Illegal Abortionist Jailed for Botched Abortions

Bugarin, who has no medical training had been posing as a doctor, performing abortions illegally for $500.

SAN DIEGO, CA (LifeSiteNews) - Bertha Bugarin was arrested on Thursday and jailed in San Diego on ten felonies and one misdemeanor for practicing medicine and prescribing drugs without a license. If convicted, she faces nine years in jail.

Bugarin, who has no medical training, owns five abortion mills in Southern California, including one in Chula Vista, a southern suburb of San Diego. She had been posing as a doctor, performing abortions illegally for $500.

Nine women came forward with stories of botched abortions received at Bugarin's hand. Many suffered from incomplete abortions and were forced to return to have their abortions done again. One woman was hospitalized three times, and birthed a live baby that died three hours later.

Bugarin made a court appearance yesterday dressed in a blue jailhouse garb and shackled at the waist. She was being held on $500,000 bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for July 2.

These charges add to Bugarin's legal woes. In August, 2007, Bugarin was arrested in Los Angeles after the police raided four of her clinics. She was charged in Los Angeles County with 18 counts of committing abortions without a medical license. Her sister, Raquel, was charged with four counts of aiding and abetting her sister in their illegal abortion operation. In addition, one of Bugarin's hired abortionists, Laurence Reich, was also arrested after he was found to be performing abortions months after losing his medical license for sexually molesting his patients.

Bugarin's abortion chain, Clinica Medica Para La Mujer De Hoy, preys on Hispanic women, and would often pass out abortion discount coupons in Hispanic neighborhoods.

Operation Rescue, a pro-life Christian activist organization, began working to expose and close these abortion mills in 1999. As a result, six of Bugarin's clinics have closed, at least five of her hired abortionists lost their medical licenses, and three abortionists have received discipline from the California Medical Board.

"The only way to stop someone like Bugarin from hurting people is to put her in jail, because she obviously has no respect for the law or for the lives of the women she seeks to exploit," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We thank God that Bugarin is being brought to justice. We have worked for years, along with the faithful pro-lifers in San Diego, to close her shop of horrors, and now it looks like those prayers are being answered."

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