Death Certificate Confirms Woman Died From 33-Week Botched Abortion

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 13, 2013   |   12:51PM   |   Germantown, MD

The official death certificate for Jennifer Morbelli confirms the young woman died on February 7, 2013, from complications to a 33-week abortion done by late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart.

Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, a 29-year-old woman from New Rochelle, New York died from a botched 33-week abortion on February 7. The medical examiner’s office confirmed a botched 33-week abortion killed the young woman.

Now, the pro-life group Operation Rescue has obtained the official death certificate. The document confirms that Morbelli died at 12:25 p.m. on February 7 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. Section 23a indicated that the cause of death was Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation “due to or as a consequence of Amniotic Fluid Embolism following Medical Termination of Pregnancy.”

While “Fetal Anomalies” is also listed in the same section, the certificate clearly states that this entry refers to the “Disease or injury that initiated events resulting in death.”

“There have been some erroneous reports that the fetal anomaly suffered by Mrs. Morbelli’s baby led to or contributed to her death, but her death certificate sets the records straight. It clearly was the diagnosis of her baby’s health problems that served as the catalyst to events that led Mrs. Morbelli to seek the abortion that killed her,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation. “If Mrs. Morbelli had not sought an abortion from LeRoy Carhart, she would be alive today.”

Newman says the death certificate confirms the information first uncovered by Operation Rescue and reported by LifeNews and it indicated Morbelli was pregnant and that she delivered a dead baby on February 6, the day before her death.

Morbelli was a 29-year old kindergarten teacher that lived with her husband in White Plains, New York. She was pregnant with their first child, who they had already named Madison Leigh. While in her 31st week of pregnancy, Morbelli received news that her baby suffered from an apparent seizure syndrome, which led her to seek an abortion two weeks later.

The Maryland Board of Physicians has launched a preliminary investigation into Morbelli’s death based on a complaint filed by Operation Rescue, which has also made a formal request of the Montgomery County State Attorney for Carhart to be charged criminally for abandoning his patient, an act that led to a delay in her seeking emergency medical care. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, the clotting condition that led to her hemorrhaging to death is known to be treatable if caught in time.

This is the same condition suffered by another Carhart patient, Christin Gilbert, who died from complications to a late-term abortion she received from him in 2005.

“Jennifer Morbelli’s death certificate only reinforces our strong belief that the negligent actions of LeRoy Carhart caused her tragic death. We call on the authorities in Maryland to hold him accountable and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law before he kills again,” said Newman.

LeRoy Carhart, the Maryland abortion practitioner who recently killed a woman in a failed legal abortion is now under investigation by Maryland officials on the state health board.

A letter from seventeen members of the Maryland House Delegates raising concerns about abortion clinic safety led to state officials looking into Morbelli’s death has uncovered the death of yet another woman from a legal abortion in Maryland.

The chief medical examiner in Baltimore has confirmed Morbelli died when amniotic fluid seeped into her bloodstream, according to new entries on her death certificate. The entry lists “amniotic fluid embolism following termination of pregnancy” as one of two causes of death. The second is “disseminated intravascular coagulation,” a condition during which small blood cots form in blood vessels.

As LifeNews reported, papers uncovered in trash bins outside the abortion facility where a woman was killed in a botched late-term abortion are leading to questions about whether she was instructed to not go to a local emergency room after the failed abortion.

Following a new probe started by local officials, the Maryland Attorney General has opened an investigation into the late-term abortion practitioner who killed a Morbelli. The Maryland Attorney General’s office is not specifically looking into Morbelli’s deathbut it is looking at illegal dumping by the abortion clinic that could result in fines or other form of punishment.

Among the papers was a document instructing women not to go to the ER in the event of an emergency, but instead to “call and we will meet you at the clinic,” which is clearly dangerous medical advice. The number given in the instructions has now been connected to a business Carhart owns.

The Maryland Attorney General’s office notified the Maryland Coalition for Life and Operation Rescue that is has late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart and Germantown Reproductive Health Services under an active criminal investigation for illegal dumping, based on complaints made by both groups last year. This investigation is separate to ongoing investigations into Morbelli’s death, OR informed LifeNews, that are currently underway by the State Medical Examiner, the Montgomery Police Department, and the state’s Office of Health Care Quality.

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David Williams of the Maryland Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Unit contacted Janet Kotowski, a pro-life sidewalk counselor in Germantown, to notify her that an investigation was underway. Kotowski wrote a letter last November asking the agency to look into illegal dumping of biohazardous waste and private patient information at Germantown Reproductive Health Center in follow up to a complaint filed by Operation Rescue in July, 2012.

Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue also spoke with Williams yesterday and has agreed to turn over unedited video-taped evidence of the illegal dumping documented last year to aid in his investigation.

“This is a very serious criminal investigation,” Williams told Sullenger.

In July, 2012, Operation Rescue filed a formal complaint with the Environmental Crimes Unit and released edited video and photographic evidence that showed GRHS and Carhart engaged in the illegal dumping on a routine basis. Evidence included:

1. Documents containing private patient information concerning birth control prescriptions and abortion procedures, as well as copies of patient driver’s licenses.
2. Bloody refuse blood clots and possible human fetal remains.
3. Drug control violations.

“For years we have documented Carhart’s abortion abuses. This time we pray authorities will quickly act before he has the opportunity to kill again,” said Sullenger.

Other incidents documented by Operation Rescue include the 2005 third-trimester abortion death of Christin Gilbert in Kansas, unsafe abortion practices reported by former Carhart employees in Nebraska, and the falsifying of information to gain licensure in Maryland.

Sullenger continued, “The tragic death of Mrs. Morbelli from a botched 33-week abortion may be the catalyst that will finally bring Carhart to justice. It’s too bad that a woman had to die before authorities would sit up and take notice.”

Morbelli died as the result of fatal complications suffered during an abortion at 33 weeks at the hand of late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart. The abortion took place at the Germantown Reproductive Health Center in Germantown, Maryland. Her 33-week-old preborn daughter, Madison Leigh, died in the failed legal abortion as well.

Morbelli arrived at Germantown Reproductive Health Center on February 3 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.”