NJ Right to Life

Abortion clinic opts to give up license

By MICHAEL CLARK Staff Writer, (609) 272-7204
(Published: September 26, 2007)

ATLANTIC CITY - The decades-long presence of an embattled city abortion clinic has finally come to an end.

A New Jersey Health Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the Alternatives abortion clinic has opted to surrender its license to the state instead of correcting the list of violations detailed in a report that caused the sudden closing of the clinic more than three months ago.
Atlantic City Councilman John Schultz, who leased the facility to Alternatives, said the clinic's equipment was emptied out of the building last month and the space is available for lease.
"They moved out, everything is out of there," Schultz said in a phone interview. "My lawyers just sent them a letter telling them they're like a month behind on their rent."
The state's report detailed a slew of violations at the clinic, including bloodstained operating tables, expired drugs and the absence of a sterilization sink.
The June 22 inspection was the first time the clinic had been surveyed by health officials in six years, although Health Department rules require inspections of licensed clinics every other year. Health inspectors' absence at Alternatives follows a statewide trend, with 83 percent of the state's ambulatory care facilities not receiving their required routine checks.
Alternatives owner Dr. Alan Kline has not been willing to comment since the closing. But Schultz claims Kline told him last month that they wouldn't be able to make the numerous corrections the state Health Department directed them to make in their 116-page report. Kline also owns the Princeton Women's Center in Princeton, Mercer County.
Health officials had been waiting to hear back from the facility's executives with a corrective action plan, which is required to be delivered to the state 10 days after a report is issued. Health Department Spokesman Tom Slater has said the clinic was given more time because of the large volume of the report.
Along with ending the abortion services at Alternatives, which for decades was the area's lone abortion clinic, the departure likely will end the presence of protesters outside the 1616 Pacific Ave. building.
Problems with protesters at the facility persisted throughout its existence. A 1991 injunction was issued by an Atlantic County Superior Court Judge after patients trying to enter the office building were routinely approached by anti-abortion activists, who also at times obstructed the entrance. Another 14 protesters were convicted a year prior to the injunction for trespassing when they stormed inside the clinic and chained themselves to pipes.
Protesters returned to the clinic in July after getting word that it was scheduled to be sold to Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, an abortion doctor banned in two states after he was hit with several botched-abortion allegations and lawsuits. The clinic initially was inspected by the state because of an anonymous complaint stemming from "change of ownership issues" that the state later said were unfounded. But Brigham, who already had been performing abortions at Alternatives in June, later admitted to The Press that he intended to buy the facility before it was closed.
Brigham, who owns six other abortion clinics in New Jersey, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Schultz did not appear sad to see the clinic go.
"I inherited the lease. When I bought the building, they were there," Schultz said. "I inherited this problem."
To e-mail Michael Clark at The Press:
Michael.Clark@pressofac.com
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