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An explosive article on the front page of today’s Norfolk Virginian Pilot rips the cover off a Virginia Beach abortion center owned by a New Jersey doctor under investigation for a host of questionable activities. The article also reveals that doctors associated with the clinic also are on staff at Planned Parenthood centers in Virginia. The story is more evidence of the need for abortion center regulation in Virginia.

The Family Foundation has informed legislators, media and the public about Dr. Steven Brigham’s ties to Virginia for some time now, and reminded lawmakers last month during the General Assembly debate over abortion center regulations, which eventually passed on a historic 21-20 Senate vote. Brigham lost his license to practice medicine in New Jersey recently for beginning second and third trimester abortions in that state and then transporting the patients to his Maryland facility to complete the procedure, but his history of unethical behavior dates back at least to the early-90s.

According to NJ.com:

On Aug. 13 [2010], three women seeking second-trimester abortions followed physician Steven Brigham from his Camden County office to a Maryland clinic he owns, according to claims by the attorney general’s office. They were wracked with contractions as they traveled because Brigham had given them labor-inducing drugs a day or two earlier, the state said. In Maryland, the women met another doctor, who performed their procedures. One of the women, 18, needed emergency surgery at a hospital to treat a lacerated bowel and uterus.

Family Foundation research found that Brigham’s Virginia abortion centers (Virginia Beach and Fairfax) advertised similar options on its websites, stating that they would begin the procedure in the Virginia clinics and then transport the patients to other states “for the completion of the procedure.” Virginia requires second and third trimester abortions to be done in hospitals for the health and safety of the women involved.

Another op-ed on abortion center regulations by Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb, in Tuesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, tells some of the story. She also published an op-ed on this issue in the Roanoke Times a few days earlier.

Today’s Pilot article goes deeper, connecting doctors who worked at Brigham’s Virginia Beach facilities with Planned Parenthood. Our research found that one, Dr. David Peters, lists his business address as one of Planned Parenthood’s Richmond abortion centers. In the New Jersey incident, Planned Parenthood attempted to distance itself from Brigham. A spokesperson said it “had nothing to do with” Brigham. In Virginia, nothing could be further from the truth.

Peters defends the Brigham clinic in today’s article, even denying that the clinic does what its website advertises. He does admit, however, that instead of referring women to a hospital for a second or third trimester abortion, as required by law for safety reasons, Brigham’s abortion centers refer them to other states to avoid hospitals. Either way, it’s clear that the health and safety of patients isn’t paramount.

Another doctor the article named as working for Brigham in Virginia has a long history of restrictions on, and suspensions of, his license to practice medicine in Virginia, yet presently holds a current and active Virginia license. The article only touches on the mistakes made by Dr. Craig Cropp, but our research found at least 22 separate incidents since 1998 where he put the life of patients in jeopardy, from breaking instruments and losing pieces inside a woman’s abdominal cavity, to misdiagnosing ectopic pregnancies, to perforating a woman’s uterus (and blaming that one on his bifocals). Incredibly, Dr. Cropp still is licensed to practice medicine here and splits his time between Brigham’s two Virginia abortion centers.

Unfortunately, the Commonwealth of Virginia cannot revoke Dr. Brigham’s license to practice medicine in Virginia because he doesn’t have a medical license in Virginia. In fact, without the New Jersey story and subsequent research by The Family Foundation, it is unlikely anyone would know about Dr. Brigham’s Virginia abortion centers because the Commonwealth does not currently regulate or inspect abortion centers. Today’s Virginian-Pilot article is the first investigative piece in the Virginia media since the New Jersey story broke in the fall.

The abortion industry claims abortion is a safe procedure in no need of oversight. Today’s story about Dr. Brigham and his abortion centers is just one example of why abortion center safety regulations are desperately needed in Virginia. While Planned Parenthood, NARAL and their allies in the legislature claimed during debate that their centers are safe, they knew that Dr. Brigham was operating in Virginia. Your head has to be buried pretty deep in the sand to believe anything Planned Parenthood has to say about the safety of abortion after today’s shocking article.

Today, the Roanoke Times published an op-ed by Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb that addresses the myths pro-abortion activists and some in the media have propagated about the abortion center regulation bill recently passed by the General Assembly. Herewith, an excerpt of the op-ed. The entire column can be read by clicking here.

First, the myth that abortion centers will now have to meet the same regulatory standards as general hospitals is simply untrue. Abortion centers will not necessarily be subject to the licensing requirements or the construction standards of general hospitals.

In Virginia, there are numerous categories of “hospitals,” including general (or inpatient), psychiatric, rehabilitation, outpatient surgical and others. Outpatient surgical centers, for example, are a category of hospital, but are not subject to the same regulations as general hospitals.

Similarly, abortion centers will now be subject to regulations specifically tailored to that procedure.

Second, the myth that regulations are automatically unconstitutional is inaccurate. In fact, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in which Virginia resides, upheld South Carolina abortion center regulations in Greenville Women’s Clinic v. Bryant.

Regulations there include licensing requirements, staffing rules, specific drug and equipment availability, safety and emergency policies and sanitation procedures, none of which are currently applied to Virginia’s abortion centers.

Third, the myth that the new law will limit abortion access is fallacious. Until 1984, Virginia did regulate abortion centers and, based on the increasing number of abortions at that time, the industry did not suffer.

In addition, considering that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest private provider of abortion and owner of several Virginia abortion centers, is a $1 billion organization that profited almost $100 million in its last annual report, one would think it could prioritize women’s health and spend some of that money on safety and less on political activity.

Finally, the myth that abortion centers are currently regulated is misleading. Abortion centers in Virginia are viewed by the state as physician’s offices, which is essentially meaningless in that the state does not inspect or license those offices.

The only standard of care in Virginia requires that abortions done in the first trimester be performed by a licensed physician, but the facilities themselves are not required to meet standards. Currently, doctors’ offices in Virginia, and thus abortion centers, do not meet any state-imposed standards of cleanliness, inspections or requirements for life-saving equipment on premises.

Abortion center safety has received increased attention recently due to two unrelated events: a botched abortion originating with New Jersey-based Dr. Steven Brigham and a horror shop abortion center in Philadelphia.

Pro-abortion advocates look at these examples and say, “Tell us of something in Virginia and then maybe we’ll listen.” The fact is that Brigham, who lost his license because he started late-term abortions at his New Jersey clinics and then drove the patients to Maryland to complete them, owns two abortion centers in Virginia and has no Virginia medical license. (He also is not licensed in Maryland.)

Additionally, Brigham’s two Virginia abortion center websites, until exposed by The Family Foundation last month, offered the following surgical abortion procedure: “Surgical abortion patients who are between 14 and 24 weeks pregnant will be referred to our Cheverly [Md.] location after their first appointment for the completion of their procedure.”

For years pro-life Virginians have tried to convince the General Assembly that abortion centers need to be regulated for the sake of the safety of the women who unfortunately decide to end their pregnancies. The fact that the Virginia Senate, in particular, has refused to let regulation bills out of committee has proven that they aren’t serious about the so-called “safe, legal and rare” policy.

However today, on the House floor, Delegate Kathy Byron (R-22, Lynchburg) was successful in amending SB 924, a bill that requires the Board of Health to promulgate regulations containing minimum standards for certain medical facilities, to include abortion centers! A pro-abortion delegate challenged the germaneness of the amendment, but after consulting with his parliamentarian, House Speaker Bill Howell (R-28, Stafford) ruled that the inclusion of abortion centers was germane because it was in the class of medical facilities enumerated in the bill and did not change the definition of the bill. After a brief debate, the amendment passed 63-34, then the bill itself passed 67-32. 

Because it is a Senate bill amended by the House, the full Senate must vote on it again in the next day or two! Finally, we will have a historic vote on regulating abortion centers in Virginia! Please contact your senator immediately and urge him or her to vote for the amended version of SB 924!   

Abortion center safety has received increased attention recently due to two unrelated events: a botched abortion originating with New Jersey-based Dr. Steven Brigham and a “horror shop” abortion center in Philadelphia. Pro-abortion advocates look at these examples and say, “Tell us of something in Virginia and then maybe we’ll listen.” The fact is that Dr. Brigham, who lost his license because he started late term abortions at his New Jersey centers and then transferred patients to Maryland to complete them, owns two abortion centers in Virginia and has no Virginia medical license. (He is not licensed in Maryland, either.)

Additionally, Dr. Brigham’s two Virginia abortion center Web sites offer the following surgical abortion procedure:

Surgical abortion patients who are between 14 and 24 weeks pregnant will be referred to our Cheverly [MD] location after their first appointment for the completion of their procedure.

Abortions after 13 weeks in Virginia must be done in a hospital, not a clinic. It is not clear whether these two Virginia abortion centers are beginning illegal abortions or if a doctor at these two centers is practicing in Virginia without a license. We were able to locate Dr. Brigham’s centers in Virginia  only because of the tragic situation in New Jersey.

Sadly, without the tragic medical emergency in New Jersey that led to his discovery, Virginians would never know about Dr. Brigham. Of course, we still don’t know as much as we should because his abortion centers, and those of Planned Parenthood and every other abortionist, are neither inspected nor reviewed. Currently, the only way for the state to find out if there is a problem in an abortion center is if a woman who had an abortion files a complaint with the state — violating her right to privacy and opening herself up to publicity.

Virginia once responsibly regulated abortion centers with regulations upheld by the federal courts as constitutional. Years ago, we unilaterally suspended them. Now, after decades, the full Senate will have a historic vote as to whether the Board of Health must develop new ones. Please don’t let this opportunity pass. Help us create history this session with a landmark Senate pro-life vote. Ask your senator now to vote for SB 924 as amended, as it will come up in the next day or two.

Contact your senator by e-mail.

Contact your senator by phone.

Learn who your senator is.

They are not “clinics” as they are commonly called. Clinics are places you go to get well. Rather, they are abortion centers. Women do not get well at a Planned Parenthood abortion center. In fact, in Virginia, a woman’s health may be in danger at an abortion center, as the commonwealth enforces no safety regulations at such facilities. Recent news out of New Jersey and Maryland confirm the danger women face in these unregulated abortion centers.

On Wednesday, New Jersey suspended Dr. Steven Brigham’s medical license. Dr. Brigham is an abortionist who owns American Women’s Services Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, but also operates abortion centers in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Dr. Brigham’s manipulation of the system recently came to light (resulting in the suspension of his license) when the uterus and small intestine of one of his clients ruptured during an abortion.

This isn’t the first time Dr. Brigham’s license has been suspended or revoked. He was cited in two botched abortions in New York — resulting in the revocation of his New York license — and has shady standing in other states.

It was Dr. Brigham’s routine to begin third trimester abortions in New Jersey (where third trimester abortions must be done in a hospital) and then caravan with his clients to Maryland (where they can be done in so-called “clinics”) where he finished the procedure. In New Jersey, Dr. Brigham had no hospital admitting privileges, no OB/GYN training, and no medical permission to perform third trimester abortions (hence the get-away to Maryland).

However, Dr. Brigham was barred from practicing medicine in Maryland as the result of another botched procedure in the mid-1990s. But never mind about that. It wasn’t going to stop him. He simply listed George Shepard, Jr., an 88-year-old disabled physician, as the physician of record to cover for his proceedings in Maryland — a move that is a felony under Maryland law.

Dr. Brigham rationalized his actions, stating that he believed Dr. Shepard was in the office at the time of the abortions. However, Dr. Shepard suffered a stroke some time ago, leaving him incapable of assisting in case of an emergency during Dr. Brigham’s risky third trimester abortions. Medically responsible? Not at all.

According to records, Dr. Brigham’s clients were not even aware that they would have to travel to Maryland for the completion of their abortions. The abortion industry has proven to be quite profitable for people who, like Dr. Brigham, routinely perform abortions, which likely explains his “creativity.”

Is Dr. Brigham the only disreputable abortionist operating in Virginia and neighboring states? It’s hard to tell. However, since abortion center reporting and inspections are not required here, unlike at other surgical facilities, it’s virtually impossible to know for sure.

If Dr. Brigham had caravanned to Virginia instead of Maryland on this particular occasion, the chances that his client’s complications would have been linked to a botched abortion are slim to none. Additionally, no emergency equipment (defibrillator, hemorrhage equipment, etc.) is required at Virginia abortion centers and therefore a Virginia facility may not have had the ability to even save the woman’s life.

The health and safety of women demands the arraignment of men like Steven Brigham. Virginians must demand a higher level of professionalism and medical aptitude from abortion providers and facilities. To address this critical issue, The Family Foundation will continue to advocate for increased safety and regulation of abortion centers in Virginia in future General Assembly sessions.