In February 2002, health and law enforcement officials shut down an unlicensed abortion clinic in West Hollywood, and are investigating whether the owner practiced medicine without a license. Abortionist Edgar Ruiz charged $200 in cash for abortions and catered to uninsured women, according to sheriff’s and county health department officials.
Ruiz told authorities he is licensed in his native Nicaragua, but does not hold a medical license in this country. A sheriff said that Ruiz drew “women wanting something cheap and discreet, something that wouldn’t leave a paper trail.” Ruiz told investigators that he has run his Centro Medico Para La Mujer abortion mill for four years in a medical building on Santa Monica Boulevard near the Hollywood Freeway.
Officials learned about the unlicensed abortion mill after a woman complained to county Supervisor Gloria Molina’s office on November 30, 2001 that the abortion practitioner had botched an abortion on her. An undercover sheriff’s deputy then visited the clinic posing as a patient, and Ruiz allegedly offered to perform a pelvic exam on her. Authorities then arrested Ruiz and seized hundreds of patient files and padlocked his abortuary.
His bail was set at $1 million. Investigators asked the district attorney’s office to file felony charges against Ruiz, alleging that he practiced medicine without a license with the risk of great bodily injury.
References: “Abortion Facility Shut Down in Hollywood.” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2002; Steve Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, February 4, 2002.
Credit: Abortionviolence.com
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