ST. LOUIS – An autopsy was performed April 26 on a woman who died shortly after having an abortion at a clinic here.
The 22-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, underwent a first-trimester abortion April 25 at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis. The procedure was completed about 2 p.m. But staff noticed that the woman’s vital signs were not improving, said Paula Glanino, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, which operated Reproductive Health Services.
The woman died a short time later at Barnes – Jewish Hospital.
Pam Manning, spokeswoman for Missouri Right to Life in St. Louis, said the death should serve as a warning to lawmakers to strengthen regulation of abortion clinics.
Robert D. Crist of Overland Park, Kan., a Kansas City suburb performed the surgery on the 22-year-old woman. He performs abortions in Kansas City and St. Louis. He formerly worked at a Houston Clinic as well.
Crist has performed more than 100,000 abortions during his career, pro-life officials said. He has also faced legal actions involving his medical practice in Texas and Missouri, including one lawsuit alleging wrongful death.
Indiana Citizens for Life released a statement in response to the death:
“The recent news regarding the death of a woman at a St. Louis abortion facility is truly horrible. This underscores the hypocrisy in the notion put forward by abortion advocates that abortion is ‘safe, legal and rare.’ It’s certainly not rare and stories like this show us just how unsafe abortion truly is for women,” stated Public Affairs Director Steven Ertelt.
“We hope that in a future legislative session the Indiana General Assembly will support regulation of abortion facilities in Indiana. This way we can make sure that no women dies in this state at the hand of quack doctors in abortion facilities with less than adequate medical resources.
Furthermore, Planned Parenthood owes Indiana women the truth: abortion is a dangerous procedure with very real risks and complications.”
-with files from Associated Press
