After Tonya Reaves died from complications during a botched second-trimester abortion suffered at a Chicago area Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on July 20, 2012 it took months for the medical examiner to release a report on her death.
Once a copy of Tonya Reaves’ autopsy report was made public, it showed the 24-year old woman died from the abortion she obtained at Planned Parenthood. The report indicated Reaves’ injuries were survivable if she had received proper emergency care in a timely manner.
When the autopsy report was made public, that only happened after considerable delay — leading to questions about a coverup.
The autopsy report is seven pages in length but it took two months for it to be released publicly, despite requests from the pro-life group Operation Rescue and pro-life attorneys who sent a letter requesting it. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews at the time that the autopsy is missing any information about the Planned Parenthood clinic that did the failed abortion as well as the name of the abortion practitioner responsible for taking Reaves’ life. Newman says these omissions give substance to suspicions that there is an on-going cover-up of Planned Parenthood’s actions that led to Reaves’ death.
More information eventually came to light about why the coverup occurred: because the local official responsible for selecting the medical examiner is a friend of the abortion business. From a report on these details:
What is interesting is that Reaves’ death was ruled an accident by the same Medical Examiners Office whose chief was appointed by what appears to be an avid pro-abortion Planned Parenthood supporter. The family wants answers and only receives silence. A look into this issue further exposes some interesting facts.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appointed the Chief Medical Examiner of the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Daryl Jackson
In April of 2012 Preckwinkle was a special guest at a Planned Parenthood gala.
Cook County Board President was also in attendance at Planned Parenthood’s 2010 Campaign Kickoff !
Operation Rescue, who requested a copy of the autopsy on Ms. Reaves, indicates that it was not provided the complete autopsy report — indicating six pages were omitted that place the blame squarely on Planned Parenthood’s shoulders. The copy the pro-life group received from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office was missing the six important pages that further detailed Reaves fatal abortion injuries and noted that Planned Parenthood was where her abortion took place.
The sanitized copy sent to Operation Rescue contained no mention of Planned Parenthood. The omission was discovered when attorneys for the Thomas More Society, a pro-life legal group that also had filed an open records request for the report, compared notes with Operation Rescue.
According to Operation Rescue President, Troy Newman, one missing page titled “First Call Sheet”, there appears to be redacted information on the first line under “Medical History” where the circumstances surrounding Reaves death are explained. After the redaction, there is the following notation: “1100. Planned Parenthood. Suction D&E. Post Op bleed.”
The missing pages note that Reaves was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital via a Chicago Fire Department ambulance at 4:30 p.m., five and a half hours after her botched second trimester abortion left her hemorrhaging. However, there is no record that an emergency 911 call was placed by Planned Parenthood.
“We strongly believe that criminal charges such as Depraved Indifference, Criminal Negligence, and Criminal Malpractice are applicable in this case and we again call for a criminal investigation into the death of Tonya Reaves,” said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman at the time. “Planned Parenthood killed her, now they must be brought to justice in a court of law.”
“As bungled as this abortion was, we believe Tonya Reaves could have survived her injuries if she had gotten immediate emergency care and if Planned Parenthood had shared medical information with the hospital related to her incomplete abortion and uterine perforation,” said Newman. “Instead, Planned Parenthood left the trauma team in the dark to solve the puzzle of Tonya’s injuries while her life ebbed away.”
Newman said the autopsy reveals the following:
- She was a healthy woman who was approximately 16 weeks pregnant at the time of her abortion, well into the second trimester.
- She suffered from an incomplete abortion. The Medical Examiner discovered pieces of placenta still attached to the inside of her womb even after a second abortion done by the hospital to remove fetal remains left by Planned Parenthood.
- She suffered a 3/16 inch uterine perforation near forcep impression marks. D&E abortions involve dismembering the baby in the womb and removing the pieces with forceps.
- She suffered an “extensive” perforation of her broad uterine ligament with a possible severing of her left uterine artery as a result of her abortion. This accounted for the internal bleeding that was discovered only too late by the hospital trauma team.
- There were 1-1.5 liters of blood and clots inside her abdominal cavity. The human body holds roughly five liters of blood. Reaves bled about 30 percent of her total volume of blood into her abdomen, and that does not account for the amount of blood lost through what was likely substantial vaginal bleeding due to the retained fetal remains.
- In a vain attempt to save her life, the hospital trauma team performed an emergency hysterectomy on Reaves.
