Woman Dies After Botched 33-Week Abortion Takes Her Life

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 8, 2013   |   12:22PM   |   Germantown, MD

A 29-year old woman died yesterday as the result of fatal complications suffered during an abortion at 33 weeks. Late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart (left) performed the abortion at the Germantown Reproductive Health Center in Germantown, Maryland.

According to information the pro-life group Operation Rescue released to LifeNews today, the unnamed woman went to the abortion facility for a third trimester abortion from out-of-state and arrived at Germantown Reproductive Health Center on Sunday to start the abortion process. Local pro-life advocates protesting outside saw her every day until yesterday, and described her as appearing “pale and weak.”

Early Thursday morning, the woman began suffering chest pain and other discomforts, the group informed LifeNews. Her attempts to reach Carhart were unsuccessful. The woman was taken by her family from her hotel to a nearby hospital emergency room at approximately 5:00 a.m. Efforts by hospital staff to contact Carhart or get informational assistance from the abortion clinic were unsuccessful.

Operation Rescue says the abortion patient suffered massive internal bleeding into her abdominal cavity. She slipped into a Code Blue condition approximately six times before finally succumbing to her injuries at around 9:30 a.m. The case has been placed with the Medical Examiner for further investigation.

The group says this botched abortion death took place the same day as another medical emergency took place at a New Mexico abortion clinic involving long-time Carhart associate Shelley Sella.

At the time of that incident, a politically motivated Medical Board in New Mexico was voting to clear Sella of negligence charges, related to a botched third trimester abortion using the same risky late-term abortion method employed by Carhart. This dangerous out-patient abortion process includes long periods of time where the patient is unmonitored while taking strong doses of a drug that causes unpredictable and sometimes violent contractions.

“The avoidable death of this young woman dramatically illustrates the dangers of third trimester abortions that are done outside of the safety of obstetrical standards,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-life Nation.

Newman told LifeNews, “In 2005, Carhart was also involved in the death of Christin Gilbert, who died after a third trimester abortion in Wichita, Kansas. It is time for medical boards to put an end to these horrifically dangerous and barbaric third trimester abortions. If they do not, we can only expect Carhart and his associates to send more women to the morgue.”

The Maryland Medical Examiner spent a significant amount of time reviewing the case and the records at the hospital on Thursday, and determined the case needed further investigation due to the unusual circumstances of her death, according to information provided to LifeNews.

“It is so tragic that this family had to lose not only their nearly full-term child, but also their wife, daughter, and sister,” said Michael Martelli, Executive Director of the Maryland Coalition for Life. “What is most appalling is that the State of Maryland refused to hear the pleas of this community, and has allowed this man to continue to butcher women and children.”

On the very same day that this woman died, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene posted on their website that they issued a license to Carhart’s clinic to perform abortions — without a single inspection of the facility, Martelli said.

“He already killed Christin Gilbert in Kansas in 2005, and now another senseless tragedy has come as a result of Carhart’s so-called women’s healthcare and the apathy of the pro-abortion Maryland State Government,” said Martelli.

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Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, also responded to the abortion death.

“It has happened again. Another mother has been killed by so-called ‘safe and legal’ abortion. It happens constantly, in fact, but the abortion industry usually succeeds in covering it up. And even when they don’t, the rest of us succeed in keeping it relatively quiet,” he told LifeNews. “That has to change today.”

A prayer vigil, memorial, and follow-up press conference will be held in Germantown at 9 a.m. on Monday, February 11, just next to the office park where Carhart conducted the third trimester abortion.