D.A. Says Clinic Owner Wanted to Save Self, Not Patient : Courts: Her actions were to avoid detection in woman’s death during an illegal abortion, prosecutor charges. Defendant says she did all she could to keep her alive.

A prosecutor accused abortion clinic owner Alicia Hanna of being more concerned about protecting herself than saving the life of a patient who began foaming at the mouth during an illegal abortion.

Hanna, who is accused of murder, testified Tuesday that she had no time to call for help as the woman lay dying in her clinic. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard King questioned Hanna about why she had walked or run past a phone in the clinic at least three times, but failed to dial 911 or ask either of her two assistants to call paramedics.

“You were more concerned about avoiding detection than saving that woman’s life--weren’t you?” King asked.

“That’s not true,” Hanna shot back. “I was trying to save her life. I did everything in my power to save her. I didn’t have a chance (to dial 911). It was too fast.”

King responded: “The real reason was you didn’t want paramedics to come out and see what was going on.”

Hanna, who not a doctor, is accused of attempting to perform an illegal abortion on 27-year-old Angela Nieto Sanchez, a mother of four from Orange. Authorities say the woman died at the clinic on Jan. 19, 1993, and Hanna dragged the body to the parking lot to hide it in the trunk of a car.

She is on trial in Orange County Superior Court on charges of murder, two counts of performing an illegal abortion and one count of attempting an illegal abortion.

Prosecutors alleged that Hanna injected Sanchez with an unknown drug and refused an assistant’s pleas to call 911 after Sanchez began vomiting and having trouble breathing.

During cross-examination by the prosecutor Tuesday, Hanna admitted giving abortions to eight other women by injecting them with Methergine. The drug is commonly used in Mexico and other countries to induce uterine contractions and spontaneous abortions.

But Hanna denied performing an abortion on Sanchez or giving her any drug that could have killed her.

Hanna testified that Sanchez appeared to be high on drugs when she arrived at her clinic. She said she gave the woman a Valium to settle her nerves, but Sanchez suddenly became ill, a reaction Hanna attributed to an allergy or to a lethal mixture of Valium with other drugs Sanchez may have been using.

As Sanchez began gasping for breath, Hanna said, she ran into a hallway in the clinic to get a vial of Narcan, and injected her with the prescription drug hoping to reverse what she thought was an allergic reaction to Valium. When that failed, Hanna said, she gave the patient mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, then went into another room to retrieve an oxygen tank and an oxygen mask. Nothing she did could save her, Hanna testified.

King pointed out that Hanna also took the time to call her husband for help, but not to dial 911.

Hanna said she called her husband, who also works in the medical profession, to ask him to bring another oxygen tank because the one she had tried to use was empty.

“I was not thinking straight,” Hanna said. “In my mind, I still had hope of bringing her back to life.”

“You knew your husband would not expose you, didn’t you?” King responded.

King also accused Hanna of lying at least eight times to police and Sanchez’s family members about how Sanchez had died to avoid prosecution. Hanna admitted all of the lies.

“Could you just tell us why you have decided to tell the truth now?” King asked.

“The truth is, I have found the Lord,” Hanna said. “I am walking with the Lord and have made a commitment to tell the truth.”

Earlier, under questioning by her own attorney, Hanna said she was sorry for her actions.

“If I had to do it over again, I would call 911,” she said. “If it would have been able to save her, I would have, I would have.”

Hanna is expected to take the witness stand again on Wednesday.