We are urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly supporters) before the end of October to help save babies from abortion 365 days a year. Your first gift as a Life Defender today will be DOUBLED. Click here to make your monthly commitment.
17-year-old Roselle died because of a Planned Parenthood abortion
By all accounts, Roselle Owens had a bright future ahead of her. According to Operation Rescue, she was preparing to graduate from high school in 2009 and planned to go to college the following fall. But when she discovered she was pregnant, she likely imagined the future she hoped for falling apart. That’s when she turned to Planned Parenthood.
Operation Rescue reports that in April of 2009, Roselle learned she was pregnant and on the 11th of that month she went to the Margaret Sanger Center Planned Parenthood in Manhattan.
“It was the last thing she would ever do,” wrote Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue.
It’s been nearly a decade since Roselle died, but she is unfortunately just one in a long line of women who have been injured at the Margaret Sanger Center Planned Parenthood. In fact, there has been a medical emergency at the facility every 12 days in 2019. And Zupnick, the abortionist who committed her abortion, has a history of medical malpractice going as far back as the 1970s.
After her death, Roselle’s brother Thurman T. Owens filed a medical malpractice/wrongful death suit. It states that Planned Parenthood misled Roselle by referring to abortion as “very common” and “safe” on its website and that the abortionist who committed Roselle’s abortion said it was “‘uneventful’ and that there were no complications.”
However, the suit states that Planned Parenthood’s records reveal a different story and that Roselle suffered from labored breathing as soon as the abortion procedure ended at 9:20 a.m. Yet abortionist Gerald Zupnick and the rest of the medical staff didn’t monitor her or provide her with the care she required. They also failed to contact an emergency medical team for 13 minutes.
Every day in America, more than 2,800 preborn babies lose their lives to abortion.
That number should break our hearts and move us to action.
Ending this tragedy requires daily commitment from people like you who refuse to stay silent.
Millions read Live Action News each month — imagine the impact if each of us took a stand for life 365 days a year.
Right now, we’re urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly donors) to join us before the end of October. And thanks to a generous $250,000 matching grant, your first monthly gift will be DOUBLED to help save lives and build a culture that protects the preborn.
Will you become one of the 500 today? Click here now to become a Live Action Life Defender and have your first gift doubled.
Together, we can end abortion and create a future where every child is cherished and every mother is supported.
At 10:05 a.m., Roselle was finally taken to St. Vincent’s Medical Center where she was stabilized, but the delay in getting her the proper care caused brain damage. Roselle needed a respirator to breathe. There she stayed for five months until her death on September 8, 2009.
Owens argues that Planned Parenthood was negligent in the care of Roselle and “failed to use reasonable care in the services rendered” to her. He also claims that Planned Parenthood “failed to fully inform Roselle and/or her family of the risks” of abortion to the health and life of the mother.
“This case stands as a warning to women who seek abortion at the Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood – or any other abortion facility, for that matter,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Abortion is not as safe as Planned Parenthood claims. We know this because we have been documenting cases of medical emergencies at abortion clinics for several years. It is a sad reality that women who walk into an abortion facility may never walk out.”
Life could look much different for Roselle right now if she hadn’t chosen abortion. She could be a birth mother whose child is being raised by a loving adoptive family or she could be a young mom working through college with the help of pro-life groups and her family. But society tells 17-year-old girls that sex and pregnancy don’t go hand in hand. Then when they do get pregnant, they are told they aren’t good enough or strong enough to give birth to their children. They are convinced to abort and they are told it’s safe and empowering. But it’s all a lie.
Zupnick and the Owens family settled out of court in 2015, and Planned Parenthood settled in 2016. Despite this, Zupnick’s medical license profile gives no indication that he was involved in the death of a patient.
“These people at Planned Parenthood did not seem to care if Roselle Owens lived or died. We cannot overstate how serious the situation really is there,” said Newman. “Women are being hospitalized on a regular basis. We doubt that Roselle Owens has been their only fatality. This is one of Planned Parenthood’s dirty little secrets they take great pains to conceal from the American people. This abortion facility poses a danger to the public and should be closed immediately.”
Abortion isn’t safe — not for the baby and not for the mother either.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Investigative·By Nancy Flanders
