Md. health officials order 2 abortion doctors to stop procedures after woman injured

2 abortion Drs. ordered to stop after Md. injury

BALTIMORE — Maryland health officials have ordered two doctors to stop performing abortions after a woman was critically injured during a procedure last month.

The state Board of Physicians ordered Dr. Steven Brigham to stop practicing medicine without a license in Maryland and suspended the license of Dr. Nicola Riley. Police raided one of Brigham’s offices in Elkton looking for medical records, and found dozens of late-term fetuses in a freezer at a clinic.

Riley and Brigham brought an injured 18-year-old woman in a personal vehicle to Union Hospital in Elkton after a failed abortion Aug. 13, according to the board’s orders. The woman was then taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where she was found to have a uterine perforation.

A Hopkins doctor filed a complaint against Riley, and along with a general surgeon, repaired the injuries to the woman.

Brigham owns American Women’s Services, which has offices in several states.

The 18-year-old woman initially went to an American Women’s Services office in New Jersey and met with Brigham on Aug. 12, according to the order. She returned the next day and was given pills to induce contractions, and told to drive 60 miles to the Elkton facility where the abortion would be performed.

Several days later, the Elkton police department, acting on a warrant for the woman’s medical record, found a freezer with about 35 late-term fetuses. Elkton police didn’t immediately return a telephone message Friday night.

Brigham is licensed in New Jersey, but not Maryland. Riley has a license in Maryland, but “poses a threat to her patients’ safety and well-being and thereby represents a danger to the public,” according to the board’s order.

The board said Riley lives in Utah and flew to Maryland to work at the clinic.

A third doctor, George Shepard Jr., also had his license suspended. He ordered medications for AWS’ Maryland facilities and knowingly took part in an arrangement in which abortions started in one state and patients were told to drive across state lines for completion of the procedure, the board said.

Voicemails left with Riley at her office in Utah and Brigham’s office in New Jersey were not immediately returned Friday night. A message left for Shepard’s lawyer was not immediately returned.