Woman suffers complications after having abortion, has to have emergency hysterectomy

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A woman was forced to have emergency surgery and a hysterectomy after suffering complications after having an abortion at a clinic in Baton Rouge.

The procedure took place in early 2019 at the Delta Clinic on Colonial Drive. However, details did not come to light until the anti-abortion group, Louisiana Right to Life, discovered the incident during a recent search of public records.

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) ultimately ordered the clinic to agree to a long list of corrective actions before it could continue operating.

According to the incident report compiled by LDH, a woman who was 15-weeks pregnant underwent an abortion at the clinic and then began experiencing heavy bleeding. A nurse tried to administer emergency saline on the patient, but found that the facility’s crash cart did not have any saline on it and another medication she needed was expired. The nurse ultimately called 911 and the patient was transported to a local hospital, where she was rushed into surgery, according to the LDH report. The state later inspected the facility and found it had failed to “order and maintain a supply of emergency drugs” for stabilizing and/or treating medical and surgical complications on the licensed premises,” according to the LDH report.

No one answered the phone at Delta Clinic when WAFB tried to reach the clinic for comment Tuesday, July 30.

Sarah Zagorski with Louisiana Right to Life said Tuesday she does not believe Delta Clinic is “equipped to perform abortions in Louisiana.”

“This woman had to undergo complete hysterectomy. That’s a life-changing procedure for her. We just want to prevent that from happening in the future," she said.

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