Unlicensed Abortion Clinic Closed

Health and law enforcement officials shut down what they called an unlicensed abortion clinic in West Hollywood, and are investigating whether the owner practiced medicine without a license.

Edgar Ruiz, 42, charged $200 in cash for abortions and catered to uninsured women, according to sheriff’s and county health department officials. Ruiz told authorities he is licensed in his native Nicaragua, but does not hold a medical license in this country.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Opferman, of the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force, said Ruiz’s clinic drew “women wanting something cheap and discreet, something that wouldn’t leave a paper trail.”

Ruiz told investigators that he has run Centro Medico Para La Mujer for four years in a medical building on Santa Monica Boulevard near the Hollywood Freeway.

Officials learned of the facility, which they say was not licensed as a health clinic, after a patient complained to county Supervisor Gloria Molina’s office Nov. 30 that the doctor had performed an incorrect procedure.

The woman’s sister suspected the clinic was not licensed. Molina alerted the Department of Health Services.

An undercover sheriff’s deputy then visited the clinic posing as a patient, and Ruiz allegedly offered to perform a pelvic exam on her.

Authorities arrested Ruiz on Tuesday, seized hundreds of patient files and padlocked the clinic.

His bail was set at $1 million. Investigators asked the district attorney’s office to file felony charges against Ruiz, alleging that he practiced medicine without a license with the risk of great bodily injury.

They argued that an abortion is, by nature, a dangerous procedure, Opferman said.

But prosecutors declined to file felony charges Thursday afternoon, saying investigators had not presented enough evidence to support them and had not had time to go through the files seized.

Because the law requires arrestees to be arraigned or released within 48 hours, Ruiz was scheduled to be released.

“None of those [patient] files have been looked at,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

“A lot of work needs to be done.”

Investigators acknowledged that Ruiz paid a licensed physician to attend at least some of the abortions at the clinic, working with Ruiz.

That was the experience of the only alleged victim authorities have identified so far, a woman who was at the clinic for a follow-up visit when investigators arrived with search and arrest warrants, according to Opferman and deputy health officer Don Ashton.

Investigators said the task force will seek patients identified in Ruiz’s files to gather more evidence.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who held a news conference Thursday morning to announce Ruiz’s arrest, said he was concerned that Ruiz will leave the country.

Opferman and Ashton said they were concerned that Ruiz might open another abortion clinic somewhere else.

Authorities asked anyone treated by Ruiz to call (800) 427-8700. To report an illegal clinic, call the county health department at (213) 989-7039.