Family of Woman Who Died at Massachusetts Abortion Center Speaks Out 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 17, 2007
Hyannis, MA (LifeNews.com) — The family of a woman who died from an abortion at an abortion business in this Massachusetts city is speaking out about her death and wondering why the mainstream media has refused to cover it. Laura Hope Smith, who was 22-years-old, apparently died after suffering hemorrhaging caused by an abortion obtained at Women Health Center.
It appears that abortion practitioner Rapin Osathanondh, did the September 13 abortion that may have caused her death.
He made headlines in 2001 when he threatened to kill staff members because of misplaced paperwork.
Nearly 600 people attended Smith’s funeral and the National Catholic Register reports that at least one woman canceled her appointment for an abortion after hearing of the tragic news.
Smith was the Honduran-born daughter of Honduran-born daughter whom Eileen and Tom Smith adopted at the age of five.
Eileen Smith told the Catholic newspaper that she’s upset at the lack of media coverage, other than initial reports in LifeNews.com and other alternative media.
“I don’t want Laura’s death swept under the rug, she told the Register.
“If Laura had died falling off a bike or in a car accident, it would have been in the paper the next day. This is a political hot potato,” she said.
According to Smith, a reporter from the local Cape Cod Times approached her two days after her daughter died for an interview. However, the article never ran in the newspaper.
“My daughter walked into that office healthy and she left dead. I don’t want her death to be in vain," Smith added.
Smith told the Register that her daughter apparently died on the operating table at the abortion business and that she was not responsive when emergency medical personnel arrived there.
Officials took her to Cape Cod Hospital via ambulance, where she died.
Rapin Osathanondh reportedly met with Eileen Smith for an hour after her daughter died and he admitted the abortion killed her but wouldn’t take responsibility.
A pro-life group has filed a complaint against Osathanondh with the Massachusetts Board of Registration In Medicine regarding the abortion death.
"Our nation is facing a crisis of dangerous abortionists operating in unsafe abortion mills, killing innocent babies — sometimes illegally as we have seen in some states — and injuring and killing unsuspecting women," spokeswoman Cheryl Sullenger told LifeNews.com.
"More must be done to stop these predatory abortion businesses from inflicting additional human tragedy on society," she said.
Meanwhile, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe has indicated to the Catholic newspaper that his office will possibly look into Smith’s death but must first get a report from the state medical examiner’s autopsy report, and that isn’t expected until later this month.
