Abortion

Rogue Abortion Provider’s Medical License Could Be Permanently Revoked

If the decision is upheld by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, Brigham will no longer have any valid credentials to practice medicine in the United States. This would also force Brigham to close eight abortion clinics that he operates in New Jersey.

Steven Brigham no longer has any valid credentials to practice medicine in the United States. Cecil Whig / YouTube

Read more of Rewire‘s articles on Steven Brigham here.

Rogue abortion provider Dr. Steven C. Brigham may permanently lose his ability to legally practice medicine after a New Jersey judge recommended a permanent revocation of his medical privileges.

Brigham has a troubling past, and has been under investigation by state authorities for medical practices that have pushed the boundaries of ethics and the law.

If the decision is upheld by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, Brigham will no longer have any valid credentials to practice medicine in the United States. This would also force Brigham to close eight abortion clinics that he operates in New Jersey.

Brigham operates American Women’s Services, which list offices in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in addition to the offices in New Jersey. Since the 1990s, Brigham has operated a dangerous practice, despite repeated complaints to authorities from reputable providers over the course of several years.

In August 2010, an 18-year-old patient was left with major internal injuries after what was supposed to have been a routine surgical abortion performed by a Brigham-affiliated clinic. The doctor who performed the emergency surgery on her at a Baltimore hospital contacted the authorities, leading to a raid of the clinic by law enforcement, who found fetal remains in freezers.

Brigham’s medical privileges were suspended in 2010 when the Board of Medical Examiners found that “his continued practice presents a clear and imminent danger.”

In November 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Bureau of Facility Licensure and Certification issued an order against Philadelphia reproductive health clinic Integrity Family Health for failing to disclose an affiliation with American Women’s Services.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that in the 86-page decision, Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin wrote that Brigham’s “past conduct is troubling.”

“He has suffered license revocations. He has run afoul of the licensing authorities in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. He has a conviction for failure to file income taxes. And here, he has demonstrated a willingness to play fast and loose with the law in Maryland,” Masin wrote.

The decision comes after Masin heard evidence last year from New Jersey prosecutors showing that Brigham used a dangerous scheme in which he would begin abortions in New Jersey and then transfer patients to Maryland to complete the procedure.

Brigham would induce fetal death in his Voorhees clinic and would then surgically removed the fetuses at a clandestine clinic in Elkton, Maryland.