Atlantic City rally tries to stop sale of abortion clinic

pressofatlanticcity.com ^ | Tuesday, July 17, 2007 | MICHAEL CLARK

[monomaniac]

ATLANTIC CITY — A troubled doctor’s expected purchase of a shuttered city abortion clinic has raised the ire of anti-abortion activists, who picketed in front of the facility Monday afternoon, demanding the state not approve the deal.

Signs insisting the state block any sale of the clinic to Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, whose incidents of botched abortions and unorthodox methods led to the termination of his license in New York and Florida, lined the sidewalk in front of the Pacific Avenue clinic.

“Our main focus is to block this Brigham sale,” said Chris Slattery, president of Expectant Mother Care, a New York-based group with pregnancy centers in New Jersey. “He has clearly shown a contempt for women’s health.”

Brigham recently told The Press of Atlantic City he had planned to buy the financially strapped clinic shortly before state officials closed the facility June 22 for health violations. Despite not sending an application to the state, which would have to approve any deal, Brigham already had begun paying the clinic’s employees and performing abortions on Alternatives patients.

Brigham, who could not be reached for comment Monday, has said the negotiations are at a standstill until the clinic’s violations are corrected and the facility is reopened. Dr. Alan Kline, a retired abortion doctor with a clinic in Princeton, is Alternatives’ owner of record and has denied through his spokeswoman rumors of the facility’s sale.

Tom Slater, a spokesman for the state health department, would not comment on the possible change in ownership because the agency had not received any application. When asked if Brigham’s past problems in other states would have a bearing on the state’s decision, Slater would only say,“When we receive any application, everything is taken into account.” Brigham’s dealings with Kline regarding the sale of the resort clinic are not his first.

Kline, who has been unreachable since the clinic’s closing, was appointed by the state to monitor Brigham’s work shortly after the state’s 1994 decision to restrict Brigham from conducting second-trimester abortions. The restriction followed several allegations of gross negligence in New Jersey, along with the former New York charges that led to the termination of his license in New York and Florida.

The restrictions in New Jersey did not last long, partly because of an endorsement from Kline. According to an administrative law decision obtained by The Press, the restrictions were overturned in 1996, dismissing the New York charges on a technicality and upholding only a minor charge concerning misleading advertising.

Included in the decision was Kline’s report praising Brigham, describing the 50-year-old doctor as a physician eager to abide by the law and “improve in any way possible as a physician and as a provider.”

“Dr. Brigham’s total practice is within generally accepted standards of care,” wrote Kline, who said his monitoring went far beyond the state’s required chart review. “I view my role as the ‘eyes and ears of the Board.’ In that capacity, I feel the Board needs to have very little concern over Dr. Brigham.”

But Kline’s past assurances did little to comfort the activists outside Alternatives Monday.

One sign urged the state not only to block any possible sale of the clinic, but to “kick (Brigham) out of the state.” Others simply referred to him as a “quack doc.”

“His history speaks for itself,” Slattery said, shortly before leading the protesting group in a prayer. “He’s a disaster to women.”

To e-mail Michael Clark at The Press:

Michael.Clark@pressofac.com

[metmom]

ping

[madprof98]

“Dr. Brigham’s total practice is within generally accepted standards of care,” . . .

Care???