Troubled Practitioner Banned From Doing Abortions in Utah

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 24, 2011   |   11:21AM   |   Salt Lake City, UT

Troubled abortion practitioner Nicola Riley, who has been prohibited from gaining a medical license to do abortions in other states, has been banned from doing them in Utah after pro-life advocates exposed her record.

Nicola Irene Riley voluntarily surrendered her Wyoming medical license last month after investigators from the Wyoming Board of Medicine found her covering up her criminal record. Now, Riley, has entered into a stipulation agreement with the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) banning her from doing abortions in Utah until a final order has been issued in the State of Maryland concerning disciplinary action filed against her there.

As a result, Riley is not allowed to do abortions in any state in the U.S., thanks to the pressured applied by the pro-life group Operation Rescue.

“It is a relief to know that Riley has been banned from committing abortions at this time, but we are disappointed that Utah did not take stronger action against her,” OR president Troy Newman told LifeNews. “Documents we have provided them prove beyond any doubt that Riley participated in an illegal late-term abortion scheme that landed one woman in the hospital with life threatening injuries, and cost the lives of viable babies that laws in two states were enacted to protect. There is also no doubt that records show Riley lied to gain medical licensure in three states. That alone is an act of unprofessional conduct that qualifies her for license revocation.”

Mark Stenagel, head of Utah’s DOPL, revealed the stipulation agreement, which was entered in March, 2011, during a news interview about Riley’s troubles. A search of Riley’s Utah license reveals no disciplinary action has been taken against her.

“There has no way for the public to know of any of Riley’s laundry list of troubles looking at her Utah license online. In fact, it shows that no disciplinary action has been taken against her. That misleads potential patients into thinking she has a clear record, but in fact, she has been labeled a danger to the public in one state, and not fit to practice in another. It is wrong to keep this information from the public,” said Newman. “If Riley is a danger to the public in Maryland, then she is a danger to the public everywhere, and to treat her as anything less is to continue to put lives at risk.”

Riley has admitted under questioning that she did not tell the truth about her actual involvement in a credit card and identity theft ring while serving in the U.S. Army in Ft. Carson, Colorado in 1991.

Riley attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but records indicate she pled “no contest” to not reporting credit card fraud perpetrated by soldiers under her command. She was sentenced to serve one year at the Ft. Leavenworth military prison after which she received a dishonorable discharge from the Army. Later, Riley eventually returned to school and obtained a medical degree from the University of Utah in 2002.

Riley also made headlines when her Maryland license was suspended in September, 2010, due to her involvement in a severely botched illegal late-term abortion with abortion practitioner Steven Chase Brigham at a late-term abortion clinic in Elkton, Maryland. Police raided the facility and discovered the bodies of 35 aborted babies, prompting a murder investigation that remains ongoing.

Brigham, who is not licensed to practice in Maryland, would start the late-term abortions illegally at his Voorhees, New Jersey clinic, then lead a caravan of women in the throes of labor to his unlisted office in Elkton, Maryland, where he or Riley would complete the abortions. The operation amounted to an illegal late-term abortion racket and was only discovered after a botched abortion forced one woman to be airlifted to Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore for emergency surgery to save her life.

The Maryland Board of Physicians later formally charged Riley with counts related to the illegal late-term abortion ring, and with lying to gain licensing in that state. Maryland documents indicated that their investigation shows she also lied to gain admittance to medical school and to obtain a medical license in Utah.

Meanwhile, the pro-life group has learned that state officials in Virginia also denied a license application from Riley based on her open disciplinary case in Maryland, where she could eventually face criminal charges.