woman into the back of a rented Chevrolet Malibu and drove her to a nearby hospital emergency room rather than call an ambulance.
Those details are contained in documents issued over the last 10 days by the Maryland Board of Physicians and Elkton police. The two agencies have launched a wide-ranging investigation into Brigham’s long-troubled abortion business, which he conducts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
On Aug. 25, the Maryland Board of Physicians ordered Brigham, 54, to stop performing abortions in that state, where he has never been licensed to practice medicine. By then police had raided Brigham’s Elkton facility – from which they said they removed 35 “late-term fetuses and fetal parts” – as well as the Voorhees headquarters of his chain of 15 clinics, which does business as American Women’s Services.
Maryland authorities seek missing medical records, and are looking into Brigham’s habit of sending late-term patients across state lines after initiating their abortions in Voorhees.
Brigham’s four New Jersey clinics cannot provide abortions after the first trimester (14 weeks of pregnancy) because they do not meet state safety requirements for such risky outpatient surgeries. Brigham has for years performed the first phase of such abortions there – the insertion of absorbent rods that dilate the patient’s cervix over a day or more – and sent them to a facility in another state for the surgery. New Jersey law doesn’t address whether inserting dilators constitutes abortion.
Brigham did not return a phone message left Thursday at his Voorhees condominium.
Maryland’s action is just the latest problem for the doctor, whose medical license has been revoked, relinquished, or temporarily suspended in five states over the last 18 years.
In July, the Pennsylvania Department of Health revoked Brigham’s permission to own clinics in the state because he had repeatedly employed unlicensed caregivers; he is appealing that decision. Brigham himself cannot perform medical procedures in Pennsylvania because of a confidential 1992 agreement in which he agreed to give up his license.
Brigham also had $234,536 in federal tax liens against him in April for failing to pay payroll taxes from 2002 to 2006.
Maryland regulators are investigating not only Brigham, but also two physicians he employed, the documents show.
On Tuesday, the board suspended the Maryland license of George Shepard Jr., a Delaware obstetrician-gynecologist hired in 2009 as a part-time medical director of Brigham’s four Maryland clinics. The board has charged Shepard with unprofessional conduct and with helping Brigham flout credentialing requirements.
Shepard’s lawyer, Jason Allison of Elkton, said, “We are reviewing the allegations and . . . are confident that Dr. Shepard’s license will be reinstated.”
On Tuesday, the Maryland board also suspended the license it granted less than two months ago to Nicola I. Riley, a family physician who in late July began flying “from her home in Utah every other week to Maryland to perform abortions.” Riley did not return a call left with her mother in Utah.
It was Riley who mishandled the abortion on Aug. 13, according to the medical board documents. They provide this account:
On Aug. 12, an 18-year-old woman, 21 weeks pregnant, signed abortion consent forms at Brigham’s Voorhees facility, at 1 Alpha Ave. Brigham then inserted the absorbent rods that widen the cervix.
On Aug. 13, the patient returned to the Voorhees clinic, with “the understanding that she would be provided transportation to Philadelphia” for the surgical phase of the abortion.
Instead, “Dr. Brigham . . . instructed [her] and the other women who were scheduled to complete abortions to form a line of cars and follow the lead car to a location where the abortion would be performed.”
In Elkton, Riley gave the patient anesthesia under Brigham’s direction and began the surgery, but cut through the patient’s uterus into the bowel and vagina.
Riley informed the patient’s mother and boyfriend of the complications, but refused to call for an ambulance. Riley “originally contemplated taking [the patient] by wheelchair to the hospital, which was about two blocks away.”
Brigham drove Riley and the patient to the hospital, where the two abortion doctors dodged questions “about who they were, what had happened, and from where they had come.”
The patient’s injuries were so complex that she had to be flown by helicopter to Johns Hopkins Hospital while Riley “returned to the Elkton office . . . to perform another abortion.”
A few days later, the patient complained to the Elkton police; they raided the clinic on Aug. 17, looking for the patient’s medical record. Although that couldn’t be found, police discovered frozen aborted fetuses and medical-waste records showing fetal ages up to 36 weeks. (A pregnancy is considered full-term at 38 weeks.)
On Aug. 20, Elkton police searched Brigham’s Voorhees office for medical records that would explain the fetuses.
The officers “found only two medical records related to the fetuses,” board documents say.
Staff from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office were on hand for the search, spokesman Paul Loriquet said. He added that he believed New Jersey’s Board of Medicine, which oversees physicians, would take action soon.
The Maryland board moved against Brigham, Shepard, and Riley after a Johns Hopkins physician filed a complaint. The physician expressed concerns that patients were being put at risk by “being transported across state lines to complete medical care,” board documents say.
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| Find this article at:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100903_Doctor_s_four-state_abortion_business_under_investigation.html |
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Join Bound4Life this Saturday, August 14th from 10 AM until 12 PM as they pray and stand in silence for those who don’t have a voice. This is not a protest! We are going to silently pray for the ending of abortion in our city, and our nation.
American Family Planning of Pensacola
6770 North Ninth Avenue
Feel free to bring water, sunscreen, your Bible, and iPod. Life tape will be provided!
***We’re adding another aspect to the Silent Siege’s. We’re going to have “Sidewalk Counselors” available to speak with the people considering abortions. We’ll have a tent set up with people ready to pray, share the love of God, help provide resources and information on LIFE and other options available.***
Immediately following the 40 Days for Life planning meeting we will be offering training in pro-life apologetics to be taught by Aaron Chatraw. He has been involved in many different aspects of the pro-life movement for several years now, but his real passion is teaching others how to dialogue about abortion. Aaron received his training in pro-life apologetics while living in Wichita, Kansas, from the pro-life organization Justice for All (JFA), whose goal is to train thousands to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a time. He has honed skills through dozens of conversations with college students on several JFA campus outreaches and over the internet through social networks and instant messaging. Don’t miss out on this important training to follow our planning meeting this Saturday, August 14th.
This series of “Ambassadorship Training” will begin between 3 and 3:30 PM, each Saturday, up until September 18th at St. Anne Parish in Pensacola, 5200 Saufley Field Rd (Family Life Center).
UWF Students for Life went through this training last fall, and they highly recommend everyone going through Aaron’s “Ambassadorship Training.”
40 Days for Life’s core message is about prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil. Speaking is actually discouraged when we are in front of abortion centers, but the skills gained in this pro-life training series will be very useful if someone engages you with questions or as you begin to speak about the truth of abortion in our community. Again, 40 Days for Life is not about debating, sidewalk counseling, and speaking to others in front of abortion facilities, it is about constant prayer coupled with fasting, and a deep faith that God will answer our prayers.
For Immediate Release
Women Can Sue for Psychological Injuries
After Abortion For the First Time
New Nebraska Law Removes Obstacles
to Lawsuits for Complications of Abortion
Springfield, IL (July 15, 2010) — A new Nebraska law that is the first to allow women to sue for psychological injuries related to abortion went into effect today, the Stop Forced Abortions Alliance has announced.
Until now, women who experienced psychological problems after an abortion had no standing to sue abortionists for subsequent psychological problems, even when the women were coerced into unwanted abortions. The Nebraska law removes that legal obstacle and also clarifies the standard of care for appropriate pre-abortion screening.
Enactment of Law Survives First Court Challenge
Nebraska’s Planned Parenthood affiliate filed suit in federal court last month seeking an injunction and declaratory judgment that the law was unconstitutional. In a preliminary ruling issued yesterday, the federal district court ruled that neither the effective date of the bill nor the law itself could be enjoined, clearing the way for the law to go into effect July 15.
District Judge Laurie Smith Camp also rejected Planned Parenthood’s motion to strike the legislature’s finding of fact that was included in the law, which states that “the existing standard of care for pre-abortion screening and counseling is not always adequate to protect the health needs of women.”
However, the court did grant a preliminary injunction to protect Planned Parenthood and its employees from any criminal penalties, fines, or loss of license in the event they fail to provide the standard of care required by the law. This does not effect women’s ability to sue for negligent screening or psychological damages while the injunction is in effect.
Specifically, the injunction prohibits the state attorney general, the governor, and other officers of the state from seeking to use the new law as a basis for revoking the licenses of abortion clinics or for engaging in other disciplinary measures against clinics or their staff.
Proponents said the law was never intended to provide for prosecution by state authorities, but was simply meant to allow abortion patients or their survivors to more easily hold abortion providers accountable for negligent screening. That aspect of the law has not been affected by the ruling.
Number of Coerced Abortions Expected to Drop
A key aspect of the law is that it exposes abortion providers to lawsuits for negligence if they fail to ask a woman if she is being pressured, coerced or forced to undergo an unwanted abortion.
This could affect many women, as one study found that 64 percent of women who had abortions reported that they felt pressured by others to do so. Numerous studies have also shown that women who are pressured to abort are at much higher risk of experiencing psychological complications following the abortion.
While the new law does not ban abortions in such cases, supporters say it will give women who are being pressured or coerced an opportunity to discuss the situation and receive information about how coerced and unwanted abortion increases their risk of more severe post-abortion reactions. Supporters believe this new standard for screening and counseling will help prevent many unwanted abortions.
Paula Talley, an organizer of the Stop Forced Abortions Alliance and backer of the bill, believes having such a law 30 years ago would have prevented her from undergoing an unwanted abortion.
“If this law had been in place in 1980, I would have been spared the years of grief, depression, and substance use which followed my own unwanted abortion,” Talley said. “My abortion counselor never asked if I was being pressured, nor did she inquire about my psychological history. If she had, she would have known that I was at higher risk of experiencing post-abortion trauma because I had a history of depression.”
Talley said that she was being pressured to abort by her employer, an issue that was never addressed by abortion clinic staff. Although she had moral beliefs against abortion–which is recognized by researchers as a risk factor for psychological problems after abortion–feelings of fear and panic made her feel she had to undergo the abortion.
“If the abortion counselor had bothered to ask the right questions, she would have seen that I was more likely to be hurt than helped by the abortion,” Talley added. “But I was never warned. They just took my money, and my baby, no questions asked.”
Neglected Feature of Roe v. Wade Will Be Easier to Enforce
Supporters of the negligent screening law also say that it helps to eliminate legal obstacles that allow women to hold abortion providers properly liable for failing to give them medically sound advice.
Dr. David Reardon, a biomedical ethicist and director of the Elliot Institute, a post-abortion research and educational organization, said that abortion providers have often shirked their duty to provide each woman with an informed medical opinion that is appropriate to her unique case.
“Any counseling provided by abortion clinics is often ‘one-size fits all,’” Reardon said. “That’s very inappropriate, since each woman has circumstances and risks that are unique to her.”
Reardon, who has done extensive research regarding post-abortion complications, believes inadequate screening is an act of medical negligence.
“Without screening, it is impossible for a doctor to give informed medical advice,” he said. “Performing an abortion on request, regardless of the risks, is contrary to both medical ethics and the stated principles found in Roe v. Wade.”
He pointed out that “if a woman walks into a doctor’s office and says, ‘I have a lump in my breast and need a mastectomy,’ and the doctor says ‘Jump up on the table and we’ll take it right out,’ we don’t call that medicine. We call that malpractice.”
Reardon also said out that many abortion facilities appear to ignore the fact that many women are pressured or coerced into undergoing unwanted abortions to satisfy the demands of boyfriends, husbands, parents, employers, or even their doctors or counselors.
“Many women report that their abortion counselors sided with an abusive partner or parent in pushing them to have an unwanted abortion,” he said. “Without this new law, women in such cases have little or no prospect of ever holding abortion clinics accountable for such egregious behavior.”
In short, Reardon believes the Nebraska law will clarify a neglected principle found in Roe v. Wade. While Roe determined that women had a right to seek an abortion in consultation with their physician, the Supreme Court also ruled that “the abortion decision in all its aspects is inherently, and primarily, a medical decision, and basic responsibility for it must rest with the physician.”
Reardon said this means doctors have an obligation to protect women from unwanted, unsafe, and unnecessary abortions.
“This goal can only be accomplished by removing the legal barriers that prevent women from holding doctors properly liable for inadequate screening and counseling,” he said.
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The Elliot Institute is the only organization dedicated to conducting original research on the impact of abortion on women; raising awareness that most abortions are unwanted or coerced, and exposing the risks of abortion to all involved. The Stop Forced Abortions Alliance is a project of the Elliot Institute.
Contact us at elliotinstitute@gmail.com or (217) 525-8202.
Pensacola 40 Days for Life Planning Meeting, Saturday, July 31st at 2:00 pm at St. Anne Parish(Bellview), 5200 Saufley Field Road. Please attend!
The nation-wide, life-saving fall 2010 40 Days for Life is September 22nd-October 31st. Registration begins July 21st, so please prayerfully consider participating in 40 Days in your city!! Thousands of lives have been saved! See all the many blessings at the national 40 Days website. (www.40daysforlife.com)
If you live in the Pensacola region, we will have our second planning meeting Saturday, July 31st, at 2:00 pm at St. Anne Parish(Bellview), 5200 Saufley Field Road, Pensacola . Everyone is invited and needed! It would be very helpful to let me know if you are planning to attend, so click on our contact form to let us know you will be there. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
The 40 Days for Life registration cost is $197 and therefore, to help cover that expense, tax-deductible donations to our Pensacola 40 Days for Life can be made by sending checks payable to “LIFE Inc.” to this address:
Life Inc.
P.O. Box 2171
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549
Thank you to Life Inc. for serving as our Treasurer! Please write “40 Days for Life” on the memo-line of your donation check. For just the cost of lunch ($5-$10) we can provide two yard signs, 10 Precious Feet Pins, or pay for 200 fliers, so even small donations are GREATLY appreciated and will be put to good use!
Please attend the planning meeting, Saturday, July 31st, at 2:00 pm at St. Anne Parish 5200 Saufley Field Road, Pensacola. Invite your Pastor and all your friends to participate!
Remember this message?
Urgent Prayer Request! Public School Student Threatening Abortion………
We just received this e-mail this evening. Please pray for this school teacher
and her student.Urgent call to prayer! I am a public school teacher. I have a student who has
informed me she is planning on having an abortion. She has a church background.
Please pray for the Lord to touch her heart, and change her mind. She is a
minor, but says she is old enough to make the decision herself without parental
consent. This makes me furious. Everyone, please pray and fast the next few days for this young woman.
Here is the Update: Read the rest of this entry
Today, PRAISE GOD, we can report that three babies were saved from abortion and their mom’s and dad’s were spared from a life of regret after abortion! One prayer vigil participant reported that a couple came out of the abortion facility and gave a thumbs up and smiled saying, ” We’re keeping our baby!” THANK YOU JESUS! Please watch the following video and it will remind you just why they DON’T allow cell phones in the abortion facility. One reason why WE MUST STAND VIGIL and we must BE THAT CALL!
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