Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Pro-life activists await word on possible charges against Southfield abortionist
Pro-life activists await word on possible charges against Southfield abortionist
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 6, 2008
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Abortionist Dr. Alberto Hodari speaks to WSU Medical School students last November, as seen in a video available on YouTube. |
Detroit — Pro-life activists were awaiting word Tuesday whether the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office would be bringing charges against Dr. Alberto Hodari in connection with patient medical records discovered discarded — along with medical waste and the remains of aborted babies — in the trash at his Lathrup Village abortion clinic.
Ed Cibor, chief of the prosecutor's warrants division, confirmed May 29 that the Lathrup Village police had turned over evidence it had received. Cibor said a decision on whether to charge Hodari (and /or anyone else) would be made pending the results of further investigation.
The 23 aborted babies found in the trash behind the WomanCare clinic on Southfield Road were given a funeral Mass at St. Gerald Church in Farmington Hills and Christian burial in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, on May 3.
The improper disposal of the human remains and bloody medical waste comes under the purview of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which only issued a reprimand to the abortion clinic.
Pro-life activists have been hoping, however, that the improper disposal of identifiable medical records would result in charges being brought for violation of the applicable state law – a misdemeanor offense carrying a maximum penalty of 93 days in jail.
The bulk of the discarded medical records were found by Kevin and Milissa Kukla in February. The former Ann Arbor residents have since moved to Texas and work for the Diocese of Dallas.
Kevin Kukla commented that it would be "ludicrous" if Hodari is not charged, because he would "not only get away with murder," but also "with violating (the mothers') so-called privacy."
"The whole thing (legal abortion) is supposed to be predicated on a woman's right to privacy, and yet they leave their records in the trash for all to see," Kukla added. The act of just tossing out medical records in the trash goes starkly against today's heightened concerns about patient privacy, in the view of Joanie Barrett, a graduate student in the physician assistant program at Wayne State University.
"I would certainly hope that he would face charges for that. We can't take a single piece of paper out of the hospital with us," she said.
The Argentinian-born Hodari is one of the best-known abortionists in metro Detroit, also owning clinics in Southgate, Sterling Heights and several other cities. He is no stranger to legal action, having been sued by a number of ex-patients — or by their relatives in cases where the patient has died. The lawsuits have typically been settled out of court.
Hodari has also achieved a degree of national renown since members of the Wayne State University Students for Life recorded a talk he gave last Nov. 9 at the WSU Medical School.
In his remarks to the medical students, Hodari told how he tells the boyfriends of patients that the state forbids them to be present during the abortion, which he acknowledged is not the truth. But he added that his wife maintains doctors "have a license to lie."
An excerpt of his talk has been posted on the video-sharing site www.youtube.com, while a full-length version – that includes the complete talk and most of the question-and-answer session is available on the Google videos site, http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1556094098037051142.
In the longer version, Hodari tells students (his talk was sponsored by the WSU Medical School's Students for Choice group) how he used to wear a surgical mask and cap, and wash his hands for five minutes between each procedure, but gradually abandoned such practices.
After all, "after I do 20 abortions, my hands were awful because (of) washing and scrubbing for five minutes." Now, he continued, "We don't use masks. We wash the hands less than (a) minute. We use gloves, we don't touch anything that goes inside the patient, and everything that goes inside the patient is safe."
And while abortions used to take about 20 minutes to do, Hodari said he could now terminate an eight-week pregnancy in just two minutes.
Hodari dismissed the idea of having any ethical qualms about what he does: "I always tell my kids, I'm proud of what I do. I'm proud that I have done a lot of abortions with very small complications."
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