Newswire

Abortionist Robert L. Alexander to open new killing business in Ypsilanti

Abortionist To Open New Clinic

Anti-abortion protesters say they
will resume protests outside office

ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- A doctor [sic] who has been targeted by pickets because he performs abortions planned to open his new practice in downtown Ypsilanti this morning, after the building passed a re-inspection Friday by city building and fire officials.

A spokesman for the anti-abortion protesters who have been targeting Dr. Robert L. Alexander's office, at 9 S. Washington St., for several weeks vowed to continue the protest.

Steve Gendregske said the pickets will return to the median on West Michigan Avenue with graphic, 4-foot-square posters of aborted fetuses.

He said some picketers will act as "sidewalk counselors'' to Alexander's patients on their way into the office.

Deputy Police Chief Matt Harshberger said police will videotape the protest, but cannot stop the pickets as long as they don't interfere with traffic or with the patients.

He said police asked Gendregske to move the protesters off the median several weeks ago, after his department took complaints from several motorists.

Gendregske told The News on Friday that the picketers feel safer in the median because drivers who disagree with them are less likely to try to hurt them in front of witnesses.

He said the risk that protesters will distract drivers is insignificant when compared to what will happen inside the clinic. "We believe people are being murdered (by the abortions), and showing the evidence,'' Gendregske said.

Alexander believes just as strongly that he must perform the abortions. "For anyone who has seen someone bleeding out or in sepsis (from a botched abortion), to be able to do this and not do it, that's a sin,'' he said Friday.

Clashes between people with such strongly opposing opinions are what police want to avoid.

"The last thing we want to see is any type of violence to break out,'' Harshberger said. "If it is found that (the protesters) can demonstrate legally, we will respect that right and uphold it.''

City Attorney John Barr said he has so far found no laws barring the pickets from being in the median of the state trunkline.

Alexander, 54, tried to open his office on March 3, but building and fire inspections quashed that attempt due to code violations.

Since then, Alexander and building owner Hedger Breed brought the building up to code. A second inspection Friday produced approvals from building director Charles Boulard and Fire Marshal Jon Ichesco.

Alexander said he plans to provide abortions and other medical services for women. Alexander is from the west side of the state and operates several other clinics, which he declined to name. He has been a target of pickets for years.

He operated the former Women's Choice clinic in Ann Arbor. To comply with federal law, Alexander has changed the address for his Drug Enforcement Administration license to allow him to write prescriptions out of the Ypsilanti office.

He has also posted a valid certificate that allows him to store biohazards. Alexander has a troubled past with the state licensing board, and two pending patient lawsuits in the Lansing area.

His license has been valid since 1999, according to Ray Garza, acting director of the state Complaint and Allegations division of the Bureau of Health Professions.

Garza said Friday that Alexander has made regular payments on a $25,000 fine after one license revocation, and is scheduled to make his last payment in May. Garza said Alexander can legally practice medicine while he makes the payments.

State Department of Community Health records indicate Alexander's license has been revoked three times since 1981.

One document provided by the state earlier this month appeared to indicate that the revocations all stemmed from a criminal conviction in 1986.

Alexander was convicted of one federal count of conspiracy to distribute eight controlled substances and 11 counts of distributing or aiding and abetting the distribution of four of those controlled substances. The charges arose from a moonlighting stint at a diet center, where Alexander said he wrote prescriptions based on what turned out to be fictitious patient records.

Alexander said Friday that all the revocations were related to the same conviction. But Garza said the revocations may stem from three separate citations. He said that, since the records reach back to 1981, he won't be able to determine the reason for each revocation until some time next week. But he said Alexander's license is good through January 2009.


http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ss
f?/base/news-17/114328516751450.xml&coll=2

Posted by Editor at March 25, 2006 10:07 PM