Abortion "Doctor" in Florida Arrested and Jailed for Avoiding Criminal Trial

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 23, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion "Doctor" in Florida Arrested and Jailed for Avoiding Criminal Trial

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 23
, 2010

Orlando, FL (LifeNews.com) — An abortion practitioner in Florida has been arrested and jailed after pro-life advocates tipped off police about his whereabouts. Police surrounded the Orlando Women’s Center abortion business last night and arrested Randall Whitney on an open arrest warrant for failure to appear at his criminal trial on September 7.

Whitney was also charged with resisting a police officer and is currently held in the Orlando Jail without bond.

Whitney was initially arrested and charged in March with felony assault on a pregnant woman after he slapped an abortion patient who complained when he repeatedly failed to properly administer an injection into her arm.

The pro-life group Operation Rescue informed LifeNews.com today that, after Whitney failed to appear at his felony criminal trial and an arrest warrant issued, pro-life advocates who have frequently helped women outside the Orlando Women’s Center business noticed Whitney began sleeping in his vehicle to avoid police.

They notified police and, upon his arrest, eyewitnesses said Whitney threatened pro-life advocates and told them they would "be sorry" for notifying the police of his whereabouts.

Whitney has faced license suspension and probation in the past and has been accused of doing abortions beyond the state limits Florida has on the books. He has been accused of improperly using ultrasound to determine fetal age and doing abortions at that point.

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman says Whitney closed his abortion center rather than comply with state laws and requirements. He then took over doing abortions from James Pendergraft, who runs the Orlando Women’s Center and had his medical license suspended for a fourth time for botched abortions, illegal late-term abortions, and dispensing drugs without a license.

Michele Herzog, the director of Orlando’s Pro-life Action Ministries, says Whitney is doing about 75 percent of the abortions at OWC.

"We will be forwarding documents to the Florida Medical Board today asking for the emergency suspension of Whitney’s license based on unprofessional conduct and criminal activity," Newman said.

Newman says he is not surprised by Whitney’s actions since it follows a pattern of problems of other abortion practitioners.

"The dirty truth about the unseemly side of the abortion industry is being exposed like never before and abortionists are finally beginning to be brought to justice after years of abortion abuses," he told LifeNews.com today. "Whitney is by far no exception, but rather the rule when it comes to abortionists who are operating outside the law. Illegal activity by abortionists is systemic in the industry and that places lives at risk."

Whitney’s arrest follows recent news of abortionists nationwide in trouble with the law, including the conviction and jailing two weeks ago of Massachusetts abortionist Rapin Osathanondh on a charge of manslaughter in the abortion death of Laura Hope Smith.

Medical licenses of four other abortionists were suspended this month in Maryland and New Jersey on charges ranging from wrongful death, illegal late-term abortions, and aiding and abetting the unlicensed practice of medicine.

 

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