By Sarah Neely
Chicago, IL — So far, Operation Rescue has investigated more abortion injuries in radicalized Illinois this year than any other state. The two most recent investigations bring the body count to 13 women across 6 clinics while state officials continue to give abortion businesses a free pass — no required licensing, no investigations, no recourse for women who have been injured by clinics to even file a complaint with the state.
Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, asks, “How many injured women is it going to take before abortion devastations like Illinois and Colorado — states that have chosen to leave abortion clinics completely unregulated — acknowledge the carnage their radical policies create?”
Investigation #12: “Trauma Services” Requested For Botched Third-Trimester Abortion
Hope Clinic’s Chicago location opened last year with the sole purpose of performing gruesome late-term abortions. Currently, the clinic only performs abortions if a woman is 18 weeks or more, and continues with dangerous induction abortions up to 34 weeks gestation.
This is Hope Clinic’s second location. The original location is still operating in Granite City. When the new Chicago location opened its doors, the infamous Granite City location had injured 40 women in less than six years. Within months, the Chicago location started to follow suit with abortionist Erica Hinz calling 911 herself for a woman suffering complications from an abortion at 30 weeks.
In that call, Hinz did something bizarre: completely avoiding the word “abortion,” Hinz told a confused 911 dispatcher that the woman “gave birth,” making it sound as if her clinic was a birthing center rather than a killing compound. Of course, the real tell is that Hinz didn’t mention any medical care for a newly born baby — only a woman who she described as “no longer pregnant.”
More recently, on May 14, Hope Clinic Chicago had to call 911 yet again, this time for a 43-year-old experiencing “heavy vaginal bleeding.”
In 911 records obtained by Pro-Life Action League, the abortion worker can be heard once more avoiding terms like “abortion” or “termination.” Instead she says the hemorrhaging woman went through a “pregnancy delivery” and needed immediate transfer to “a hospital with obstetrical and trauma services.” Again, there was no request to transport a living baby.
“What happened to that baby?” asks Newman. “With no regulations or licensing in place, how do we know this baby wasn’t delivered alive and illegally killed as her mother lay bleeding to death beside her? How can state officials ensure something like that isn’t happening once a month? Once a week?”
Investigation #13: Abortion Worker Reports Likely Internal Bleeding as “Not That Bad”
A month later, on June 18, another unregulated Chicago late-term abortion operation was forced to call 911. Counting this emergency, Family Planning Associates has injured 7 women in less than two years — and those are just the ones Operation Rescue has been able to document.
In 911 records also obtained by Pro-Life Action League, the abortion staffer tells 911 that a 24-year-old’s “c-section scar has separated.” Again, the staffer seems to be avoiding the more alarming description of that complication: a possible uterine rupture, which can be deadly.
Women with a past cesarean section have a higher risk of uterine rupture in second trimester abortions, which FPA offers. This is often due to the use of drugs that force a woman’s body into labor, causing the uterus to contract.
“Were these risks explained to this woman?” Newman says. “State officials could find out in an investigation, but instead they continue to stand by, silent, as more and more women are rushed to the ER.”
There is also the question of how the clinic staff knew the bleeding was from a “scar separation” versus a perforation from the sharp tools used to perform later abortions. Both complications require a laparotomy (open surgery) to diagnose. In an abortion room, it would seem more likely that bleeding into the abdomen was seen on ultrasound – a true, life-threatening emergency — and certainly not a situation that lines up with FPA staff’s report to 911 dispatch that “she is bleeding, but not that bad.”
Newman adds, “These unlicensed, unregulated clinics are butchering women with no fear of an investigation, discipline, or being shut down. We have a term for that: the back-alley. And Illinois is letting it happen, choosing to protect their holy sacrament of abortion over the lives of women and preborn children.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.”
