TESTIMONY: 18-year-old died after 22-week abortion at Colorado Planned Parenthood

According to testimony provided during a Colorado Health and Human Services hearing on Tuesday, an 18-year-old girl died last month in connection with a 22-week abortion at the Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins, Colorado. According to testimony, Planned Parenthood allegedly admitted that it delayed getting Lexi the care she needed to survive.

During the hearing for House Bill 1252, which aimed to ensure the Colorado Department of Health regulate facilities that commit second and third trimester abortions in the same manner that it regulates all other ambulatory centers in the state, Dr. Keri Kasun, testified, “I am a pharmacist and … I’m testifying today to honor Lexi, the young 18-year-old woman who died on February 6 after being transported to the hospital from Fort Collins Planned Parenthood. I only learned last Wednesday when a family member reached out to me. [Lexi] is a relation to one of my family members and they sought to get answers, greatly wanting answers…”

Dr. Kasun explained that Alexis “Lexi” Arguello had just moved into her own apartment and had sought treatment for a urinary tract infection when she learned she was 22 weeks pregnant. On February 6, Lexi’s grandparents, who did not know she was pregnant, were called to the hospital, and the grandfather shared the tragedy with Dr. Kasun.

“They could see the heroic efforts the doctors were doing to save her life, and he could see the deep concern on their faces that the situation was very dire. Her vitals were all over the place; the oxygen levels were horrible. After multiple doses of the epi and seven liters of blood, his granddaughter’s… heart rate and blood pressure dropped and he [saw] in his granddaughter’s face that it was her end,” said Dr. Kasun. “… He and his wife were devastated over the loss of their grandchild and their great-grandchild that day.”

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 a delivery or an induced abortion — the latter of which is the act of deliberately killing the preborn child.

2nd Trimester Abortion | Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) | What Is Abortion?

Data show that as far back as 1956, AFE has been “an important cause of death from legally induced abortion.” From 1972 to 1978, there were 12 probable and three autopsy-confirmed cases of fatal AFE during legally induced abortions in the United States, accounting for 12% of all deaths from legal abortion at the time. Researchers noted, “The risk of death appears to be related to gestational age: the death-to-case rate for AFE increases progressively from nil at less than or equal to 12 weeks’ gestation to 7.2 deaths per 100,000 abortions at greater than or equal to 21 weeks’ gestation.” However, it can occur in the first trimester, as a study from 2022 discussed a woman succumbing to AFE during an abortion and tubal ligation at six weeks of pregnancy.

Transferred too late: The ‘Silent Siren Treatment’

“Lexi’s grandfather was told by the abortion providers that she was transferred too late,” said Dr. Kasun. “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.”

The “silent siren treatment” is a known tactic used by the abortion industry, including Planned Parenthood. As previously reported by Live Action News, Operation Rescue has obtained documentation of 911 calls that demonstrate how Planned Parenthood staff has severely injured women and then mishandled those emergency situations, putting the women in increased danger. One of the key ways that it denies women the care they need is by requesting that emergency responders arrive at the abortion facility without lights or sirens to avoid alerting pro-life activists and the media; this request can cause delays in life-saving care.

Former abortionist turned pro-life advocate, Dr. Catherine Wheeler, was present at the hearing and explained that, without looking at Lexi’s medical records, if the young woman had been in a facility that was prepared to deal with such an emergency, she may have survived.

“…[T]typically [with AFE] the woman is just, out of the blue, has incredible anxiety. She may say, ‘I feel like I’m dying,’ become incredibly short of breath, become immediately hypoxic and low oxygen. Her blood pressure may drop out, and it is a true emergency. Half of the women will die within an hour in that situation,” she said.

She added, “So I don’t know if she would’ve been saved. … But she would’ve been more likely to have been saved if there were good protocols, good transfer protocols that with the escalation of her illness, that if she was immediately transported to the hospital, her … chance of being saved may have been higher.” She noted that Lexi’s death is an example of why staff at an abortion facility should be “well trained” and have “had some multidisciplinary approach to statical emergencies…”

In fact, research published in 2020 regarding AFE coagulopathy in a 29-year-old “previously healthy” woman in association with a second trimester D&E dismemberment abortion at 22 weeks confirmed that “AFE can occur in the setting of induced abortion” and the case “suggests that viscoelastic point-of-care coagulation analyzers may aid in the management of pregnancy-related coagulopathy by providing faster coagulation assessment than laboratory testing, and facilitating timely, targeted management of coagulopathy.” Data show that in most cases, as in Lexi’s, AFE is followed “by disseminated intravascular coagulopathy.”

Additional research from 2022 reported, “Strong clinical suspicion of AFE should prompt a multidisciplinary team including anaesthesia, respiratory therapy, critical care, and maternal-foetal medicine to be involved in the ongoing care of women with AFE.”

Not actual health care

“Abortion clinics are not equipped for critical care,” said Sarah Neely, chief operating officer of the pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue, which has been following Lexi’s story. “We request dozens and dozens of 911 calls every year proving this fact. Planned Parenthood Fort Collins not only had zero ability to address this life-threatening complication, but testimony from Dr. Kasun shows they made Lexi’s situation even worse, callously trying to protect their clinic over saving this girl’s life.”

There is little available current data on abortion-related maternal deaths because about half of all states choose not to report abortion complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that accurate abortion data is vital for public health, but according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), in 2024, only three states — Arizona, Indiana, and Kentucky — were collecting all 14 of the data points that the United States Reporting of Induced Termination of Pregnancy (USRITP) handbook recommends. The Guttmacher Institute reported that as of February 1, 2025, only 28 states required that abortion businesses report abortion-related complications.

“The abortion industry wants to legitimize itself as a form of women’s healthcare. If they don’t want regulations, they don’t want reporting requirements, minimum reporting requirements or accountability, I would consider that back alley, illicit back alley behaviors such as the silent siren,” Dr. Kasun told the committee. “I urge you to vote yes for granddaughters, nieces, cousins, daughters.”

At least two Planned Parenthood employees were present at the hearing, each arguing against ensuring the Department of Health and Human Services regulate abortion facilities that commit second and third trimester abortions. The bill failed to pass the committee.