August News- Updated August 3, 2001

ARIZONA ABORTIONIST CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

An Arizona abortionist will serve five years in prison for
allowing a patient to bleed to death after performing a
botched abortion on her.

John Biskind, 75, was convicted of manslaughter for the 1999
death of 33-year-old LouAnn Herron. Biskind was accused of
leaving the clinic after the abortion, even though staffers
told him Herron was having problems. The former clinic
administrator, Carol Stuart Schadoff, was convicted of
negligent homicide in the case. Herron's death forced the
clinic to close and led to new legislation regulating
abortion in Arizona. (Source: Associated Press and Arizona
Republic, May 5, 2001)

FLORIDA WOMAN WINS COERCED ABORTION SUIT

A Florida woman has won a lawsuit accusing her former
employer of coercing her into an abortion because her baby
was biracial.

Nikki Schmitz won a judgment of over $466,000 against the
Fisher-Pou funeral home after jurors found that supervisors
invaded Schmitz's privacy and subjected her to "extreme and
outrageous" behavior. Schmitz's lawyer said he plans to
retry part of the case after jurors deadlocked on whether
the supervisors' actions involved racial discrimination.
(Source: Associated Press; Feb. 11, 2001)

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MICHIGAN ABORTIONIST TO LOSE MEDICAL LICENSE

A Michigan abortionist who was accused of performing an
illegal late-term abortion will lose his medical license for
altering his patient's medical records in an attempt to
cover up the abortion.

Jose Higuera will plead guilty to a charge that he altered
the baby's gestational age on the medical records, but state
officials have agreed to drop the illegal abortion charge in
exchange for the loss of Higuera's medical license.
Higuera's former nurse brought the case to the attention of
the state attorney general's office in 1994 after Higuera
performed an abortion at nearly seven months, violating a
Michigan law prohibiting late-term abortions except to save
the life of the mother. Higuera is believed to be the first
abortionist charged with performing an illegal abortion
since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. (Source: Associated
Press; May 7, 2001)

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MAN GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR DEATH OF UNBORN CHILD

An Arkansas man will spend the rest of his life in prison
after arranging an attack that killed his girlfriend's
unborn child after she refused to have an abortion.

Eric Bullock was convicted of hiring three men to beat his
girlfriend, Shiwona Pace, who survived, and kill her nearly
full-term unborn baby girl. One of the three alleged
attackers has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. This is
the first case to be tried under an Arkansas law that allows
murder charges to be brought when an unborn child of at
least 12 weeks' gestation dies during a violent crime.
Source: (Source: Associated Press; Feb. 9, 2001)

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