A - Z Women's Center in Phoenix has been in the news after the deaths of two women and the near-abortion of a nearly-term infant under the care of Dr. John Biskind. But Biskind isn't the only A - Z abortionist to run into abortion troubles. Today, we'll look at Dr. Jonathan Agbebiyi.

A suit was filed on behalf of a 14-year-old girl I'll call "Mindi." According to the suit, Mindi had an abortion at A - Z, performed by Agbebiyi, on October 11, 1985.

After Mindi went home, the suit says, she became ill and suffered abdominal pain. But when she called the clinic repeatedly to report this, she was reassured that her condition was normal.

On October 18, Mindi was admitted to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a fulminating infection. Doctors there found that her uterus had ruptured and was infected, with extensive necrosis (tissue death) and acute inflammation. Doctors had to perform a hysterectomy on Mindi, and she will require hormone replacement therapy for the rest of her life.

After filing the suit, Mindi's attorneys requested that limits be placed on the defense attorney's questioning of their young client. The attorneys pled the court that "[Mindi] had admittedly had a very traumatic and difficult life. She was placed in a foster home at age two, were she was abused and still bears the scars of severe burns to the back of both her hands." The document continued, "Defendants have apparently attempted a character assassination as their major defense in this case."

Mindi's attorneys further said that "to permit a psychologist to examine a minor patient under these circumstances for up to ten hours with no legal representation, over subjects that have already been covered ad nauseum is unreasonable, unnecessary, and unfair."

After the case had been dragging on for nearly a year, Mindi's attorneys said, the defense moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Mindi had signed a "two page, preprinted consent form which included an agreement to arbitrate."

Court documents obtained about the case did not indicate its ultimate outcome.
Source: Maricopa County Superior Court Case No. CV87-35222

Agbebiyi was later disciplined by the Arizona medical board in 1991 for substandard care, incompetence, or negligence, and giving false and fraudulent statements. He was also given probation by the board for overcharging patients.

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