PRESS RELEASE
January 2-4, 2013
Citizens for a Pro-Life Society
Controversial Abortionist Hired
by Detroit Clinic
Pro-Life Leader Calls
for Formal Investigation
Robert L. Alexander, M.D., whose abortion clinic in Muskegon, MI. was shut down Dec. 26, 2012 by order of that municipality’s Fire Department, due to building and heath code violations, has been hired to perform abortion procedures at Summit Medical Services, a Detroit facility, advertising itself under “Abortion Services and Birth Control,” located at 15801 McNichols Avenue in Detroit.
According to a 12/28 release of MLive and the Michigan Chronicle, the Fire Marshal’s order to close Alexander’s Muskegon clinic at 863 Apple Avenue, followed after police officers, investigating a broken rear window, noted numerous code violations in the facility. Michigan’s Director of Public Safety, Jeffrey Lewis, noted that the closure was in response to fire, health, and building code violations.
Perhaps no other abortion provider in Michigan has had a more troubled and checkered medical career than Robert Alexander, plagued by violations of law, court convictions, jail sentences, a series of botched abortions and the repeated revocation of his license.
For various reasons, Alexander’s Muskegon facility is his fourth clinic to close since 2008.
The discoveries made by city personnel at Alexander’s Muskegon facility are consistent with observations made at the former Women’s Choice facility in Ann Arbor, MI, from which Alexander was evicted by court order in December of 2005. Alexander had been using a spare room in that facility for months to store garbage, including medical waste material, because he had lost his contract with a waste removal company. Alexander relocated his clinic to a store-front in Ypsilanti. In a June 2006 affidavit a young woman who had accompanied her friend to Alexander’s 9 S. Washington facility in Ypsilanti states that “the clinic was in disarray, dirty and unsanitary.” (Affidavits are available from Citizens for a Pro-Life Society upon request.) Without notifying his landlord, Alexander moved out of the Ypsilanti storefront when he could no longer pay the rent on the offices. Many anti-abortion activists observed women leaving Alexander’s Ypsilanti clinic who were confused, had difficulty walking, some even vomited in the parking lot, apparently because they were not given enough time to recover from the anesthetic used in Alexander’s abortion procedures.
In 2006 Alexander was sued by Ameritech Publishing, Inc. for a debt exceeding $30,000 (Washtenaw County 2nd Judicial Court case no. 05-808-CK).
Alexander’s brief presence in Ypsilanti was heavily picketed by pro-life advocates (see Ann Arbor News, 3/4/06, Medical Practice Met With Protests).
Alexander’s professional past has faced several legal challenges. Most notably, “In September 1988, [Alexander] was convicted in federal court, by jury trial, on 12 of 15 counts brought against him. The conviction included one count of conspiracy to distribute eight controlled substances and eleven counts of distributing or aiding and abetting the distribution of four of those controlled substances. [Alexander] was sentenced to several concurrent four-year terms of imprisonment, a $25,000 fine, and a three year special parole term…” (http://www.hhs.gov/dab/decisions/cr-244.htm).
These violations and unethical practices resulted in the revocation of Alexander’s license.
A lengthy complaint filed against Alexander in 2002 (File no. 02-682-NH) states that after suffering an abortion procedure carried out by Alexander, the defendant required “total abdominal hysterectomy and resection of her cecum and proximal ileum.”
A Wayne County case filed in July of 1993 (Docket No. C-255) states that Alexander used inappropriate instruments during an abortion procedure, causing perforation of defendant’s uterus. The complaint indicated that Elizabeth A, the woman who sought the abortion, was 7 weeks pregnant, but Alexander had miscalculated that the unborn child was 16 to 17 weeks gestational age. Ironically, this abortion took place at the Summit clinic where Alexander was “moonlighting” at the time.
More recently, a June 2009 case argues that Alexander performed an incomplete abortion on a patient whose pregnancy was at 26 weeks gestation. Michigan law does not permit for abortions beyond 24 weeks except in cases involving health of the mother.
Citizens for a Pro-Life Society director, Monica Migliorino Miller states: “Alexander is an abortionist we have been particularly concerned about for several years and have had many opportunities to observe his peculiar behavior and the state of his beleaguered abortion practice. We filed complaints with the Michigan Bureau of Health Professions—all of which were ignored regarding what we believed to be his un-ethical practice of medicine. Now his clinic has been forcibly closed in Muskegon, which certainly does not surprise me—or anyone familiar with the way this particular doctor goes about providing abortions. The public should now be concerned that while Alexander’s facility has been shut down on the western side of Michigan, he nonetheless continues to ply his medical practice in Detroit. For this reason we call on the Bureau of Health Professions to investigate whether Alexander is competent to perform surgical procedures. In addition, it is troubling that Summit Medical Services has hired such a questionable medical practitioner and thus we call on the Department of Licensing to investigate this clinic and make sure that it is in compliance with proper medical standards of care. The safety of women may very well be at stake.”
Each Saturday morning pro-life sidewalk counselors are at Summit and have observed Alexander at this medical facility and have spoken to him since his Muskegon clinic was closed.
For follow-up interviews, see contacts below:
Women's Medical Services building at 863 E. Apple Ave. has been shut down as of Dec. 26 due to potential code violations. The doctor who has operated the facility is seriously considering not reopening the clinic.
Women's Medical Services building at 863 E. Apple Ave. has been shut down as of Dec. 26 due to allege code violations. This is the notice posted on the building.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL
Monica Migliorino Miller 248 444-9096
Steve Gendregske 734 972-4387
Anne Mitzel 734 678-8251
Summit Medical Services 313 262-8450
