More 911 Calls Show Women Victimized by Botched Abortions

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 15, 2011   |   11:52AM   |   Albuquerque, NM

A pro-life group has obtained more copies of 911 calls made by two abortion businesses in Albuquerque, New Mexico concerning eight more women who have been victimized by botched abortions. State officials are already looking into the problems.

A series of botched abortions in New Mexico have prompted state officials there to launch investigations into three late-term abortion practitioners exposed by Operation Rescue.

After the release of the original calls, involving Southwestern Women’s Options, an abortion clinic in Albuquerque, and UNM Hospital, which operates its own abortion business, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, OR told LifeNews it has been notified by the New Mexico Board of Physicians that three Albuquerque abortion practitioners are under investigation. Shelley Sella and Susan Robinson, late-term abortion practitioners who formerly worked for the nation’s largest late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, prior to its closure in 2009 are two of the three facing probes. Texas-based abortion practitioner Curtis Boyd, who owns Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque, where the 911 calls originated is the third.

Now, Operation Rescue has obtained eight new 911 recordings that reveal a further pattern of botched abortions at the two Albuquerque abortion clinics. Together with five 911 calls released last month, the 13 calls show that life-threatening abortion complications requiring emergency assistance occur at the rate of one every 10 weeks, the group says.

The eight newly obtained calls were placed between November, 2008 and December, 2009, with six originating from Southwestern Women’s Options, owned by Curtis Boyd, and the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, the abortion training grounds for the University of New Mexico.

“As disturbing as the critical nature of these life-threatening emergencies are, perhaps more disturbing are the callous attitudes of some of the abortion workers and their willingness to cover up for the abortionists,” said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. “The clinic workers are careful about how much information they revealed to the emergency dispatchers, and in many cases, even attempt to shift the blame for the complications onto the woman. Their general actions and attitudes toward the woman they just injured are despicable.”

One abortion clinic worker from Southwestern Women’s Options expressed concern over the questions the 911 dispatcher was asking. While she thought she was on hold, this exchange took place:

SWO Employee:[Whispering] I don’t know – I don’t know what information he’s asking me.
Background Voice: Just talk to him – act dumb.
SWO Employee: [Whispering] Okay. Exactly. Yeah.

The latest tapes obtained under an open records act request made by Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life, who forwarded the recordings to Operation Rescue.

They show women ranging in ages from 18 to 34 who were between 8 weeks and approximately 24 weeks pregnant. Complications included:

  • Uterine rupture with heavy bleeding.
  • A panic-stricken 18-yer old patient with chest pains, numbness, and a severe headache after a late-term abortion.
  • Cervical laceration with hemorrhaging.
  • Uncontrolled bleeding after first and second trimester abortions.
  • Multiple seizures.
  • Abortion on a woman with an undiagnosed ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.
  • “It’s just wrong for paramedics to have to clean up after these abortion quacks every ten weeks. We demand the immediate closure of the two Albuquerque clinics involved for the protection of the public, said Sullenger.

    Operation Rescue is preparing new complaints against the abortion practitioners involved.

    OR obtained the audio of a handful of 911 calls showing women victimized by failed abortions at an abortion center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The series of calls were made over a recent 15-month period from Southwestern Women’s Options, an abortion clinic in Albuquerque that it says is presiding over abortions that are clearly dangerous for women.

    UNM Hospital, which operates its own abortion business, the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, was the subject of another botched abortion that necessitated a phone call to 911. In that disturbing 911 recording, the patient can be heard groaning and struggling for life.