Abortion Center Owner in California Pleads Not Guilty to Unlicensed Abortions
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 11, 2008
San Diego, CA (LifeNews.com) — The owner of a chain of abortion centers in California pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of pretending to be a physician and doing abortions without a license. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, also faces charges of giving women the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone without having a medical license.
This is the second set of charges she faces after having initially been charged on the same counts in Los Angeles as well.
On the Los Angeles charges, the pair face 10 years in prison if convicted and they face nine years in jail on the charges in San Diego if found guilty.
According to 10 News, a San Diego television station, Superior Court Judge David Szumowski allowed Bertha Bugarin to remain free on a $500,000 bail.
He scheduled a conference with prosecutors and Bugarin’s attorney for October 1 and set a date for the preliminary hearing on October 14.
Prosecutors have found at least nine women who have said Bugarin did abortions on them and one of the women had to be hospitalized three times because of complications from the failed abortion. She eventually gave birth prematurely and the baby died three hours later.
Another woman had to return to the abortion center a second time because Bugarin allegedly botched the first attempt at doing the abortion.
After learning of the unlicensed abortions, officials arrested Bugarin.
Bugarin operates several abortion businesses in the southern California area operating under the name Clinica Medica Para La Mujer De Hoy.
As LifeNews.com reported earlier this month, the Chula Vista office has been closed by state officials.
According to the pro-life group Operation Rescue, which has closely monitored the situation, abortion practitioner Nolan Jones, who has his own problems with state medical authorities with numerous cases of Medical Board disciplinary action for botched abortions, is running them.
Organization spokeswoman Cheryl Sullenger told LifeNews.com that Jones filed for bankruptcy for substantial amounts of debt in 2003 and has bounced around several southern California abortion centers moving to new ones when others close for medical problems or other reasons.
"We are relieved that the clinic has closed, but it shouldn’t have taken eight years to do it," said Sullenger about the time it took for officials to go after the Bugarins. "We pray that Ms. Bugarin will be swiftly brought to justice and that all of her abortion mills would permanently close."
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