Why did this abortion facility tell an ambulance a patient was ‘miscarrying’?

Cherry Hill Women’s Center is a high-volume abortion facility located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It is probably best known as the abortion facility in which a woman named Emily Letts filmed her own abortion. That video went viral back in 2014 and caused a great deal of controversy. Now, Cherry Hill Women’s Center is in the news for calling an ambulance for a patient for the second time this year — only instead of calling it a botched abortion, the center requested an ambulance for a woman whom they told the dispatch was “miscarrying.”

According to the pro-life group Operation Rescue, pro-life activists were outside the facility praying on October 12, 2018, during the current 40 Days for Life campaign, when an ambulance arrived and was sent to the back of the building. A woman was seen on a gurney being moved into the ambulance. This isn’t the first time this particular abortion facility has requested an ambulance. In fact, it’s been happening for years. But it is unclear why the facility’s staff would say the woman was “miscarrying” when the facility is solely an abortion provider. One thought is that perhaps the woman had taken the abortion pill and was having difficulties during that process. Less than half of U.S. states are required to report such complications — and, of course, if the complication can be labeled as a “miscarriage,” as it may have been in this case, it will not be reported as a complication of abortion. This, in essence, deceives women about the actual risks of abortion. The question remains: was the person who called 911 was lying in order to avoid having an “abortion complication” on record?

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However, as Operation Rescue president Troy Newman noted, “Women who are naturally miscarrying do not go to an abortion facility. They go to an emergency room.”

Cherry Hill Women’s Center is part of a chain of abortion facilities and is a member of the National Abortion Federation whose facilities have had a reputation for being dirty and unsafe in the past. Other bad press for the facility has included abortionist Eric Yahav attempting to force his girlfriend to undergo an abortion, and a wrongful birth lawsuit regarding a child who survived an abortion and was born with disabilities because of it. According to Operation Rescue, Yahav’s girlfriend was able to escape, and Cherry Hill Women’s Center paid $1.65 million in 2002 to settle the wrongful birth case.

This abortion facility commits elective abortions up to 24.6 weeks gestation – more than three weeks after a child can survive outside the womb. The facility also has a “fetal anomaly” option, which may allow staff to abort through all nine months of pregnancy.