"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
http://news.yahoo.com/2-abortion-pro...230809522.html

2 abortion providers charged with murder in Md.
Associated PressBy BEN NUCKOLS | AP - 52 mins ago
Related Content

This undated photo provided by the Salt Lake County Jail shows Dr.
Nicola Riley. Riley and Dr. Steven Brigham, two out-of-state doctors who
traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions, have been arrested
and charged with multiple counts of murder under the state's viable
fetus law, authorities said Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Salt Lake
County Jail)

This undated photo provided by the Salt Lake County Jail shows Dr.
Nicola Riley. .

WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled
to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and
charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that
allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus.

Dr. Steven Brigham, of Voorhees, N.J., was taken into custody Wednesday
night and is being held in the Camden County jail, according to police
in Elkton, Md. Authorities also arrested Dr. Nicola Riley in Salt Lake
City and she is in jail in Utah. Each is awaiting an extradition
hearing.

A grand jury indicted the two doctors after a 16-month investigation,
police said.

The investigation began in August 2010 after what authorities say was a
botched procedure at Brigham's clinic in Elkton, located near the border
of Maryland and Delaware.

An 18-year-old woman who was 21 weeks pregnant suffered a ruptured
uterus and an injured bowel, according to documents filed in a previous
investigation by medical regulators. Rather than call 911, Riley drove
her to a nearby hospital, where both she and Brigham were uncooperative
and Brigham refused to give his name, documents show.

A search of the clinic after the botched abortion revealed a freezer
containing 35 late-term fetuses, including one believed to have been
aborted at 36 weeks, the documents show.

Brigham, 55, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five
counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy. Riley, 46,
faces one count each of first- and second-degree murder and one
conspiracy count.

The charges relate to the botched procedure as well as other abortions
performed at the Elkton clinic or fetuses found there, authorities said.

Cecil County State's Attorney Ellis Roberts declined to elaborate on the
charges or the circumstances that led to them, saying it would be
inappropriate to comment before Brigham and Riley, who were taken into
custody on fugitive warrants, had seen the indictments.

Maryland is one of 38 states that allows murder charges to be brought
against someone accused of killing a viable fetus. The 2005 state law
has so far only been used for cases in which defendants were accused of
assaulting or killing pregnant women.

"We are in uncharted territory," Roberts said. "At some point in time,"
he added, "you will hear our explanation" of the charges.

The state law allows for murder or manslaughter charges to be brought
against a person who intends to kill or seriously injure a fetus or who
wantonly disregards the safety of a fetus. It does not apply to doctors
administering lawful medical care and does not impinge on a woman's
right to terminate a pregnancy.

Brigham's attorney, C. Thomas Brown, said in an emailed statement that
he does not believe his client has violated any Maryland laws. He said
he has not seen any charging documents or spoken with Brigham since the
arrest.

"Dr. Brigham has fully cooperated with this investigation," Brown said.
"I had an agreement with the state's attorney's office that if Dr.
Brigham was charged, he would voluntarily come to Maryland to surrender.
For reasons unknown to me, the state did not honor that agreement. ...
It is my opinion that Dr. Brigham's arrest in New Jersey was
orchestrated to ensure that he remained in custody over this holiday
weekend."

An attorney for Riley also took issue with her client being behind bars.

"We believe the charges are without legal merit," said attorney Sharon
Krevor-Weisbaum. "We believe it's inappropriate for her to be held
without bond. She is not a flight risk and she should be released on her
own recognizance."

Krevor-Weisbaum said Riley's legal team would comment further after they
had seen the indictment.

A spokeswoman for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy
group, said she was not aware of any cases in the United States in which
an abortion provider had been charged with murder in the death of a
fetus. A Philadelphia doctor, Kermit Gosnell, faces murder charges in
the deaths of seven newborn babies but has not been charged with killing
fetuses.

The botched 2010 abortion led regulators to order Brigham to stop
practicing medicine in Maryland without a license, and Riley's Maryland
license was suspended. Brigham's New Jersey license was also suspended,
leaving him without a valid license in any state, and New Jersey
authorities are pursuing revocation of his license there. New Jersey
authorities have cooperated with the Maryland criminal probe, said
Thomas R. Calcagni, director of the State Division of Consumer Affairs.

According to regulators, Brigham would begin abortions in New Jersey and
have his patients drive themselves to Maryland to complete the
procedures, taking advantage of Maryland's more permissive laws. Brigham
was not authorized to perform abortions in New Jersey after the first
trimester, and regulators called his actions manipulative and deceptive.

In Maryland, licensed physicians can perform abortions before the fetus
is deemed capable of surviving outside the womb, and abortions of viable
fetuses are permitted to protect the life or health of the mother or if
the fetus has serious genetic abnormalities. Doctors generally consider
fetuses to be viable starting around 23 weeks.

Anti-abortion activists hailed the arrests of Brigham and Riley.

"These two individuals are now where they belong and should be in jail
for the rest of their lives," the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director
of Priests for Life, said in a statement. "Even those who believe
abortion should be legal can join with us to stop the out-of-control
practices of people like Brigham and Riley."


Heard on local news last week that fetuses are deemed viable, and therefore
can be plaintiffs in wrongful death suits in the State of Utah. About time.

Steve