SAFE AND LEGAL? ABORTION KILLS WOMAN
Report confirms incomplete procedure done at Planned Parenthood
An autopsy report on a woman who died after an abortion at a Chicago-area Planned Parenthood business confirms that she was
bleeding uncontrollably and never awoke from an emergency surgery to try to save her life.
Officials with the Thomas More Society and the Pro-Life Action League reported today they had obtained a copy of the autopsy report
from Tonya Reaves.
The case generated horror when it happened, and pro-life organizations have been investigating the public records for a confirmation
of early reports that Reaves went in for an abortion and bled to death.
The controversial manner of Reaves’ death on July 20 triggered a hailstorm of calls for abortion provider regulation in Illinois, which
currently has almost no oversight of the abortion businesses.
According to a report today from the Pro-Life Action League, the second trimester abortion was done on Reaves about 11 a.m., even
though the Planned Parenthood website for that particular Chicago area location said it provides only birth control, the morning after
pill and chemical abortions.
The autopsy report reveals that Reaves had “an intrauterine pregnancy of 16 weeks estimated gestational age.”
The medical examiner’s report said Planned Parenthood performed an incomplete abortion and she complained of pain and was noticed to be swelling after the procedure.
Five and a half hours after the abortion, she was taken to a hospital, where a second abortion was performed because of remaining
“conception products.” She continued to deteriorate and was taken into surgery for a hysterectomy.
An “uncontrollable bleed” was found and she died without waking up, some 12 hours after the initial abortion, the report said.
The Pro-Life Action League said the report “indicates that her left uterine artery-vein was possibly transected, which caused the
uncontrollable bleeding.”
The report, which the Pro-Life Action League provided to WND, also noted that “discrete defects” in the tissue were “difficult to
ascertain” because of the bleeding.
The league report said Freedom of Information Act requests after the death “did not reveal a call from Planned Parenthood to 911,
although the medical examiner’s report states that Reaves was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital by Chicago Fire Department
ambulance at 4:30 p.m.”
Officials previously had tried to prevent access to the document that in the state is a public record.
Allison K. Aranda, a senior staff counsel for the California-based Life Legal Defense Foundation, had reported that a formal public
records request for Reaves’ autopsy report was made in writing July 23 by a staff member for Operation Rescue.
The attorney said a caller from the medical examiner’s office told Operation Rescue the request was being rejected because OR did
not have family authorization or a subpoena.
However, according to Life Legal, “Illinois law specifically states that all records in the custody or possession of a public body are
presumed to be open to inspection or copying, and nowhere does the state exempt autopsy reports from compliance.”
The legal team confirmed that the Freedom of Information Act Guide for Law Enforcement published July 12, 2012, by the Illinois
office of the attorney general “specifically states that autopsy reports are public records and should be released.”
Likewise, the legal team reported a 2010 Illinois Public Access Counselor review also stated clearly that autopsy reports in the files
of the medical examiner are within the provenance of the FOIA and concluded that, “the reports are public records and should be
released.”
WND also reported earlier that the Planned Parenthood abortion business had been told on a separate issue to call 911 for help in an
emergency – the same day Reaves died.
Operation Rescue reported it got a copy of a telephone call placed at 12:43 p.m. on July 20 from the Loop Health Center Planned
Parenthood in Chicago regarding a fracas that developed with a mother and daughter who were at the abortion business.
That situation was unrelated to that of Reaves, who had her fatal abortion at about 11 a.m. at that location on that day, Operation
Rescue said.
But the 911 dispatcher on the call is heard admonishing the Planned Parenthood worker for calling 311, a number used primarily to
provide information regarding city events and programs, during an emergency.
The mother-and-daughter issue developed when a 16-year-old patient was “physically assaulted” by her mother, and Operation
Rescue said the caller indicated abortion business staff members pulled the two apart after they saw the mother kick her daughter and pull her hair.
Part of the conversation, which can be heard at the Operation Rescue website, is as follows:
Dispatcher: OK, and once you called – you see, next time you need a police car to come out for any reason whatsoever, you need to
call 911.
Caller: Right. OK. I just –
Dispatcher: That way you don’t waste time with 311.
Caller: I know, I know, I just (laugh) I just hate to use services to make, you know –
Dispatcher: I know. Well, they don’t dispatch police cars. All they do is transfer you to 911.
Caller: Gotcha.
Dispatcher: So you’re waiting in that queue and then they flip you over to our office.
Caller: Right.
Dispatcher: Now I don’t have any of your information. So, what is your telephone number?
OR reported the dispatcher “is heard admonishing the Planned Parenthood worker for calling 311, which caused a delay in
dispatching aid to the scene.” That means the facility “ignored instructions from an emergency dispatcher to directly call 911 in the
event of an emergency in order to prevent wasting precious time,” OR said.
WND also reported earlier when pro-life leader Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics called on state attorney Anita Alvarez of Cook
County, Ill., for an immediate investigation of Planned Parenthood for what he alleged was the murder of Reaves.
Crutcher cited the Illinois “depraved indifference murder” statute as being more than enough to warrant a thorough inspection of the
death of the African-American woman – to determine if criminal charges can be pressed against Planned Parenthood.
“If it can be shown that this young woman might have survived if emergency treatment had not been withheld from her for more than
five hours, then this was not an accident and it was not medical malpractice,” Crutcher contends. “It was a homicide, and those
responsible should be on the evening news wearing handcuffs and leg irons.”
The National Black Pro-life Coalition also is seeking to hold Planned Parenthood accountable for Reave’s death.
“At a minimum, Planned Parenthood was criminally negligent when they left Tonya bleeding in their facility for more than five
hours,” said Walter B. Hoye, who serves as president and founder of the Issues4Life Foundation. ” Planned Parenthood’s lack of
action demonstrates a depraved indifference for the life of this young woman. Planned Parenthood must be held accountable for the
death of Tonya Reaves.”
King for America founder Alveda King said, “We demand the unjust targeting of the black community by abortionists be investigated
and immediately ended.”
