Planned Parenthood to Pay $2M in Hush Money to Botched Abortion Victim’s Family

Today, the Thomas More Society renewed its call for stronger abortion clinic inspection and regulation in Illinois, in the wake of a $2,000,000.00 wrongful death settlement by Planned Parenthood of Illinois, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation with the family of Tonya Reaves, a woman killed by a botched abortion in 2012.

In February of 2013, the Thomas More Society filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (“IDPR”) requesting an investigation into the Chicago “Loop Health Center” of Planned Parenthood, which was responsible for Ms. Reaves’ botched abortion. No known action has been taken by the IDPR to follow up on the complaint.

In response to the settlement, Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel of the Thomas More Society, said, “The fact that Planned Parenthood has been allowed to merely pay ‘hush money’ to the victim’s family without any further consequences is a slap in the face to every woman who walks through the doors of the nation’s largest abortion provider.”

After the botched abortion took place, Tonya Reaves was left to bleed for five and a half hours in the Planned Parenthood clinic without medical treatment. Furthermore, when Ms. Reaves was finally transferred to the hospital, it took several more hours for her to be treated properly, which indicates that Planned Parenthood did not provide the hospital with sufficient information regarding Ms. Reaves’ condition. The autopsy after her death revealed that Ms. Reaves had suffered perforation of the uterus.

“Ms. Reaves’ tragic death demonstrates the dire need for increased inspection and regulation of Illinois abortion clinics,” added Breen. “Abortion clinics in this state are not held to the same standards as other outpatient surgical facilities, despite the fact that the average clinic performs hundreds of invasive surgeries each year,” he explained.

Read the wrongful death settlement petition here: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/205440101/Tonya-Reaves-Petition-to-Settle?secret_password=2kuj70mb0045wvklqbr3]
Read the court’s approval of the wrongful death settlement here: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/205438750/Tonya-Reaves-Ord-Approving-Settlement-of-Wrongful-Death-Claim]

The following links record the Thomas More Society’s ongoing demand for investigation into the lack of abortion clinic regulation that led to Reave’s death via botched abortion:

• Complaint Demands Investigation and Discipline Against Planned Parenthood for Botched Abortion and Death of Patient [https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/2013/02/07/plannedparenthoodabortiondeath/]

• BREAKING: Autopsy Reveals Details of Grisly Abortion Death [https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/2012/09/11/breaking-autopsy-reveals-details-of-grisly-abortion-death/]

An autopsy found Reaves died of a hemorrhage following a cervical dilation and evacuation performed during an intrauterine pregnancy, according to the medical examiner’s office. Her death was ruled an accident.

Documents, including Reave’s autopsy report and other records show that Reaves received an incomplete Dilation and Evacuation abortion procedure at Planned Parenthood that was followed by uncontrolled bleeding. Planned Parenthood staff allowed Reaves to hemorrhage for 5½ hours before seeking emergency care. Records show that Planned Parenthood did not call 911 for an ambulance, which was the quickest way to get help for her.

The autopsy listed the manner of death as “Accident,” which would include an avoidable death from negligence and malpractice.

Operation Rescue filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation seeking a full investigation and has been interviewed by a state investigator in relation to that complaint. OR has joined with other pro-life groups in calling on Cook County Illinois State’s Attorney, Anita Alvarez, to launch an investigation into the death of Tonya Reaves under the state’s “depraved indifference murder” statutes.

What is interesting is that Reaves’ death was ruled an accident by the same Medical Examiners Office whose chief was appointed by what appears to be an avid pro-abortion Planned Parenthood supporter. The family wants answers and only receives silence. A look into this issue further exposes some interesting facts.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appointed the Chief Medical Examiner of the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Daryl Jackson

In April of 2012 Preckwinkle was a special guest at a Planned Parenthood gala.

Cook County Board President was also in attendance at Planned Parenthood’s 2010 Campaign Kickoff !

According to the Chicago Tribune: In June of 2012, After months of evaluating operations and making lower-level changes at the troubled county morgue, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle launched a major shake-up Tuesday that included the departure of the two top officials at the medical examiner’s office.

Out was Medical Examiner Nancy Jones, who will retire at the end of July, and Kimberly Jackson, the top administrator in the office. In was Daryl Jackson, a longtime state Public Health Department supervisor that Preckwinkle chose as the new administrator. And a nationwide search was launched to replace Jones.

Medical Examiner Hid Info Showing Planned Parenthood Killed Patient

Operation Rescue, who requested a copy of the autopsy on Ms. Reaves, indicates that it was not provided the complete autopsy report — indicating six pages were omitted that place the blame squarely on Planned Parenthood’s shoulders. The copy the pro-life group received from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office was missing the six important pages that further detailed Reaves fatal abortion injuries and noted that Planned Parenthood was where her abortion took place.

The sanitized copy sent to Operation Rescue contained no mention of Planned Parenthood. The omission was discovered when attorneys for the Thomas More Society, a pro-life legal group that also had filed an open records request for the report, compared notes with Operation Rescue.

According to Operation Rescue President, Troy Newman, one missing page titled “First Call Sheet”, there appears to be redacted information on the first line under “Medical History” where the circumstances surrounding Reaves death are explained. After the redaction, there is the following notation: “1100. Planned Parenthood. Suction D&E. Post Op bleed.”

The missing pages note that Reaves was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital via a Chicago Fire Department ambulance at 4:30 p.m., five and a half hours after her botched second trimester abortion left her hemorrhaging. However, there is no record that an emergency 911 call was placed by Planned Parenthood.

Also included is an anatomical diagram indicating a large abdominal incision made during an emergency hysterectomy performed by a hospital surgeon in a vain effort to save Reaves’ life as well as marks on her chest consistent with the application of defibrillator paddles. The records show that despite these efforts, Reaves could not be resuscitated.

The Planned Parenthood abortion business, which waited five hours before sending a woman who died from a botched legal abortion to the hospital, never called 911.

Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act show that only one call to 911 was made on Friday, July 20 from the building located at 18 S. Michigan, which houses Planned Parenthood.

Operation Rescue president, Troy Newman responded to the $2 million dollar settlement by calling again for a criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood and a disciplinary action against the abortionist.

Mandy Gittler’s license shows no disciplinary action. In fact, her name failed to appear as a defendant on the settlement documents even though she was named in the original complaint. A receipt for attorney fees indicates she was deposed in the case.

“Planned Parenthood’s behavior, in my opinion, rises to the level of criminal conduct and should still be investigated as such, especially now that Planned Parenthood has agreed to cough up cash….Planned Parenthood joins the likes of Kermit Gosnell in providing substandard care to poor urban women of color who they apparently don’t think even deserve as much as a call to 911,” stated Newman.

“We still maintain that the 5½-hour delay in obtaining emergency care for Reaves meets the criterion for the minimum charge of criminal negligence, but there has been no interest whatsoever shown by authorities in Chicago in seeking justice for Tonya or in protecting other women from her plight. That means what happened to Tonya will likely happen again to another unsuspecting woman. It’s just a matter of time,” Newman said.

More on this story at Life News

The media is so in the pocket of Planned Parenthood that just a few days after Tonya’s death – Planned Parenthood prez tweeted that women needed “Safe Legal Abortions” for Valentine’s Day and the media won’t even question them about this death: