'DEFUND 250': 10 times Planned Parenthood has killed or injured patients

On July 4, 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of her founding — but unless Congress votes to continue banning federal Medicaid dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, July 4 will also be the day that America's most prolific killer of preborn children will see those taxpayer dollars once again pouring into its bank accounts.

Planned Parenthood deserves to be permanently defunded — and Live Action News' series, "DEFUND 250," plans to remind the public of many reasons why.

Though Planned Parenthood maintains that it needs public funding because it provides needed "health care," the reality is quite different. Instead of health and healing, women are routinely injured, and some have even lost their lives after undergoing abortions at Planned Parenthood facilities.

It's impossible to list all of these incidents in one place, as they occur with alarming frequency. Here are just a few of the most recent and egregious incidents in which Planned Parenthood has killed or injured its patients.

Key Takeaways:

• Women have been killed and injured at Planned Parenthood facilities across the country.

• These incidents are too numerous to list in one place.

• An organization that regularly injures its patients should not be receiving taxpayer dollars.

The Details:

#1: 18-year-old dies after 22-week abortion at Colorado Planned Parenthood

18-year-old Lexi Arguello died in February 2024, just days after undergoing a 22-week abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins, Colorado. According to testimony provided during a Colorado Health and Human Services hearing following her death, Planned Parenthood allegedly admitted that it delayed getting Lexi the care she needed to survive.

Lexi died of an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), and developed a disseminated intravascular coagulation as a result. AFE is a life-threatening obstetric complication that can occur during an abortion. Despite the seriousness of her condition, Planned Parenthood insisted on the "silent siren" treatment when requesting ambulance transfer — a tactic in which abortion facilities insist that ambulances turn off lights and sirens (so as not to attract attention), and in the process, delaying urgent care.

“Lexi’s grandfather was told by the abortion providers that she was transferred too late,” said Dr. Keri Kasun during a House hearing at which Lexi's death was discussed. “She didn’t receive the urgency of care that would be required in order to have a chance to survive this condition; instead, she got a silent siren treatment.”

#2: Woman dies after abortion at Planned Parenthood

In 2014, 24-year-old Cree Erwin-Sheppard of Battle Creek, Michigan, was found dead just days after undergoing an abortion at Planned Parenthood, and hours after being seen at an emergency room for abortion complications.

After her death, her brother, Tyler Sheppard, revealed that her medical records showed that her abortion had been botched.

Sheppard said the coroner told their family that “she’s never seen anybody as mangled as my sister was…. [The hospital] looked at the X-ray and saw her uterus was perforated and that she was bleeding internally. They still sent her home. They made it seem like it was okay, and, ‘just medicate and you should be fine.’ It felt like they were trying to cover up for Planned Parenthood… it felt like they were trying to cover up the abortion… the cause of her death, and I was upset.”

Woman dies after abortion at Planned Parenthood

#3: Planned Parenthood waited over five hours before transferring her to the ER

In July 2012, 24-year-old Tonya Reaves died from injuries after undergoing a botched second-trimester abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility in the Chicago area. Shockingly, though Reaves began to bleed heavily after the first abortion attempt, it was more than five hours before an ambulance was called. Instead, the abortionist performed an ultrasound, revealing that the first abortion had been incomplete.

A second abortion was committed, but Reaves' pain and bleeding continued. A subsequent ultrasound showed she had a perforated uterus — a known complication of surgical abortion. By the time she received help, it was too late, and she died of her injuries.

An autopsy report later solidified Planned Parenthood's negligence, revealing that if Reaves had received appropriate care in a timely manner, she likely would have survived.

#4: 17-year-old died because of a Planned Parenthood abortion

In April 2009, Roselle Owens died after undergoing an abortion at the Margaret Sanger Center Planned Parenthood in Manhattan.

After her death, her brother, Thurman T. Owens, filed a lawsuit maintaining that Planned Parenthood misled Roselle by referring to abortion as "very common" and "safe" on its website; the abortionist who committed Roselle’s abortion even said it was “‘uneventful’ and that there were no complications,” despite the fact that Owens experienced labored breathing as soon as the procedure began.

According to the lawsuit, Planned Parenthood employees didn't monitor her or provider her with appropriate care, waiting 13 minutes to call emergency personnel to the scene. That delay in care caused brain damage, eventually leading to her death five months later.

#5: Two more women injured at Colorado Planned Parenthood

Though the deaths of patients are most likely to get attention, there are far more instances in which women are injured on a routine basis at Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide.

One year after Lexi Arguello's death at the Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins, the facility is still injuring patients. Operation Rescue reported back-to-back injuries at the facility in March 2026, with a separate injury occurring in February. At least one of the injuries was flagged as potentially life-threatening.

#6: Planned Parenthood sends woman to the hospital on life support, but calls it ‘non-emergent’

In 2024, a Michigan Planned Parenthood injured a woman so severely, she required advanced life support (ALS), which, as Live Action News previously reported, is "administered to patients in critical condition who have suffered a life-threatening condition like cardiac arrest, acute coronary syndrome, or stroke."

Despite this level of severity, Planned Parenthood employees requested the ambulance pull to the building's rear entrance with a "silent siren" approach.

#7: Woman rushed to hospital after hemorrhaging at Ohio abortion business

A woman needed emergency transport to a local hospital after hemorrhaging following a suspected abortion at Planned Parenthood Dayton Surgical Center in Ohio in 2025. This was far from the first time this facility called 911, having had a long history of injuring women.

The abortionist on duty during this incident was allegedly Jeanne Corwin, who is suspected of being responsible for other botched abortions.

#8: Three woman in one month injured at Rhode Island Planned Parenthood

Between October and November 2025, pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue reported the injuries of three women at a Planned Parenthood abortion business in Providence, Rhode Island. Unfortunately, Rhode Island law does not allow public access to 911 calls, making it difficult to ascertain details of these women's injuries.

What is known is that one of the women was experiencing a "complication after a procedure," while another was "hemorrhaging after procedure.” As has been seen in other cases, when an ambulance is required, the injury is serious, and could even be deadly.

#9: Illinois Planned Parenthood mega-facility has three medical emergencies in four days

In 2022, a Planned Parenthood mega-center in Fairview Heights, Illinois, which sits near the Illinois/Missouri border, injured three women in four days.

Known details of the injuries included sharp, stabbing pains, low blood pressure, dizziness, and cervical bleeding. Though the women were transported to the hospital, their conditions following their injuries were unknown.

#10: Two more women injured at Denver Planned Parenthood

A Planned Parenthood in Denver, Colorado, injured multiple women in 2025. Though public records were heavily redacted and/or unavailable, Operation Rescue was able to ascertain that one of the women had "difficulty breathing," which is "a red flag signifying respiratory distress, possible cardiopulmonary collapse, or a related life-threatening emergency."

A CAD report showed the second injury was classified as “37C01," which Operation Rescue noted "is reserved for sudden symptoms that indicate a potential life-threatening emergency — sudden chest pain, severe bleeding, collapse, or other unexpected acute medical events. It is seldom used for routine or minor complaints." 

The Bottom Line:

When a purported "health care" facility is killing and injuring its patients, its abundantly clear that what it's offering isn't health care. It's time to defund Planned Parenthood once and for all.

A compilation of more 911 calls and injuries can be found here.