Autopsy report shows woman’s death at Cleveland abortion clinic was probably preventable

Last March, 22-year-old Lakisha Wilson was rushed to the emergency room after having a late-term abortion at the Preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. After a week on life support, Lakisha died–and now an autopsy report reveals that the death was probably preventable.

According to the report obtained by Operation Rescue, Lakisha suffered “uterine atony,” a condition where the uterus does not properly contract after the abortion, causing hemorrhage.

Wilson suffered blood loss and went into shock, which was not immediately detected, or she would have been treated and stabilized.

“If Lakisha had been monitored properly, early signs of distress would have been rapidly detected and treated before she had deteriorated to the point of cardiopulmonary arrest,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Because there is now reason to believe that negligence was involved, we call upon Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty to launch a criminal investigation into the death of Lakisha Wilson and act quickly bring those responsible to justice.”

Predictably, abortion rights groups and the local media have zero interest in this story. They ignored a pro-life protest at Preterm last week, and they ignored the initial reports of Lakisha’s death. The only mention of it I could find in the Cleveland Plain Dealer was a laughably biased article titled, “Anti-abortion group accuses Cleveland abortion clinic of fatally botching procedure on Columbus woman, 22.” Accused? Lakisha Wilson is dead–and her autopsy report leaves no doubt that her abortion killed her. (All Cleveland natives, including me, know that the Plain Dealer is an outlet for pompous left-wing hectoring, not news. This is the paper that once employed Connie Schultz, the wife of a Democratic Senator, as its premier opinion columnist during election season.)

This shouldn’t be controversial. Abortion supporters often cite statistics on how safe legal abortion is–“safer than childbirth,” as they repeat ad nauseum. If that’s true, then Lakisha Wilson’s death from this safe, legal procedure is cause for alarm. Something went horribly wrong at the Preterm clinic, and it ought to be investigated.