Hanna owned and operated the abortion facility under the license of Dr. Anthony Lee Cappelli, who rarely visited the two-room facility, according to court testimony. Prosecutors asserted that Hanna posed as a doctor, performing up to 20 abortions with no doctor present. A devout Catholic, Sanchez had told family members only that she was getting a checkup. Two of her children sat in the waiting room for hours after she died. Later, they saw Hanna trying to stuff their mother's body into the trunk of a car, according to court testimony.
Abortions often meet a lesser medical standard.
Those in abortion facilities can perform abortions without much medical oversight, often without the peer review they would receive in a hospital, critics say. Forward State officials concede that such abortion facilities are difficult to regulate. In addition, he said, cases involving allegations of substandard abortions can be tough to prosecute because even injured patients often are reluctant witnesses. And even when the board revokes a license, its decision does not necessarily stand. That decision came after eight years of legal wrangling between Kenneally and the board and highlighted some of the problems associated with overseeing medical standards at abortion facilities.