ELKTON, Md., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Two doctors have been charged with murder in Maryland in connection with late-term abortions, police said.
Steven Brigham, 55, of Voorhees, N.J., faces five counts each of first-degree murder, five of second-degree murder and one of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, police in Elkton, Md., told the Cecil Whig newspaper .
Nicola Riley, 46, of Salt Lake City, has been charged with one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Brigham was being held in Camden County Jail in New Jersey, Riley, in Salt Lake City Jail. Both were arrested Wednesday night and were awaiting extradition hearings, the Whig said.
Police said they began investigating in August 2010 after Riley took a woman to an Elkton hospital because of a "complication resulting from a medical procedure." Investigators determined the woman had driven from New Jersey to Maryland for an abortion.
The woman was transferred from Union Hospital in Elkton to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for additional treatment of complications from a botched abortion, the Whig said.
Riley was charged as a result of the woman's aborted fetus, police said. Brigham faces charges as a result of that aborted fetus and four other illegal abortions he allegedly performed at the Elkton clinic, police said.
Elkton police said they found several fetuses in a freezer at the clinic, CNN reported.
Tom Brown, an attorney representing Brigham, said his client hadn't violated any Maryland laws.
Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, an attorney representing Riley, said the criminal charges were "without merit."
Under Maryland law, a fetus is considered viable if medical experts believe it is able to sustain life on its own outside the womb.
