Unsafe for mothers, too

As an ambulance pulled up outside the Delta abortion center in Baton Rouge, La., a pro-life advocate stood outside praying. The person watched workers load someone into an ambulance and then called Louisiana Right to Life.

Later, through a public records request, the pro-life group learned of the day’s horrific events. A woman who was 15 weeks pregnant began bleeding heavily after undergoing a dismemberment abortion. A woman working at the center tried to administer IV fluids but found none available. She tried to give medication, but it was expired. The worker called 911, and the patient later underwent an emergency hysterectomy of her uterus, both fallopian tubes, and cervix.

Last week, Louisiana fined the facility $2,400 for health and safety violations connected with the incident after shutting it down for nine days.

“It is atrocious that the Delta abortion clinic failed to even have basic medical supplies such as IV fluids on site to stabilize this patient during an emergency,” Louisiana Right to Life executive director Benjamin Clapper said. “Their institutional negligence and allegiance to cutting costs and increasing profits at the expense of their patients has unfortunately resulted in serious harm to a patient’s life.”

The facility has a track record of health and safety violations. In 1984, Sheila Herbert died after an asthma attack following an abortion there. Ingar Lee Whittington Weber died in 1990 after an abortionist at Delta performed a procedure on her when she was experiencing kidney trouble, not pregnancy.

Earlier this year, state officials found numerous deficiencies at Delta in areas such as staffing, operative procedures, and pharmaceutical services. The state has levied thousands of dollars in fines against the facility and forced it to close temporarily.

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director and founder of the pro-life group And Then There Were None, said she has helped abortion workers leave the industry after working at Delta. Their stories, she said, line up with the Louisiana Department of Health reports that her website Check My Clinic and Louisiana Right to Life have obtained.

She added that while many abortion facilities violate medical health and safety standards, Delta is “on a whole other level” with its repeated failures.

“The Delta Clinic in Louisiana is synonymous with outrageous incidents of putting women in serious jeopardy with their horrific practices,” Johnson said. “State health department inspection reports list not only incidents like the most recent one but also instances of failure to report sexual abuse of a minor, failure to properly sterilize equipment including the vaginal probe, and failure to monitor vital signs while the patient was under anesthesia. This clinic needs to be shut down for good for the safety of women in Louisiana.”

Brandon Theesfeld in police custody in Oxford, Miss. Associated Press/Photo by Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle

Across the nation

Minnesota: Officials in the town of Rogers charged 29-year old Rianna Marie Cameron with two counts of second-degree manslaughter after her heavy drinking led to the death of her newborn. At 34 weeks pregnant, she went on a drinking “bender” and gave birth to her daughter. Police found the newborn after a 911 call, and hospital staff pronounced the baby dead.

Mississippi: Friends of University of Mississippi student Ally Kostial say her accused killer, Brandon Theesfeld, pressured her to have an abortion before she was shot to death. Police found her body dumped near Sardis Lake on July 20. They arrested Theesfeld two days later, and the investigation is ongoing.

Florida: A state appeals court ruling could revive a Florida law requiring women to wait 24 hours between an initial meeting with an abortionist and aborting an unborn baby. A lower court struck down the law in 2017. Last week, appellate judges said the state had provided enough evidence to make a case in favor of the measure and sent it back to a lower court for a full trial.

Washington: Assisted suicide deaths rose in the state last year, along with complications related to new, lower-cost drugs. In 2018, 203 people died from taking prescribed lethal drugs, up from 164 in 2017. Sixty-two people experienced prolonged deaths of 90 minutes or longer—the longest took 31 hours. Side effects from some new drugs led to burning pain in people’s mouths and throats. —S.G.

Brandon Theesfeld in police custody in Oxford, Miss. Associated Press/Photo by Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle

Missouri battleground

Pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit last week against a pro-life Missouri law protecting the unborn after eight weeks of gestation. Under the law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, in May, abortionists who violate the law could face five to 15 years in prison. The law has exceptions for medical emergencies and would not punish women who sought abortions.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the law firm Paul, Weiss, which filed suit on Tuesday, argue the rule violates a woman’s right to privacy.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, decried the suit: “Once again the abortion lobby is running to the courts to foist an extreme agenda on Missourians, who soundly reject abortion on demand, especially when the unborn child can feel pain.”

If a court finds the law invalid, it includes provisions to automatically protect newborns from abortion at 14, 18, or 20 weeks of gestation, depending on the ruling. —S.G.