Florida Dept. of Health warns infamous late-term abortionist: Pay $120k fine or else
Florida late-term abortionist James Pendergraft’s rap sheet is so long it is hard to believe he is still walking the streets, never mind practicing medicine. It’s only because Pendergraft is an abortionist that he has gotten away with so much for so long. Here’s a thumbnail of his history, via ForeRunner.com…
Pendergraft spent time in federal prison in 2001 for extortion and perjury. He has had his license suspended four times for various reasons including performing late-term abortions in an outpatient facility in violation of Florida law….
Last July, Pendergraft was [successfully] sued for $36.7 million for a 2001 incident in which a botched late-term abortion resulted in a live birth. The baby girl who was born alive was left severely handicapped for life.
Many pro-lifers will also remember that Baby Rowan was aborted alive at one of Pendergraft’s mills but consigned to death when clinic workers turned an ambulance (called by his mother) away.
In addition to owning five Florida abortion mills, last year Pendergraft launched a new late-term abortion site in the Washington, D.C., area, where he kills babies by lethal injection but doesn’t finish the job: He sends the mothers home to deliver their dead babies.
But now it appears an overdue fine of $121,303.21 for a 2010 suspension may finally be Pendergraft’s undoing. On April 20 the Florida Department of Health issued an administrative complaint that concluded:
WHEREFORE, the Petitioner respectfully requests that the Board of Medicine enter an order imposing one or more of the following penalties: permanent revocation or suspension of Respondent’s license, restriction of practice, imposition of an administrative fine, issuance of a reprimand, placement of the Respondent on probation, corrective action, refund of fees billed or collected, remedial education and/or any other relief that the Board deems appropriate.
Stay tuned.
[HT: Jay Rogers]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Thanks Jill, for sharing this.
Just one correction. It is http://forerunner.com — not BlogRunner.com
CC? Joan? Epiphany?
Aren’t you just so darn PROUD??
You can’t get much lower than owning a chain of abortion clinics. (Shudder!)
Yes, Hans. He’s the Ronald McDonald of abortionists.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: abortionists are the scum of the earth.
So this nasty little man sends the women home to deliver their dead babies…what are they supposed to do with the baby after he’s born?
And pro-lifers hate women???
Courtnay, he suggests that they can go home and have their own OB/GYN deliver the dead baby. So maybe they pass it off as a stillbirth?
Take two aspirin.
Don’t call Pendergraft in the morning.
Pay no attention to the blob.
Jay – thanks, whoops, fixed.
Kate – yes, I think some mothers probably do, although if an autopsy is done, which I would think would be protocol for a late-term “stillbirth,” the truth would come out.
“Pay up or i will warn you a second time!”
My stomach is roiling….I wonder if Troy over at OR has the legal and official documents?
They come in handy when one requests a “neutral” or “unbiased” source.
How many clinics/abortionists is this now being closed down or close to it in the last 5 months???????
Yes, lets keep abortion ***safe and legal**** NOT –if they only knew the true reality of all of these places………..
Sorry, just had to add my 2 cents. :)
Here is OR’s summation and documentation:
http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/exclusive-perspective-sealed-court-records-show-pattern-of-illegal-third-world-abortion-practices/
This doesn’t exactly sound like an ‘undoing’. This is a 3rd party ‘respectfully requesting’ that the board of Medicine remind him that he owes some money. Sure lossing his licence is *one* option, but so is another fine or ‘other’, like maybe a ‘respectful request’ that he take care of his outstanding fines. Come on, if the board of medicine wasn’t inclined to revoke his license permently over any of the other, more serious violations, they’re hardly going to do it because the Florida DoH is sending them a notice that he’s late with his bill!
Blessing,
Don’t be sorry. Your two cents(and up)is needed and valued!!! :)
Jespren: I agree and I don’t interpret this as an “undoing” in my article.
See: http://www.forerunner.com/blog/florida-doh-recommends-permanent-suspension-of-abortionist-pendergraft-s-medical-license
Pendergraft owes $36.7 million. I believe that eventually he’ll be financially ruined. But he will fight and appeal at every step of the way. Randall Whitney, who was the abortionist at P’s mill on that day, avoided judgment prior to the case being settled by declaring bankruptcy. Pendergrat will try similar tactics. Right now all of his assets are in a girlfriend’s name (his first baby momma).
Jill Stanek and others who repeat this information to a broader audience are helping us here on the local level to get the word out. But the fact of the matter remains that none of Pendergraft’s late-term abortions are inherently criminal according to Florida law. He violates the law about doing late term abortions in an outpatient facility and it is documented that some babies have been born alive due to his malpractice. However, the remedy has not been criminal charges, but routine fines an a few civil lawsuits. Only one lawsuit (which took over ten years to come to judgment) has been successful.
The state attorney general or the district attorney COULD ask the Grand Jury in Orange county to do an investigation to see if they could charge Pendergraft with homicide under the federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA).
However, the idea one national spokesperson has trotted out that they are “working with authorities to bring Pendergraft to justice” is laughable. Local activists in Orlando. Tampa and Ocala have made complaints about Pendergraft for many years. Some local authorities even tried to keep him out of business when he first came to Florida to open a chain of late-term abortion mills. Pendergraft at first responded by suing the city of Orlando (they settled) and the city of Ocala (they got the FBI involved and he went to prison for extortion and perjury.)
The one major judgment against Pendergraft recently was in a civil lawsuit, not a criminal court. Meanwhile our local media largely ignored that story. So forums such as Jill’s blog are helping us.
The definitive article on Pendergraft appeared in Business Week in 2000. I have it here:
http://www.forerunner.com/fyi/bw100900.htm
Blessing wrote: “My stomach is roiling….I wonder if Troy over at OR has the legal and official documents?”
I have the PDF file of the complaint. It’s public record at:
http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/IRM00PRAES/PRASLIST.ASP
You can get it yourself or email me at jrogers@forerunner.com and I’ll send it to you as an attachment.
Thankfully, much of the information is public and is easily found on the internet. I have a few articles in which I’ve described how to do this here:
http://forerunner.com/fyi/behind-the-scenes
It is virtually impossible for one small national organization to keep a comprehensive and updated record of every abortionist, owner and abortion mill at the local level. This needs to be done by local people on the ground.
Fortunately, it is getting easier because it is public information and some states are making these records easier to access on the Internet. It’s not a cloak and dagger affair. But some information can only be discovered by street ministries.
I am trying to compile information just for all of Florida (67 surgical abortion mills) and it’s a constantly growing project. We don’t know, for instance, month-to-month who all the abortionists are state-wide. Since there is a shortage of abortionists and many are quitting, new killers are constantly being recruited. Just keeping track of our state as a whole could be a full-time endeavor for more than one person.
What we’ve done at http://forerunner.com/fyi/fyi.html is not complete, nor will it ever be complete, because the scenario is constantly changing on a daily basis in our state.
One of my burdens is to see pro-life advocates at the local level in about 12 regions begin to compile and publish their own information. We’ve begun this in New England:
http://abortionists.wordpress.com/killers/
And a group of us have been doing the same in Florida since 1997.
http://forerunner.com/fyi/fyi.html
I’d like to see this done by people who are actually on the ground in 12 established regions. Email me if you or anyone you know is interested in such an endeavor.
It’s a great concept. I call it the Ephesians 5:11 mandate: “Have nothing to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
So many people – even pro-life Christians – have no idea of what really happens at abortion mills. Jill’s blog, and others like it, do a good job of tearing the lid off, but what I’d really like to see is a dozen groups organized at the local level and publishing updated information in a systematic and comprehensive manner.
P.S. I saw the article on Pendergraft’s $36.7 million lawsuit trial entitled: “Hard-to-get records reveal …” and I wanted you to know that they are not too hard to get. In fact, you can walk into the Orange County courthouse and view them. They are not published on the Internet, however, and this is what I mean by saying that it’s necessary to have local people on the ground doing the research. Otherwise there will be a lot of conjecture about these abortionists.
The most common comments I hear on Pendergraft are:
“What? Isn’t his license already suspended?”
and
“I thought he was no longer practicing?’
The answer to both of those questions is “yes” — but the state of Florida does not view his violation of the law as criminal, not do they think it is improper for a doctor who has had his medical license suspended numerous times to oversee a chain of five surgical abortion centers.
Jespren, in the end mobster murderer Al Capone was finally nabbed – for tax evasion. Whatever it takes.
Jill,
I believe in most cases the mother has to give consent for an autopsy.
“Last July, Pendergraft was [successfully] sued for $36.7 million for a 2001 incident in which a botched late-term abortion resulted in a live birth.”
Isn’t it sad when the result of a botched procedure is life? :(