UPDATE April 17, 2019: Consent Order now available here!

By Cheryl Sullenger

Trenton, NJ – Abortionist Vikram Kaji, 82, whose medical license was voluntarily surrendered earlier this year after he was found incompetent to practice medicine, entered into a consent agreement on April 10, 2019, with the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners that requires him to sell seven New Jersey abortion businesses that operate under the American Women’s Services banner, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“It is our hope that no buyer will be found for these shoddy abortion shops, and that they will be forced to close. They should have been closed years ago,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.  “American Women’s Services is the most dangerous and deceptive abortion chain that is still operating in this country.  Every day they are open they are exploiting women and risking their lives by cutting corners and lying for the sake of profit without regard for their customer’s lives and health.”

New Jersey law prohibits those who are not licensed from owning medical practices.

The consent order gives Kaji sixty days to sell the abortion businesses to a “licensed physician” and submit copies of the sales contract and any management contracts to the Board for review.

The abortion businesses originally were owned by disgraced abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, whose own medical license was revoked in November 2014, transferred ownership of his New Jersey abortion clinics to Kaji, who served as his medical director, for no monetary exchange and without Kaji being aware that he was the new owner.

Brigham continues to run the abortion businesses behind the scenes in an “administrative” capacity while using an aging and incompetent Kaji as his shill.  Kaji suffered a stroke and impairment in his dominant right hand along with memory difficulties that made it impossible to properly conduct his duties as owner and medical director of seven busy abortion clinics.

Operation Rescue filed a formal complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General’s office detailing research that showed no record of the ownership “transfer” and evidence of Brigham’s continued operation of the abortion chain.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s office described the business transfer as a “sham” and took steps to end Brigham’s participation – steps that were put on hold for four years while Kaji’s competence was under evaluation.

If Kaji can sell the second-rate abortion businesses – and that is a big “if” – it is hoped that Brigham will also be cut off from any further profit and control.

It is possible that if Kaji cannot sell within 60 days, the state could order the abortion clinics to shut down.  Those include American Women’s Services clinics in the following New Jersey communities:

  • Elizabeth
  • Englewood
  • Galloway
  • Hamilton
  • Phillipsburg,
  • Voorhees
  • Woodbridge

The American Women’s Services has been fraught with controversy and accusations of illegal activity over the years, which has resulted in the loss Brigham’s medical license in six states. 

In 2010, Brigham was caught operating an illegal bi-state late-term abortion scheme similar to one that cost him his medical license in New York in 1994.  He would begin abortions as late as 30 weeks or more at his unlicensed office in Voorhees, New Jersey, where he was legally permitted to conduct abortions up to 14 weeks.

To avoid running afoul of New Jersey law, Brigham would induce the women into active labor then caravan them to a secret late-term abortion facility in Elkton, Maryland, where the abortions would be completed.  Brigham, who was never licensed in Maryland, conducted abortions illegally in Elkton.  He shielded his illicit activity by using the license of another elderly physician, whose mental and physical abilities were also impaired, as a cover in a similar way that he used Kaji.

However, that scheme fell apart after Brigham and his new trainee, Utah abortionist Nicola Riley, nearly killed an 18-year old woman during a seriously botched 22-week abortion.  Complaints filed by the Union Hospital in Elkton and the Johns Hopkins surgeon who saved her life resulted in the legal (if not practical) end of Brigham’s medical career.

Kaji has had his own set of troubles in the past.  He was convicted by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners in 1993 for having improper sexual contact with three patients. Kaji reportedly had sex with one young girl at his office during business hours and later plied her with drugs. He knew his victim was vulnerable to his advances because she had been a depressed victim of child sex abuse with a history of psychiatric hospitalization.  Kaji was also accused of giving improper breast and rectal exams to two other women.   The NJBME placed Kaji on a 1-year suspension and fined him $5,000 and ordered him to undergo psychological counseling.

Brigham continues to operate abortion clinics in Florida, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, where a woman, Maria Santiago, was killed during a botched abortion in 2013.  These clinics are not expected to be impacted by any action in New Jersey.

Pennsylvania permanently banned Brigham from practicing medicine or operating any medical facility in that state in 2010, but that didn’t stop him from surreptitiously opening an abortion business in Philadelphia in 2012.  Once his affiliation was found out and complaints were filed by pro-life groups, including Operation Rescue, it was forced to close in 2013.

“Brigham has learned well how to evade the law from his decades of legal woes.  It is likely that he may try to transfer ownership of the clinics to someone close to him that will allow him to continue exploiting women for financial gain with his sloppy and dangerous practices.  Hopefully, the Attorney General’s office has had enough dealings with him that they will see through any attempts to pull off another sham transfer deal,” said Newman. “Closing Brigham and Kaji’s American Women’s Services in New Jersey will be one of the best things the state has ever done to protect women.”

To learn more about Brigham and Kaji, visit their profile pages at AbortionDocs.org.