British Abortion Practitioner Jailed for Four Years in Sexual Harassment Cases 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 27, 2006
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A British doctor who sometimes did abortions is headed to jail on a four year prison term after being convicted on multiple counts of sexually harassing his patients. Benjamin Deodhar a 63 year-old physician born in India had been practicing medicine in Grimsby, England since 1990.
Deodhar was accused of sexually harassing six patients from a period between September 1991 and December 2004.
Six women accused Deodhar of sexual indecency including one who said he gave her perfume and kissed her, another who got comments about her shapely figure and was asked "Did you enjoy that?" after a very personal examination.
Deodhar pleaded innocent to the charges but was found guilty of indecently assaulting three women and sexually assaulting the patient he kissed, according to a London Daily Mail news report.
"On any view it is the gravest breach of the trust which should, indeed must, exist between doctor and patient," Judge Simon Lawler told him after the verdict. "Each of these women have shown great fortitude and courage in coming forward."
In one case of a 41 year-old woman who came to him for an abortion, Deodhar rubbed and fondled her breasts during an examination. The woman testified that he drove to her home to talk to her a few days later.
She said he also acted physically inappropriately during the abortion and avoided talking to him when he came to her house.
The General Medical Council suspended Deodhar’s medical license until June 2007 and he was placed on a register listing sex offenders, according to the London paper.
Deodhar’s situation is not unique as other abortion practitioners have been convicted of sexually assaulting patients.
British abortion practitioner Andrew Gbinigie nearly killed a woman in a botched abortion and was the subject of charges of sexual harassment from 35 women has been unable to find a job since multiple hearings were held on the cases.
California abortion practitioner Laurence Reich has had two separate criminal convictions for molesting women during physical exams. Reich has agreed to give up his medical license.
Michigan abortion practitioner Rodolfo Finkelstein fled the country last year after he was charged with sexually abusing women on whom he performed abortions. After failing to appear in court, a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Finkelstein, who faces two counts of first degree criminal sexual assault which could earn him a life term in prison.
A Houston Planned Parenthood forced an abortion practitioner to resign in October 2004 after he sexually harassed a patient.
In February 2004, abortion practitioner Ronald Stevenson, of Oregon, was convicted on two counts of inappropriately touching or kissing a patient.
