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Abortion Doctor Loses License

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2009

TAMPA - The Florida Board of Medicine has unanimously voted to revoke the medical license of a doctor involved in a botched abortion.

Physician Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique refused to talk to reporters after the Friday morning hearing at the Tampa Airport Marriott, ducking into a men's restroom to avoid television cameras.

Officials say Renelique worked at an abortion clinic outside Miami that was supposed to perform an abortion on 18-year-old Sycloria Williams, who was 23 weeks pregnant. But the doctor didn't arrive on time, and Williams went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.

Officials say one of the clinic owners who has no medical license cut the umbilical cord. Williams says the woman put the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out. Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips.

The state attorney's homicide division is investigating, though no charges have been filed. The case has riled the anti-abortion community, which contends the clinic's actions constitute murder.

"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of the Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams. "People all over the country are just aghast."

The state Department of Health says Renelique committed malpractice by failing to ensure that licensed personnel would be present when Williams was there, among other missteps.

Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, told the medical board his client was on his way when he was called on "an emergency bleeder, ... a woman who could have bled to death in another facility."

Williams' attorney, Tom Pennekamp, said he hopes the board next turns its sights on the clinic, which he said was still operating. He said he filed a lawsuit against Renelique and the clinic last week.

Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.

"It really disturbed me," Joanne Sterner, president of the Broward County chapter of the National Organization for Women, said after reviewing the administrative complaint against Renelique. "I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep women from going to these types of clinics."

At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy fetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at the Nebraska Medical Center survived.

An autopsy determined Williams' baby - she named her Shanice - had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health. The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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