Operation Rescue has received 911 audio revealing that a woman suffered an injury after an abortion at Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, on October 12. According to witnesses, the procedure was likely a late-term abortion.
Though the 911 call was brief, it was also telling; the female caller noted that the woman had a “procedure” and she needed a “higher level of care.” She also requested that the woman be transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a trauma facility located in nearby St. Louis, Missouri. Operation Rescue reports that two emergency vehicles responded to the facility after the call.
Volunteers with 40 Days for Life were praying on the sidewalk in front of the facility when the woman arrived, noting that she appeared to be “very late-term” in pregnancy. Eight hours later, the same woman was wheeled into the ambulance. The facility advertises that it commits abortions through 24 weeks of pregnancy.
If she was in her second trimester, the woman likely had a dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure, in which a preborn child is dismembered limb from torso before his skull is crushed and removed. Complications for the abortion client can include cervical laceration, uterine perforation, infection, excessive bleeding, and even death.
Hope Clinic for Women has a history of injuring women at its facility. Since the spring of 2020, Operation Rescue has documented 13 cases of injury requiring ambulance transportation. The real number may be higher, as these injuries are only reported when there are pro-life sidewalk counselors present to report them. Operation Rescue also notes that the facility was recently purchased by Julie Burkhart, an abortionist who used to work with late abortionist George Tiller, who was killed by Scott Roeder in Tiller’s church parking lot in May 2009.
“This clinic has been on our radar for a long time as an extremely dangerous, late-term abortion business,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “With Julie Burkhart at the helm, we expect to see an increase in killing. And, as unsuspecting women travel from neighboring states like Arkansas and Louisiana, we also expect to see a disturbing increase in women being maimed. We grieve for these babies and their mothers and continue to fight and pray for an end to this evil.”
