LiveAction recently highlighted a case in the United States of a 18 year old mother, alias “Jane Doe,” who gave birth to a nearly full term stillborn baby in a toilet and consequently sued her abortion provider.
Ms Doe argued that she never would have sought an abortion if she knew she was carrying an almost full-term baby. The lawsuit was filed on 20 January 2021 in the jurisdiction of Kings County (NY). However, on 6 May 2021, for reasons that are not entirely clear, Ms Doe gave notice that the lawsuit would be dropped.
Her ordeal started when Dr Shah, a Planned Parenthood employee and abortion activist, provided a teleconsultation that lasted 15 minutes – during which time, solely because of Ms Doe’s last menstrual period, Dr Shah assumed that she was no more than 6 weeks pregnant.
Consequently, Ms Doe underwent a medical abortion, which is recommended only if the patient is less than 10 weeks pregnant. Dr Shah and the nurse in charge of dispensing prescriptions advised her to collect the abortion drugs at one of their centres known as Spring Valley.
Ms Doe recalls that she “was not asked any further questions about the pregnancy, nor did she sign any consent forms. Defendants failed to perform any type of ultrasound or other scan… to accurately confirm the gestational age of the fetus.”
The shocking aftermath
Once at home, Ms Doe took the abortion drugs and, later that night, gave birth to a stillborn baby boy. The following day, Dr Shah advised her to come to a Planned Parenthood Centre for an examination of both her and her son – she was made to wait for hours, despite being in a state of shock.
While planning the disposal of the baby’s body, both a doctor and a nurse advised her “not to call law enforcement”; however, that is what she did. Later the autopsy on her baby son confirmed that the cause of his death was the abortion pills Ms Doe had taken.
Ms Doe has since experienced “significant stress, trauma, emotional anguish, physical pain, including laceration and an accelerated labour and delivery unaided by medication, lactation, soreness, and bleeding”. She has accused Dr Shah and the nurse involved in the case of medical negligence and malpractice.
Not only had they failed to obtain her informed consent, but they did not follow the well-established standard of care related to medical abortions: “Defendants chose to substitute their own judgment for that of the FDA and even the National Abortion Federation by removing all prudent medical procedures or tests that Defendants’ regard as an impediment to a person’s right to abortion.”
An “appalling” case
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “This case is appalling. It shows not only the dangers of telemedicine abortion but also a willingness to promote a political agenda on abortion at the expense of pregnant women and their unborn babies.
“Instead of being supported with carrying her late-term child to term – something she would have wanted if she had known her child’s age – she experienced the deeply traumatic stillbirth of her son who would be alive today had Ms Doe been treated with true compassion.”