On Aug. 25, the Maryland Board of Physicians ordered Brigham, 54, to stop performing abortions in that state, where he has never been licensed to practice medicine. By then police had raided Brigham's Elkton facility - from which they said they removed 35 "late-term fetuses and fetal parts" - as well as the Voorhees headquarters of his chain of 15 clinics, which does business as American Women's Services.
Maryland authorities seek missing medical records, and are looking into Brigham's habit of sending late-term patients across state lines after initiating their abortions in Voorhees.
Brigham's four New Jersey clinics cannot provide abortions after the first trimester (14 weeks of pregnancy) because they do not meet state safety requirements for such risky outpatient surgeries. Brigham has for years performed the first phase of such abortions there - the insertion of absorbent rods that dilate the patient's cervix over a day or more - and sent them to a facility in another state for the surgery. New Jersey law doesn't address whether inserting dilators constitutes abortion.
Brigham did not return a phone message left Thursday at his Voorhees condominium.
Maryland's action is just the latest problem for the doctor, whose medical license has been revoked, relinquished, or temporarily suspended in five states over the last 18 years.
In July, the Pennsylvania Department of Health revoked Brigham's permission to own clinics in the state because he had repeatedly employed unlicensed caregivers; he is appealing that decision. Brigham himself cannot perform medical procedures in Pennsylvania because of a confidential 1992 agreement in which he agreed to give up his license.
Brigham also had $234,536 in federal tax liens against him in April for failing to pay payroll taxes from 2002 to 2006.
