Doors of Reckless Granite City, Illinois, Abortion Business Must be Permanently Shuttered

By Anne Reed

Operation Rescue recently reported on four medical emergencies in less than two months at the misnamed ‘Hope’ Clinic for Women (HCW) in Granite City, Illinois. At that time, the 911 records had not yet been secured for the fourth ambulance transfer that occurred on April 28.

Because the facility utilized a private ambulance service, we did not expect to gain access to public 911 records. However, we have since learned that the private ambulance service, RuralMed EMS, secured the Effingham County contract, and is, therefore, dispatched through the public 911 service. 

And what we learned as a result of accessing the 911 recording is deeply distressing. 

The ambulance observed by pro-lifers on the sidewalk that Friday afternoon was called to transport a 13-year-old girl who had undergone a risky second trimester abortion and was seriously injured due to the abortionist’s surgical instruments tearing through her uterus.  

During the 911 call, the HCW employee, Beth, asked for transport of the girl to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, a Level 1 Trauma Center.

During a previous 911 call made to Granite City on March 29, Operation Rescue learned that a new system had been installed which required dispatchers to ask questions about the patients’ vital signs – a necessary process for determining the condition of the patient and the type of emergency intervention required.

But less than a month later, the dispatcher who responded to the call concerning this 13-year-old girl only requested her age and a general description of what happened. Granite City refuses to release the computer-aided dispatch transcript, a publicly available document that would likely provide additional details concerning the condition of the girl. 

“It is unknown whether the abortionist who performed the botched abortion reported the child’s rape,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “My staff is looking into this and filing a formal complaint concerning this middle-school aged girl who was already violated sexually and then violated again by the blood-thirsty abortionists at this hopelessly dangerous facility.”

The abortionist’s negligent anterior perforation of this child’s uterus is reminiscent of the horrendous death of 24-year-old Tonya Reeves in 2012, caused by internal bleeding from the same type of perforation at a Chicago Planned Parenthood. 

A more recent case involved April Lowery, a 29 year-old woman who died in 2020 after suffering from a perforated uterus during a botched abortion at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Fortunately, the Tuscaloosa abortion mill is no longer injuring or killing due to a strict abortion ban that became effective in Alabama immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned last June. 

“Though abortion clinics have closed in states all over the country since Roe was overturned, HCW is alive and well – injuring so many girls and women that it is difficult for my staff to keep up with the life-threatening hospitalizations occurring on a regular basis,” said Newman. 

As of May 2022, Julie Burkhart owns HCW. Shortly after she purchased the late-term abortion business, she boasted about the patient volume and her plans to increase its capacity. “We are working on ramping up now,” she said.  

She has kept her promise – and the number of documented emergencies has nearly doubled since she purchased the business.

Burkhart has been at the forefront of directing and promoting the darkest, seediest, and most dangerous late-term, baby-killing operations for years. She ran a political action committee for abortionist George Tiller who was under investigation for illegal, late-term abortions before he was murdered in 2009. Following his death, Burkhart tried to keep his legacy alive by taking over his abortion mill. 

“It is shocking and heartbreaking to see a child exploited in this way, but it’s not surprising when the source is considered,” said Newman. 

“We hope and pray that this poor girl lived through this deadly ordeal. If so, we pray for her as she begins a long journey of physical and emotional healing from the repeated forms of victimization that no child should ever have to endure.

“We are doing everything within our power to stop this facility from killing and maiming. That will only happen if it is closed for good.” 

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