With the help of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center, our friends at Operation Rescue (OR) have obtained a copy of the deposition [PDF] of Planned Parenthood abortionist Mandy Gittler, who was responsible for the death of 24-year old Tonya Reaves in Chicago on July 20, 2012.
The deposition was taken on August 22, 2013 as part of a civil suit filed against Planned Parenthood, et al., on behalf of Reaves’ sole heir, her young son Alvin Jones. (Earlier this year, Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs agreed to pay $2 million to settle the case.)
This morning, OR’s Cheryl Sullenger posted a detailed summary of the deposition that deserves to be read in full. As Sullenger points out, Gittler’s deposition gives “horrific” insight into Planned Parenthood’s abortion practices, and is inconsistent with the conclusions reached by the Cook County Medical Examiner and with a major news report released four days after Reaves’ death by WBBM Radio’s Steve Miller that referred to documents from a confidential source.
Reading the deposition, it’s clear that Gittler drastically downplayed Reaves’ dire condition when communicating with doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Reaves was transferred at 4:30 p.m. after she continued to experience what a nurse called “heavy bleeding” — despite her repeatedly evasive answers as to whether she agreed that the bleeding was, in fact, “heavy.” As a result, ER personnel had no reason to believe that Reaves was in imminent danger of death.
At 11:20 that night, Reaves was dead.
Gittler found out the following evening that Reaves had died when she received a call from Planned Parenthood’s medical director, Carolyn Hoke, who had only learned about it from a reporter. (Incidentally, just a few weeks later, Planned Parenthood of Illinois agreed to pay the state $367,000 to settle a dispute regarding Hoke’s overbilling of the state’s Medicaid program. Hoke is no longer with Planned Parenthood.)
The next day, Sunday, July 22, Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Carole Brite issued an extraordinarily vague statement on Facebook that reads, in its entirety, as follows:
We were shocked and saddened upon learning of a tragic development at a nearby hospital. Our hearts go out to the loved ones of this patient.
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. Planned Parenthood of Illinois cares deeply about the health and safety of each and every patient. We do not publicly discuss private patient matters and we follow HIPAA laws that forbid the disclosure of patient information.
Of course, Planned Parenthood is not going to identify Reaves by name. But notice that they don’t even identify her as Planned Parenthood’s patient. All they say is “this patient.”
They also don’t say that “this patient” died. All they refer to is a “tragic development” — not at Planned Parenthood, but at a nearby hospital.
And then they proceed to talk about how safe abortion is.
Imprecision, evasiveness, failing to accept responsibility — they’re all there in Planned Parenthood’s two-paragraph statement issued in the wake of Tonya Reaves’ death. And it’s a microcosm of abortionist Mandy Gittler’s 165-page deposition.
