Dr. LeRoy Carhart is unfazed when it comes to protests. The Nebraskan physician who works in Germantown has been at the center of many since the day he started performing abortions in 1988.

The feeling for him is no different with an anti-abortion demonstration planned from 8 to 10 a.m. Monday outside the clinic where he practices, marking a year of weekly protests outside Germantown Reproductive Health Services.

Almost 1,000 anti-abortion protesters are expected to demonstrate near the clinic, located at 13233 Executive Park Terrace, to mark the one-year anniversary since Carhart started performing late-term abortions there, said Michael Martelli, the spokesman for the Maryland Coalition for Life, which organized the event.

The protest will also include a procession of 720 crosses, representing the number of lives lost from abortion over the past year, according to Maryland Coalition for Life estimates.

“We have goals on many levels,” said Martelli. “Getting Carhart out is one of them. I would hate for him to leave Maryland and go to another state.”Last month, the Maryland Board of Physicians concluded an investigation into Carhart, after a complaint was filed by Kansas-based anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, alleging that Carhart lied on portions of his application to obtain a Maryland medical licence.

Carhart called the allegations bogus. He recently received a letter from the board stating that the investigation was closed and that no charges would be brought against him, he said.

There were no citations in Carhart’s profile on the Maryland Board of Physicians website. Phone calls to the Maryland Board of Physicians were not returned Sunday afternoon.

Anti-abortion protesters have demonstrated every Monday morning on the corner of Wisteria Drive and Executive Park Terrace since Dec. 5, 2010, said Capt. Luther Reynolds, commander of Montgomery County Police’s District 5.

Police officers are expected to oversee the demonstration to ensure it is peaceful, which they have been in the past year.

“They are not even remotely looking for a problem along those lines,” Reynolds said. “My biggest concern is just people’s safety in terms of pedestrian traffic, making sure businesses can operate, and people can come and go in and out of the clinic.”

Carhart had been looking to work in Maryland and accepted a position with the clinic last year. Despite weekly demonstrations near it since, Carhart has called his tenure there successful so far.

“We've been able to take care of a lot of patients, who travel to the east coast,” he said. “It has worked out perfectly from our standpoint.”

nnourmohammadi@gazette.net