The abortion industry has been given a virtual free pass on standards, inspections, openness. The veil of protective secrecy has created an incredible opportunity by unscupulous operators and the worst of physicians.
The LA Times, to its credit, has revealed horrific facts about one chaing of clinics in Southern California after they were raided. The details are in connection with five abortion clinics owned by Bertha Bugarin. The sites were raided last summer by a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department, along with the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT).
When the raids took place, Bertha Bugarin and her sister were arrested, then released on bail. The police have now been charged Bertha “with five felony counts of practicing medicine without certification and two misdemeanor counts of dispensing medication without a license.” Raquel, Bertha’s sister has been charged with aiding or abetting.
After their arrest, they were ordered to not return to their clinics. However, Bertha was photographed at the Chula Vista clinic wearing a stethoscope around her neck.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman characterizes Bertha as “a predator who has a mercenary attitude about abortions. Laws mean nothing to her …” She targets Hispanic communities presumably since those women are often in the country legally and are less likely to report problems.
According to the LA Times, Angela (not her real name) had gone to one of Bugarins clinics in the summer of 2004. A doctor, then in his early 80s performed a vaginal suction procedure. Angela was about 20 weeks pregnant, well into her second trimester. She was given no anesthesia or painkillers. The National Abortion Federation sets standards for abortions. Vacuum aspiration procedures are normally performed on women up to 14 weeks into the pregnancy. After 14 weeks, dilation and evacuation, is standard. “A suction abortion is not appropriate at 20 weeks,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the federation.
By the time paramedics arrived at the clinic, Angela was lying in a pool of her own blood, her pulse racing and her blood pressure dangerously low. The doctor was just one more physician with a history of malpractice complaints that had been hired by Bugarin. Some of her physicians have criminal convictions, drug or alcohol addictions or have faced medical board actions.
In this case, the negligence was called “barbaric” and a “severe departure” from a reasonable standard of care by the medical board. His license were revoked. He had previously been involved in 40 malpractice suits, numerous botched abortions, and several license suspensions for gross negligence.
The Times went on to name five other doctors performing abortions at the clinics. They included a second physician who had lost his medical license after numerous botched abortions, one of which resulted in a woman’s death. A 3rd physician had lost his license after a second conviction of sexually molesting his abortion patients. A 4th doctor working at the clinics surrendered his license after charges of malpractice and billing fraud. He also admitted that he used a van to bring a bleeding patient to a hospital after perforating her uterus and leaving part of the fetus in her body. A 5th doctor was an admitted alcoholic whose license was finally revoked by the medical board due to repeated substance abuse relapses. That doctor had been found to perform obstetrical procedures while intoxicated. A 6th doctor – the list seems endless – was put on probation for delivering a dead baby using a vacuum procedure, after refusing to perform a cesarean section.
In one case, a woman had been given an abortion, at a different clinic chain, when she was not pregnant. Her uterus was ruptured in the process. The Bugarin sisters are scheduled to appear in court on March 3, 2008. Each could face up to six years in state prison if convicted.
Report by Thaddeus M. Baklinski. LA Times, Feb. 8, 2008. Adapted from a report in LifeSiteNews.com
Related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Even Pro-Abortion Senator Wants this Abortion Doc’s Licence Suspended
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05122005.html
Prominent Abortionist Pleads Guilty to Child Porn – Many Abortionists Involved in Sexual Abuse
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07113003.html
California Abortion Doc Convicted of Sexual Abuse Continues to Practice
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110111.html