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When 20-year-old Caitlin Bruce opens her wallet, she sees a picture of a child
she aborted.
"I can get teary eyed sometimes, but it is something I'd rather remember than
forget," says Bruce.
Caitlin describes what happened at Flint’s Feminine Health Care Clinic on
Saginaw Road as terror. She says Dr. Abraham A. Hodari forced on her an abortion
she decided she did not want after seeing the ultrasound image of her unborn
baby.
“He was inserting the speculum, and I told him I’m nervous. I just told him stop
please,” she says. “I'm really nervous and I don't want to do this anymore.”
“When she said stop, it was too late,” Dr. Hodari told NBC25 on the phone while
on a trip in Italy.
He admits he had an assistant then hold his patient down.
“I told her I would stop, but when I take my instrument there was blood and
tissue on it from pregnancy, so I couldn't stop,” explained Hodari.
He says Bruce could have developed a life-threatening infection, or suffered
severe bleeding if he hadn’t finished what he started.
"I am there because I want to help woman have safe abortions,” said Dr. Hodari.
“Look at my records. I have done more abortions and longer than any doctor in
Michigan."
But not all doctors agree with Dr. Hodari’s actions.
Dr. Mona Hardas, M.D., a Flint obstetrician and gynecologist says when a patient
asks a doctor to stop treatment, a doctor has to respect that request.
“Even if someone has signed a consent form, if someone wants you to stop you
have to stop,” says Dr. Hardas.
She says in such a situation she would pause and calm her patient with empathy,
not force. She would then explain what options are available to the patient.
For example Dr. Hardas says Dr. Hodari could have offered Bruce the opportunity
to be transported to the emergency room for an exam and a second opinion as to
whether the fetus could be saved.
“I am shocked,” said Dr. Hardas. “I can’t believe this is still happening in
this day and age.”
Caitlin Bruce says the experience changed her life. In the weeks that followed
the abortion, she tried to kill herself.
Now she is trying to heal and get justice.
She and her attorney, Tom R. Pabst filed suit in Genesee County Circuit Court
against Dr. Hodari, accusing him of the following counts:
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