Officials for Operation Rescue, one of the cutting edge pro-life organizations in the U.S. ever since it bought an abortion clinic to shut it down and convert the building into its pro-life headquarters in Wichita, are reporting the death of a woman in Maryland after her “medical procedure” went wrong and the abortionist couldn’t be reached.
The name of the victim, who was 33 weeks pregnant, was as yet unavailable, but Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for OR, said trusted sources had described the death of the 29-year-old woman after Leroy Carhart, who does late-term abortions out of the Germantown Reproductive Health Services, started the procedure and then was unreachable when there were complications.
The woman ultimately died at a local hospital, Sullenger’s source confirmed.
The 29-year-old apparently was undergoing a multi-day procedure used by late-term abortionists, Sullenger said.
“Sidewalk counselors saw her every day from Sunday to Wednesday. She appeared, later in the week, to be pale and weak,” Sullenger told WND today.
Early Thursday, there were complications, including chest pain and other discomfort, and the woman tried to reach Carhart but he was unavailable, the source reported. The woman then was transported to a local emergency room by her family where emergency workers also tried to reach Carhart, unsuccessfully.
The complication, apparently bleeding into the abdominal cavity, got worse, and she “coded,” or had her heart stop, six times, Sullenger’s source confirmed.
Emergency room doctors ultimately were unsuccessful at reviving her.
The source, who insisted on anonymity, reported an investigation into the death has been launched.
“We believe this incident supports our belief that this is a dangerous abortion procedure,” Sullenger told WND. She said it involves a shot that kills the unborn baby, and then the abortionist leaves the mothers unmonitored.
She noted that Carhart was involved in another death, that of patient Kristen Gilbert, in 2005, and at that time the abortionist also was unavailable when there were complications.
Sullenger said the Maryland Coalition for Life and the Christian Defense Coalition also were working on the case.
The Operation Rescue website describes the procedure likely in use, that which the late abortionist George Tiller called the “MOLD” technique because it uses Misoprostol, Oxytocin, Laminaria and Digoxin.
The website describes the process: “The induction abortion takes 3-4 days to complete. On the first day the woman is given an ultrasound to determine the gestational age of her baby. Then, with the aid of the ultrasound to guide the abortionist, a lethal dose of the heart medication Digoxin is injected into the baby’s heart directly through the woman’s abdomen. Digoxin gives the baby a fatal heart attack. This is an off-label application of the drug, which was developed and approved as a treatment for heart disease.”
OR quoted Tiller then discussing the process: “Although you may find this a little difficult and a little uncomfortable, on the first day that you arrive at the clinic we will make an injection of a medication called digoxin into the fetus to initiate fetal demise.”
OR explained, “After the Digoxin injection, the woman’s cervix is packed with laminaria, thin tampon-like sticks made of seaweed that expand the cervix gradually over the next day. The next day, the woman is repacked with larger laminaria sticks and given Misoprostol to prepare the woman for labor.
“On the final day of the abortion, the woman is given the drug Oxytocin, which induces contractions and the onset of labor. Women then are placed in a room where they endure the labor process.”
OR publishes online a pages-long list of women who have died during abortion procedures.
Carhart, who also operates an abortion business in Nebraska, already has been the focal point of a campaign to push him out of Maryland. The KickoutCarhart.com website states, “Stand with us and send a message to the entire country that WE WILL NOT allow Maryland to become the Late-term Abortion Capital of the U.S.”
“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. “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.”
