It’s not likely you’ll hear about this in any mainstream news, but a New York abortionist, Robert Rho, is currently on trial for the death of his patient, 30-year-old Jaime Morales, who died after a botched dismemberment abortion in 2016. While there are — conspicuously — no media present at the trial, pro-life activist Lauren Handy is in the courtroom of Judge Gregory Lasak at the Queens Supreme Court, Criminal Division for the hearing, and is reporting the events of the courtroom to Operation Rescue. Rho is charged with Second Degree Manslaughter.
A dismemberment, or D&E, abortion is depicted in the video below, described by former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino:
Previous violations
According to Handy, on April 23rd, day 10 of the trial, lead prosecutor Brad A. Leventhal called Paula M. Breen, Deputy Director of the Office of Professional Medical Conduct, to the stand. She testified that she has been investigating Rho since 2013 for infractions involving sedation and office staff. She stated that she had sent three letters concerning the violations to Rho in May 2014, March 2015, and December 2015, and that Rho failed to respond to those letters.
In addition, in July of 2016, just months before Morales’ death, Breen accompanied police during a search of Rho’s abortion facility. There they found a cabinet of sedation medications used in later-term abortion procedures, but they were unable to locate laminaria sticks or Misoprostol, both of which are often used in second-trimester abortions. A detective that was present during the search testified to this, which indicates that rather than taking two days to perform the abortion, allowing the cervix to properly dilate, Rho rushed the abortion attempting to complete it in one day.
The defense showed the detective a crime scene photo that included white boxes, which were said to contain laminaria sticks.
Forged anesthesia records
The second witness of day 10, anesthesiologist Dr. Arup De took to the stand to testify as an expert in anesthesiology. Dr. De stated that he feels Morales’ anesthesia report could have been forged because it didn’t accurately represent what the average patient’s vital signs would be and that it was nearly impossible for a person to have the numbers that were on Morales’ medical records. He continued by saying that neither Rho nor any of his staff are certified anesthesiologists, therefore for Rho to administer anesthesia while simultaneously committing an abortion without properly trained staff on hand to monitor the patient’s vitals during the procedure would be a gross deviance of medical practice standards.
Disturbing video of Morales
What sounds to be a disturbing video was played for the jury. It showed Morales wheeled into the hallway at 6:03 pm with her head tilted back and her eyes closed. She remained unresponsive as the staff wiped her face. Her vitals were not checked during this time and a few minutes later as someone attempted to give her water, her head fell back again. Vitals remained unchecked. Morales was released into the care of her sister less than 30 minutes later. Upon watching the video, Dr. De stated that Morales should not have been discharged in that condition. He also said that Morales’ condition was not consistent with the notes on what he believes to be her forged anesthesia report.
READ: Brother of woman who died from abortion at Planned Parenthood: Abortion is not a safe procedure
The autopsy photos
On day 11 of the trial, Dr. Steven Chasen, a professor and Ob/Gyn at Weill Cornell Medicine, was called to the stand. He is an abortionist who sits on the Executive Board of the New York City Planned Parenthood and has committed hundreds of abortions. Chasen testified that laminaria dilators and Misoprostol are needed together to prep the cervix for a late-term abortion and stated that medical records indicate that Rho only used dilators. However, Lichtman and Rho had reviewed photos from the search of the facility and found what appeared to be a bottle of Misoprostol. Handy witnessed Rho showing his attorney a pill bottle that Handy recognized as Misoprostol and watched as Rho dumped the pills into his wife’s purse and handed the empty bottle to Licthman before the jury was brought in.
Morales’ autopsy photos were shown to Chasen, who explained her injuries included a lacerated uterus and uterine artery as well as a deep cut into her vagina and a slice through her cervix. She was bleeding so severely that Rho brought her back into the procedure room to attempt to stop the bleeding but failed. Then Rho “cinched” her cervix shut which created a “dam” that held the bleeding inside. This would make it appear that the bleeding had stopped when in reality, blood was pooling inside Morales’ abdomen. He then released her at 6:30 p.m.
Lichtman presented the empty Misoprostol bottle to Chasen who confirmed that the label said Misprostol but since there were no pills, he couldn’t say for certain if the bottle contained the drug.
“This discussion seemed odd since Rho had emptied the bottle of Misoprostol tablets prior to the start of the court session,” Operation Rescue reported. “It appeared that the defense was attempting to prove that Misoprostol was present at Rho’s clinic with the implication that it had been used on Morales.”
The Baby’s Remains
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Bradley Adams testified on the state of the unborn aborted child. He said that the child’s head was decapitated, and the arms were partially detached. He showed the jury an X-ray and pointed out the baby’s ankle and heel, stating that those bones form during the 24th-26th weeks of pregnancy. He also measured the child’s pelvis and stated that it also indicated a gestational age of 24-26 weeks. Rho’s ultrasound confirmed that the preborn baby was 25.1 weeks or nearly six months.
Preborn child at 25 weeks
Abortion staff testimony
One employee called Kelly Sue told police that she had witnessed Rho inserting pills into Morales’ vagina on the day of the abortion but she was unsure if he used laminaria because he usually manually dilates his patients. She also stated that Morales’ vitals were checked once after the procedure but before to her trip to the bathroom where she passed out and hit her head. Her vitals were not rechecked after that.
The variety of testimony makes it clear that Morales suffered horrendously under the (supposed) care of Rho and his staff. Rather than ensure the safety of his patient, Rho appears to have taken shortcuts, resulting in the death of Morales. Her child was old enough to feel pain and to survive outside the womb, yet was ripped apart during the abortion.
If convicted, Rho faces up to 15 years in prison. But it seems that stories about abortionists who kill women just aren’t very popular with mainstream media, who prefer to paint abortionists as legitimate doctors who help women.
Tragically, in this case, Jaime Morales and her child both lost their lives to the dangerous and wholly unnecessary “procedure” known as abortion.
