Doctor leaves half a fetus inside woman after abortion in Illinois, lawsuit says
A woman is suing an Illinois doctor after she says he performed an abortion on her and left half a fetus behind.
The lawsuit was filed March 21 against Equity Clinic in Champaign and the doctor who performed the procedure.
McClatchy News was unable to reach anyone at Equity Clinic and is not naming the doctor since he has not been criminally charged.
On April 1, 2023, the woman went to Equity Clinic to start the process of an abortion, according to the lawsuit.
The woman returned to the clinic the following day and continued the abortion procedure. After it was completed, the doctor wrote a note saying the uterus was empty and “[p]roducts of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,” the lawsuit said.
On April 3, the woman called Equity Clinic to report she was having heavy cramping. She was told to take Ibuprofen, but she called the clinic back five hours later to report that it didn’t help much and “her bottom has a lot of pressure and it is hard to breathe,” the complaint said.
The doctor instructed the woman to take a laxative, the lawsuit said. The next day, the woman called the clinic again and told them the laxative did not help and her cramping had increased. She was then told to take an enema and visit an urgent care, according to the complaint.
The woman went to an emergency room, and hospital staff discovered the remains of “half of a deceased pre-born human being” in her right pelvis, the lawsuit said. A surgery was then done to remove the fetal remains.
The complaint said pieces of the fetal skull were removed from the woman’s intestine one piece at a time.
The following day, the surgeon contacted the doctor who performed the abortion to notify him of the fetal remains found inside the woman, but the doctor refused to answer any questions, the lawsuit said.
Additionally, the lawsuit said after the abortion and surgery, the woman asked the doctor what the sex of the fetus was, and the doctor told the woman he would “look again.” However, this was after the doctor knew the fetal remains had already been discarded.
The woman is suing for a minimum of $50,000 in damages.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Doctor leaves half a fetus inside woman after abortion in Illinois, lawsuit says."
