By JIM WALSH
Courier-Post Staff
TRENTON — State regulators on Wednesday night temporarily suspended the medical license of a Voorhees abortion doctor.
The Board of Medical Examiners in its decision called Dr. Steven Brigham a “clear and imminent danger to the public’s health, safety and welfare,” according to an account from the state Attorney
General’s Office.
Brigham’s attorney, Joseph Gorrell, could not be reached for comment.
The case now is to go before an administrative law judge, who will hear arguments and review evidence. The board will review the judge’s initial decision before making a final ruling, said Paul
Loriquet, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General’s Office contends Brigham improperly performed late-term abortions at his Voorhees clinic. State rules limit abortions there to women who are no more than 14 weeks pregnant.
Authorities said Brigham terminated pregnancies as far along as 33 weeks by starting the procedure in Voorhees. His patients then would travel a day or two later to complete the process in Elkton, Md.
Brigham, who has run the American Women’s Center on Alpha Avenue since 1992, denied any wrongdoing. He argued the abortion did not occur until the fetus was removed in Maryland, and so
New Jersey’s rules were not broken.
Officials moved against Brigham after one of his patients, an 18-year-old woman, needed emergency surgery in Maryland. A doctor working for Brigham perforated the woman’s uterus during an abortion attempt in August, officials said.
The woman was one of five patients, each more than 14 weeks pregnant, cited by authorities in the case against Brigham.
Brigham had a similar dispute with the state in 1996. Brigham prevailed at that time, Gorrell said.