Pro-Life Group Calls for Planned Parenthood Probe After Botched Abortion Death

By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter Monday, July 23, 2012

The death of a 24-year-old woman after a botched abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic has prompted pro-lifers to renew their call for a congressional investigation into the abortion provider.

"We must not allow Tonya Reaves to have died in vain, but rather heed this warning and call on Congress to exercise its full capacity to investigate Planned Parenthood," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement Monday. "As the nation's largest abortion provider, in 2010 alone Planned Parenthood ended the lives of 324,008 unborn children and ill-served their mothers."

Tonya Reaves died Friday night from a hemorrhage while undergoing an abortion at a Chicago clinic. The medical examiner's office listed the pregnancy and "cervical dilation and evacuation" (an abortion procedure usually performed during the second trimester of pregnancy) as contributing to her death.

Her death was ruled an accident.

Reaves has a twin sister, Toni, who is trying to find out what happened.

"It happened so fast. She was just fine one day and then the next day she was gone," Toni Reaves said on WBBM radio.

According to Toni Reaves, her sister had one son and was engaged to be married.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois President and CEO Carole Brite released a statement Sunday expressing "shock" over the tragedy.

"While legal abortion services in the United States have a very high safety record, a tragedy such as this is devastating to loved ones and we offer our deepest sympathies," Brite stated. "Planned Parenthood of Illinois cares deeply about the health and safety of each and every patient."

Pro-lifer Dannenfelser argues that the abortion industry, left unregulated, "cannot be trusted to look out for the true interests of women."

The call for investigation stems not just from last weekend's death but also from Planned Parenthood's "willingness to aid alleged human traffickers" and to aid women to have sex-selective abortion – as revealed recently in series of undercover videos. Dannenfelser also pointed out that Planned Parenthood of Illinois' medical director, abortion provider Caroline Hoke, is being investigated for overbilling to Medicaid.

"Congress has an obligation to exercise clear and regular oversight of businesses like Planned Parenthood that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and have such dramatic impact on the lives of women and unborn children," she maintained.