Janet Onthank King -- former administrator at the Summit Medical Center abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala. -- on Friday was arrested on misdemeanor charges, including performing illegal abortions at the clinic, according to the Alabama Attorney General's Office, the Birmingham News reports (Garrison/Walton, Birmingham News, 12/9). Summit in June yielded its license in response to a suspension order issued by the Alabama Department of Public Health on May 17 and has been closed since May 18. State health officials said a clinic staff member in February performed an ultrasound on a woman seeking an abortion and determined she was at six weeks' gestation, when she actually was almost full-term. A nurse practitioner gave the woman mifepristone, which when taken with misoprostol can cause a medical abortion, even though her blood pressure was too high. The woman six days later went to an emergency department and delivered a six-pound, four-ounce stillborn infant, according to the state health department. State Attorney General Troy King (R) and the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners are investigating the clinic for possible criminal charges (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/11). According to the News, Onthank King, who is a registered nurse, faces two charges of "knowingly or recklessly" performing abortions as a nonphysician and one charge of making false entries in required equipment sterilization reports. "She is definitely surprised and shocked that they would charge her," Richard Jaffe, Onthank King's lawyer, said, adding, "Her involvement in [the February] incident was minor. She performed no procedures, she prescribed no medications; in short, she committed no crime." Onthank King surrendered to the Jefferson County sheriff's office on Friday and was released on a $3,000 bond (Garrison/Walton, Birmingham News, 12/9). If convicted, she faces a maximum of six months in prison and a $1,000 fine for each charge, the AP/Decatur Daily reports. Jaffe said Onthank King's nursing license in Alabama was "still in place" (AP/Decatur Daily, 12/9).

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