Doctor arrested for illegal abortions

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): Central Bandung Police arrested a doctor, a nurse and the owner of a health clinic on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of performing over 500 abortions since 1996.

"This is the biggest abortion case we have ever uncovered in Bandung," acting Central Bandung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Siswandi said.

The suspects are Rois Imron bin Rizal, 38, a doctor who works at the Mitra Sejahtera health clinic on Jl. Dalem Kaum in Bandung, Dana Krisna, the owner of the Mitra Sejahtera foundation, and Rosmiati, 23, a nurse.

Rois was arrested at about 5 p.m. as he was performing an abortion on a woman. Rosmiati was taken into custody at the same time, while Dana was arrested later in the evening.

During a media conference arranged by the police, Rois said he began performing abortions soon after graduating from the state- run Padjajaran University's School of Medicine in 1994.

He said he charged between Rp 100,000 (US$9.09) and Rp 200,000 for an abortion, and claimed he never aborted a fetus more than two-and-a-half months old "because it is too risky".

He said none of his patients had ever suffered negative side effects from the procedure, adding that one woman had returned to his office to have a second abortion performed.

Rosmiati, who was also present at the media conference, said most of the aborted fetuses were discarded in a ditch near the clinic.

Siswandi said the suspects were arrested after police received reports from nearby residents that abortions were being performed at the clinic.

During the arrest, police confiscated as evidence the medical tools used to perform the abortions.

"We are still investigating whether this clinic was performing abortions on its own or was part of a larger abortion syndicate," Siswandi said. (25/emf)