A Pennsylvania abortionist who repeatedly has been in trouble with the law continues to operate four abortion clinics even though the state health department ordered them to be closed, according to the pro-life Operation Rescue.
"It's bizarre," Operation Rescue President Troy Newman told WND shortly after his report was posted. "We talk about a double standard: GOP-Democrat, conservative-liberal, Christians-non-Christians, but it's never been more apparent than when you see the double standard in the abortion industry."
The abortionist is Steven Chase Brigham, who has operated abortion businesses in Allentown, Erie, Pittsburgh and State College, as well as in other states.
A document from the state health department dated July 7 stated there was evidence of a "reckless and careless attitude toward those whom they have served and seek to continue to serve."
The determination from Robert Torres, deputy secretary for administration of the state agency, said the abortionist and his corporation, already operating under a settlement agreement for earlier problems, allegedly repeatedly and intentionally hired unlicensed abortionists and workers in violation of state law.
The report said Brigham surrendered his medical license in the state in 1992.
But Operation Rescue reports the businesses "have indeed snubbed the health-department order and remain open and taking patients – a move that could endanger the safety of women."
"Brigham isn't the only abortionist who maintains the practice of hiring unlicensed workers. Based on our research into the shoddy practices of the abortion cartel, few of them actually have the proper staffing with the proper credentials. The practice is epidemic and puts the lives of women in grave danger," Newman said.
"Brigham is just one who has been caught," he said.
A WND telephone call to a listed number for one of the Brigham enterprises today got a message that the line had been disconnected. But Newman said Brigham has made a practice of transferring assets among various shell companies. Local reports document he has held companies called Peaceful Corp., Goodness Inc. and Kindness Corp.
An attendant answered a telephone number for another location, American Women's Services, reportedly one of Brigham's corporate entities, and offered to direct a caller to the company's services. But she disconnected as soon as a reporter identified himself.
The report said Brigham had transferred ownership of the clinics to an elderly woman in Ohio to avoid the closure order. However, Torres ruled any transfer of permission to run the abortion clinics "would be void."
According to a report in the Philadelaphia newspaper, Brigham also is facing the loss of the rest of his chain of 15 abortion businesses because of tax troubles, even as his defense lawyer, Julie Gabis, told the newspaper that the closure order would be appealed.
But the article documented that Brigham's "legal scrapes" go back as far as 1989. While he at one point was licensed in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, California, Florida and Georgia, he lost his documentation in Pennsylvania in 1992, New York in 1994 for "gross negligence" and "inexcusably bad judgment" and Florida shortly later. He let his licenses in Georgia and Florida lapse.
The state's report said Brigham faces an IRS lien of more than $230,000 for failing to submit payroll taxes from 2002 to 2006.
Operation Rescue reported Brigham also served 120 days in jail in 1998 for fraud.
Even the National Abortion Federation issued a statement agreeing with the Pennsylvania order to close Brigham's clinics, the report documented.
"When the (Federation) won't have you, you know it's bad, since the (Federation) runs some of the nastiest, most dangerous abortion clinics in the country," Newman said.
Operation Rescue's national headquarters are housed in a building that once served as a Federation-approved abortion clinic, and the activist organization documented both filth and unsafe conditions when it took over the building.
Contact: Bob Unruh
Source: WorldNetDaily
Date Published: July 23, 2010