Woman Dies After Abortion in Dayton, Ohio

Source: Pro-life Infonet, CDR Radio Network (Ohio)

October 22, 2000

- A young woman residing in Dayton, Ohio apparently died after an abortion two weeks ago at one of Dayton's three area abortion facilities. A spokeswoman for Dayton Right to Life says a 21-year-old woman was pronounced dead at Dayton's Good Samaritan Hospital after she was sent home from the Dayton Women's Services abortion facility following an abortion there. According to an obituary obtained by the Pro-Life Infonet from the Dayton Daily News, L'Echelle Renee Head died Wednesday, October 11th at Good Samaritan. The News gives no cause of death, saying only that Head "departed this life unexpectedly." A call from the Pro-Life Infonet to Dayton Women's Services was answered by a volunteer who could not provide any further information on the Head's death. Calls to staff at Good Samaritan Hospital had not been returned by press time. Head was a graduate of Dayton's Wayne High School and the daughter of Snobia Head and Willard Hall of Dayton. She worked at a local Wendy's Restaurant. The obituary notes Head is survived by a daughter, Ja'Chelle North Head, as well as her parents and three sisters, among other related family. L'Echelle Head was buried October 18th in Dayton. Peggy Lehner, president of Dayton Right to Life, noted the death was just hours after she left the abortion facility. Lehner explained, "The final results of the autopsy are still pending. From early indications it appears she suffered some sort of blood clot or embolism. We won't know for sure until we get the results of that autopsy back. We do know she entered the clinic as an apparent perfectly healthy woman, pregnant, frightened, probably, and had made the choice to have this procedure done. As a result of that choice, she is now dead." Lehner says the death could've been prevented by the Ohio Department of Health, if the state had proper regulations of abortion facilities in place. "One of the real tragedies here was that this clinic just this past summer was granted a license as an ambulatory surgical facility by the Ohio Department of Health. And in order to obtain that license, the clinic asked for a waver for any kind of arrangement for special treatment of complications. The normal license requirements say that you have to have a hospital and a doctor identified who are going to follow up in case one of your patients runs into trouble. And that didn't happen. They weren't able to get that kind of arrangement. They asked for a waver and the Department of Health granted it. This woman very well may have been alive today if the Department of Health had done their work," Lehner concluded.