A former Planned Parenthood executive has filed a lawsuit, saying she was fired after anonymously reporting an illegal late-term abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• Jacqueline C. Colyer was formerly the vice president of human resources for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers in Illinois.

• She claims an illegal 28-week late-term abortion was committed in the basement of a Planned Parenthood facility after hours, and she reported the incident anonymously through Planned Parenthood's tip line.

• Two weeks later, she was disciplined, and then within a matter of months was fired, with her employer citing "insubordination and dishonesty."

• Colyer is now suing for wrongful termination.

The Details:

In a complaint from Jacqueline C. Colyer, formerly the vice president of human resources for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers in Illinois, she alleged that an illegal 28-week abortion was committed after hours in the basement of Planned Parenthood's facility in Fairview Heights, Illinois.

The abortion was allegedly committed in 2022 by Colleen McNicholas, the former chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers.

According to Colyer's lawsuit:

During her employment, Colyer was informed by Defendants’ employee Kris Winkleman that an unauthorized abortion had been performed at the Planned Parenthood Fairview Heights, Illinois, location on a Sunday in 2022.

Winkleman received this information from her direct report, Jamia Swift, who was called to unlock the door to access the facility.

Swift received the call from Colleen McNicolas, M.D., the Chief Medical Officer of PPGRMO, sometime around 7:00 PM on a Sunday in 2022.

Upon information and belief, shortly after the call, Swift arrived at the facility and unlocked the door to provide McNicholas with access.

Upon information and belief, Swift alleges that McNicholas required access to the facility to perform an abortion on an individual who was around 28 weeks.

Winkleman reported this violation to Colyer in early 2024.

Colyer noted that Planned Parenthood policy requires employees to report suspected illegal activity, and that they can do so confidentially and anonymously through a tool called "ReportIt." Anyone who reports is supposed to be protected from retaliation.

She requested that an investigation into the incident be opened, and openly stated she feared retaliation, despite the abortion corporation's policy:

On July 10, 2024, Colyer anonymously reported the unauthorized abortion through ReportIt, a third party reporting system, stating that she feared she would be fired if the report were not truly anonymous and asking that the investigation review the facility’s cameras and after-hours key-fob access and determine who admitted the physician, who administered anesthesia, and who locked the building.

When the report reached Planned Parenthood, Colyer was immediately removed from it, contrary to Defendants’ own Whistleblower Policy.

Richard Muniz, the interim President/CEO, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer, allegedly conducted the investigation.

On July 31, 2024, a second, independent ReportIt complaint concerning the same incident was anonymously submitted by an unknown party, describing an abortion that had been “provided in the basement of our clinic on a Sunday,” in violation of law and late in the woman’s pregnancy.

The independent report of the same misconduct corroborates that it was real and known within the organization. On that same date, Muniz responded to Colyer’s original ReportIt complaint.

READ: Planned Parenthood sues to overturn law that allows whistleblowers to report fraud

What Happened Next:

Ten days later, Colyer was disciplined for the first and only time during her career at Planned Parenthood. "Colyer received the only written discipline of her employment: a 'First written warning' signed by Richard Muniz charging her with 'insubordination and dishonesty,'" the lawsuit said.

However, she kept trying to report the alleged illegal abortion; she contacted Sheila Greenbaum, President of the Board, on September 4, and made another report about the illegal abortion, reiterating her fear of retaliation.

Two days later, she began FMLA and ADA leave, and claimed that Muniz immediately began disconnecting her employee access.

After extending FMLA, Colyer finally returned to work on December 9, 2024; she was fired the same day.

Muniz only stated the reason for the termination was, “I’m sure you know what’s happening. You are not a good fit.”

Muniz pressured her to sign a separation agreement, including a waiver of claims.

Plaintiff, during her entire tenure, was only written up on one occasion.

Following December 9, 2024, Colyer’s position was immediately filled.

In her lawsuit, Colyer reiterated that she was fired for exposing an illegal abortion:

Although Missouri is an at-will employment state, the at-will doctrine is subject to a public-policy exception. An at-will employee may not be terminated for refusing to violate the law or any well-established and clear mandate of public policy or for reporting wrongdoing or violations of law to superiors or public authorities.

The abortion that Plaintiff reported was illegal and constitutes a violation of the law and clearly mandated public policy.

The conduct Colyer reported — an unauthorized abortion at approximately 28 weeks, after the point of viability and outside the facility’s operating hours — violated a clear mandate of public policy. Because the procedure occurred at Defendants’ Fairview Heights, Illinois facility, Illinois law governs.

Under the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, after fetal viability, a health care professional may provide abortion care only if, in the professional’s judgment, it is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.

An abortion at approximately 28 weeks, outside operating hours, with no indication it was necessary to protect the patient’s life or health, was contrary to that Act and to the Illinois Medical Practice Act of 1987. Defendants’ own General Counsel acknowledged the standard, stating that Illinois law “allows abortions up to ‘fetal viability,’ which is usually not before 29 weeks.”

Evaluated under Missouri law, the conduct likewise contravened the public policy reflected in RSMo § 188.017 and Missouri’s abortion restrictions; even if it predated Missouri’s June 24, 2022, ban, it remained contrary to public policy as a post-viability, after-hours procedure placing the patient at risk. Whether a reported act violated public policy is a question of law for the Court.

READ: Why Planned Parenthood must be REJECTED and DEFUNDED

The Big Picture:

Though Illinois does not have a fixed limit on viability — instead letting the abortionist determine if the baby is viable or not, and Colyer's suit defining it as 29 weeks — the widely-accepted medical standard definition of viability is 24 weeks gestation.

Yet, premature babies have survived earlier, as early as 21 weeks gestation. An abortion at 28 weeks kills a baby that, according to research, is extremely likely to survive if born prematurely, with survival rates upwards of 90%.

The Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood facility, where the alleged illegal abortion occurred, reportedly commits chemical abortions through 12 weeks gestation, and surgical abortions up to 27 weeks. That would mean this 28-week abortion was a violation of the abortion giant's own policy.

However, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted a University of Chicago maternal fetal medicine specialist, who agrees that, essentially, abortion in Illinois is legal at any time:

... Ashish Premkumar, a maternal fetal medicine doctor at the University of Chicago, said it’s not so clear that an abortion at 28 weeks would be illegal in Illinois.

“Based on the Reproductive Health Act, there is not a gestational duration at which abortion is not able to be provided,” Premkumar said in an interview on Monday, referring to the same Illinois statute cited by Colyer in her complaint. 

And yet, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute claims that in Illinois, "Abortion is banned at fetal viability, generally 24–26 weeks of pregnancy."

Colleen McNicholas, the abortionist who allegedly committed the procedure, has a history of malpractice; she at one time oversaw a facility in St. Louis, Missouri, which had, as Live Action News previously reported:

... a reputation as one of the most dangerous abortion businesses in the U.S. It had been operating without a license in 2019 when it had to call an ambulance for the 75th (known) time in just 10 years to transfer an abortion patient to a hospital due to an abortion-related injury.

Though McNicholas claimed the facility didn’t have a license because “state officials abuse their power,” the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had actually decided not to renew RHS’ license due to its significant number of health and safety violations.

A Statement of Deficiencies can be read here; it includes a record of at least 30 deficient practices, including failure to ensure an abortion was complete and failure to follow up with a patient. 911 records from the facility indicate that multiple women suffered hemorrhaging during their abortions at RHS, along with incidences of fainting, seizures, and a stroke.

A Missouri Senate report of the facility was also critical:

[P]lanned Parenthood’s own internal files reveal a shocking callousness toward vulnerable young women who seek their services. In fact, the procedures outlined in the materials reviewed may very well constitute outright medical malpractice… All of this indicates that Planned Parenthood is far more worried about the reputation, business model and public relations efforts than they are about the women in their care. It is difficult to conceive of any other organization, let alone an organization that holds itself out as providing women’s health services, being so recklessly indifferent to the health of their patients as to put such directives as those listed above in print for the use of their employees.

Examples of the injuries women suffered include hemorrhaging, fainting, seizures, and a stroke; the Senate investigation also found instances of women having to return as many as five times for a single abortion procedure to be properly completed. 

The Bottom Line:

Planned Parenthood has become known for its corrupt, illegal, and disturbing practices. In this instance, the alleged behavior was so egregious that even one of its own employees spoke out about it — and was punished for doing so.