Monday April 27, 2009
Illegal Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Sentenced to 6 Years, 9 Months Prison
SAN DIEGO, April 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Abortionist Bertha Bugarin was sentenced in San Diego County on Friday to 6 years, 8 months on nine felony counts of committing abortions without a medical license. Judge Charles Gill ordered that Bugarin's sentence run concurrently with a sentence she is currently serving on similar charges in Los Angeles.
Bugarin once ran the second largest abortion chain in California, operating eleven abortion mills in the 1990s. She was known to hire abortionists who were sex offenders, substance abusers, unlicensed, and professionally incompetent. Bugarin herself had no medical training
By the time of her arrest last June, nine women had come forward with stories of botched abortions received at Bugarin's hand. Many suffered from incomplete abortions and were forced to return to have their abortions done again. One woman was hospitalized three times, and birthed a live baby that died three hours later.
"Bugarin's sentence was less than we had hoped, given the number of felonies, and the seriousness of her crimes," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger about the case. "Each time Bugarin committed an abortion, she knowingly risked the lives of the women she victimized."
"Bugarin was a cold-hearted predator who was unconcerned with the law or women's lives. All that mattered to her was making money. Putting her in jail was the only way she was ever going to stop. Thank God she is behind bars where she belongs."
Bugarin appeared in court in shackles, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit. She made no statement of her own, but Bugarin's attorney asked for leniency and tried to minimize the harm done by Bugarin to her victims.
Operation Rescue began to expose problems at her shoddy abortion mills in 1999. In 2000, her medical director, Nicholas Braemer, lost his medical license and five of her clinics soon closed. In the next few years, several other abortionists who worked for Bugarin lost their medical licenses, or were exposed for operating illegally.
"It is hard to fully describe the horrific nature of Bugarin's abortion business. To call it a 'shop of horrors' is no overstatement," said Sullenger. "We pray for Bugarin's repentance and salvation during her extended stay in prison, and that she makes sincere efforts to amend her life."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion Empire Collapses As Abortionist Pleads Guilty To 9 Felonies
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08120802.html
Abortion Clinic Owner who Posed as Doctor Jailed for Botched Abortions
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062303.html