Late-term DC abortion facility halts booking procedures after pro-life group files complaint

Editor’s note: This story includes graphic content.

A late-term abortion facility in Washington, D.C., has paused scheduling abortions after pro-life activists filed a complaint against notorious abortionist Cesare Santangelo.

The pro-life group called The Survivors said in a Sept. 2 press release that the Washington Surgi-Clinic has halted appointments after its members campaigned to shut down the facility. During the campaign, activists with The Survivors “had encounters” with Santangelo “that demonstrated his physical inability to practice medicine.”

According to the release, a clinic receptionist told a caller from The Survivors that no appointments were available and referred them to the national abortion federation hotline. The staffer said the facility hopes to resume scheduling later in September. 

Activists on the ground also reported they haven’t seen Santangelo in more than three weeks, echoing a patient’s public statement from last month. According to the release, the patient, China Red, said that on her way to the facility, the clinic called her and said the doctor “had an emergency and my appointment has been cancelled.” 

As CatholicVote reported Aug. 21, The Survivors filed a 14-page complaint with the D.C. Board of Medicine. They alleged Santangelo — who has a history of documented malpractice — was recently observed disoriented, walking with a cane, and relying on a caregiver. 

“He was dazed, confused, and he couldn’t walk without help from his cane and caretaker, his right arm was in a full cast, and clinic staff met him at the door with a wheelchair,” Kristin Turner, the regional organizer for The Survivors DC, said in a press release. “I’ve encountered him several times in the last 3 years and this was the worst condition I’ve seen him in yet.”

The complaint also cites alleged examples of Santangelo’s misconduct: the 2010 death of Rebecca Carey Charland after a botched abortion, a 2013 complaint from a George Washington University OB-GYN chair, and malpractice lawsuits filed in 2019. These cases were settled, and Santangelo has not faced criminal convictions, the group stated.

According to the complaint, Charland miscarried her child and was referred to Santangelo for care. While removing the deceased baby, Santangelo allegedly botched the removal, causing fetal remains to enter Charland’s bloodstream, travel to her lungs, and kill her. A confidential settlement was reached. 

In addition, the Maryland Board of Physicians fined Santangelo $2,850 for failing to complete his required medical education hours.

The group said it will hold a prayer vigil Sept. 9 outside the office of the chief medical examiner, where the remains of five late-term babies aborted by Santangelo — known as the “D.C. five” — are awaiting autopsies. 

The infants’ remains were recovered from Santangelo’s facility in 2022, as CatholicVote previously reported. Despite evidence suggesting the children may have been killed in violation of the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, the D.C. Metropolitan Police refused to perform autopsies. A partial-birth abortion is a procedure in which a viable child is partially delivered, then killed. 

On June 23, 2025, Republican Rep. Riley Moore, W. Va., urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a federal investigation into the deaths of the “D.C. five.” Bondi confirmed an investigation is ongoing.