Women Victimized by British Abortion Practitioner Upset by Ruling

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 10, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Women Victimized by British Abortion Practitioner Upset by Ruling Email this article
Printer friendly page

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 10, 2005

London, England (LifeNews.com) — Women who say they were victims of sexual harassment by a British abortion practitioner are upset by a ruling that will allow them to testify against him but prevent them from sitting in the audience during the trial.

Andrew Gbinigie of Tanglewood faces a General Medical Council hearing on his medical performance on Monday. But the women who say he victimized them won’t be able to watch it.

Under GMC rules, hearings on complaints filed prior to last November are held in private, though the council has adopted new rules allowing more recent cases to be open to the public.

Thirty-five women have brought complaints against the abortion practitioner and the GMC will allow 15 of them to testify. But Nicki Evans Young told the Trinity Mirror newspaper that the inability to attend the hearings is a slap in the face.

"A group of 35 women have waited two and a half years for this case and we are angry that because of a date, we cannot hear all the evidence," the mother of five said.

"We want to ensure it is not a whitewash — and what better way than to have it all in public, so everything can be reported and open," she said.

Young told the newspaper that Gbinigie, trained in Nigeria, "has had a traumatic effect on so many women and they should be given the chance to see justice done."

Young became pregnant after Gbinigie, 47, failed to properly sterilize her and she was eventually awarded a settlement by Dudley Group of Hospitals, Gbinigie’s employer. The hospital group admitted liability.

Gbinigie was found guilty of professional misconduct at a General Medical Council hearing last year regarding a botched abortion. He pulled out a woman’s ovary and part of her bowel during a November 2000 abortion in Birmingham, England.

However, the GNC believed the incident to be an isolated case and allowed Gbinigie to continue performing abortions.

Gbinigie was also found guilty of sexually harassing two female employees at the city’s Calthorpe Clinic. However, when more women came forward with accusations of harassment, the GNC called another hearing.