Abortion Practitioner Will Soon Get Trial on Murder, Rape Charges

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 10, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion Practitioner Will Soon Get Trial on Murder, Rape Charges Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 10
, 2007

Laurel, MS (LifeNews.com) — A Mississippi abortion practitioner who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his wife 10 years ago and raped a patient five years before that will eventually be put on trial. Prosecutors say they are trying to get a trial date for Malachy DeHenre, the 56 year-old man who lost his medical license over botched abortions.

Assistant District Attorney Ronald Parrish told AP on Wednesday that he hoped to get a trial date set for the next couple of weeks.

Six years ago a jury failed to convict DeHenre in the shooting death of his wife Dr. Nyasha DeHenre. A gunshot to the head while she was in the couple’s home resulted in her death. DeHenre was re-indicted on the charges, arrested last month and ordered held without bond.

Local authorities have filed new indictments in the case saying they have more evidence to prove DeHenre’s guilt. They also filed a second charge accusing the abortion practitioner of raping a patient in March 1992.

Last month, DeHenre attorney David Ratcliff said the former abortion practitioner is not a flight risk but Parrish opposed bond because both charges carry life sentences and because he is not a citizen of the United States. He is from Nigeria but has applied for citizenship.

DeHenre’s New Woman Medical Center abortion facility in Jackson closed last year and he was required, in December 2005 to pay substantial damages to a woman who was injured in a failed abortion in 2003.

Circuit Judge Winston Kidd awarded Latosha Travis $500,000 in damages after the abortion center failed to respond to her lawsuit. DeHenre and the abortion business were defendants in the suit.

In March 2005, the Mississippi state medial board suspended his medical license over botched abortions.

The suspension came after he testified that he did not like performing some 35,000 abortions but did so because he needed the work.

During his testimony, Dehenre stated, "I found work in Jackson, and it happened to be an abortion clinic in which an obstetrician was needed. I needed money to pay expenses and education for my children. It was supposed to be temporary, but it turned out to be longer. I was in a position I didn’t want to be in, but I needed work."

“I ask your forgiveness,” he said at the time. "I don’t want to be an outcast. I want to be among the medical community."

Medical boards in Alabama and New York have also suspended his medical licenses in those states.

In one Alabama case, a woman died 18 hours after having an abortion. The women involved in three other cases had to have hysterectomies to stop massive hemorrhaging from uterine perforations, including Travis.

Travis, who was 20 years old at the time and living in Jackson, paid DeHenre $680 for the abortion, the lawsuit said. She had at least one child already and though she planned to have more children in the future, she was devastated to have the hysterectomy because of the failed abortion.

In the case involving a death, DeHenre admitted he should have met the patient at the hospital or relayed medical information to the doctor who treated her.

Related web sites:
Pro-Life Mississippi – https://www.prolifemississippi.org