Michigan abortionist tied to four client deaths resists safety regulations

A Michigan judge has ruled that a local abortionist’s clinic, which has been found violating several safety regulations and where at least one woman has died of a botched abortion, can stay open until another hearing over whether the facility is too dangerous to stay open.

Alberto Hodari’s Lathrup Village abortion facility was licensed until he was dinged with a number of health code violations in 2009, including the lack of an emergency entrance that would accommodate a gurney. Hodari refused to add the emergency entrance due to the expense involved.

Instead, Hodari decided not to seek licensure the following year and unsuccessfully attempted to increase his non-abortion business to avoid the licensing requirement. Michigan only requires an abortionist to get a license if abortions constitute 50 percent or more of services.

Assistant Attorney General Darrin Fowler, who is seeking closure of Hodari’s clinic, wondered how emergency workers could access patients without the exit, and stated that the lack of exit left vulnerable women at risk. It was a lack of access to an emergency exit that contributed to the death of abortion patient Karnamaya Mongar at Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” abortion clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November, 2009.

Hodari’s attorney, Victor Norris, responded, “The department can’t be that concerned about irreparable harm if they gave the license in the first place.”

Four women are known to have died at Hodari-run abortion mills. Fifteen-year-old Tamia Russell died less than 24 hours after a late-term abortion at Hodari’s Lathrup Villiage in 2004, the same clinic that is subject to closure. In 2007, a 17-year-old Hodari patient died from abortion complications. Chivon Williams died less than six hours after having been released from one of Hodari’s abortion clinics following a suction abortion.

In 2009, Hodari was fined $10,000 for his part in the death of 32-year-old Regina Johnson in 2003. An investigation by Voices for Women revealed that the facility where Johnson died, having never awakened from anesthesia, was not equipped with resuscitation equipment.

Hodari operates a chain of abortion clinics in Michigan, the number of which seems to fluctuate with circumstances. His other offices are not subject to closure.

The abortionist is also known for stating publicly that he believes abortionists have a license to lie, and that he refuses to wash his hands between abortions, a practice that could spread disease and infection, because multiple washings chafe the skin on his hands.