Notorious Late-Term Abortionist Exposed as ‘Killer for Hire’

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BETHESDA, Md. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Late-term abortionists are being exposed as "profiteers" and "killers for hire" — unconcerned with the health and welfare of women.

Priests for Life and Abortion Free New Mexico released the ninth undercover report on the dealings of late-term abortionists on Monday. These videos show abortions after 20 weeks are routinely performed on healthy babies and healthy mothers, not on babies with fatal fetal abnormalities.

"The myth that late-term abortions are done to save the life of the mother is completely debunked by these investigative reports. Late-term abortionists are willing to do abortions primarily on healthy women whose babies are also healthy," says Tara Shaver, a pro-life missionary working for Abortion Free New Mexico. She told Church Militant, "It has been interesting during this investigation to talk with the staff at these abortion mills."

Church Militant asked Shaver if these procedures were performed whenever a woman asks for them, regardless of the reason, and she replied, "For the most part, yes, abortionists are willing to perform an abortion for any reason especially in the first and second trimester. Third-trimester abortionists follow that trend, being more concerned to make sure that the mom is healthy and that her story is compelling enough for the abortion."

In this latest recorded call, a woman calls AbortionClinics.org, run by abortionist LeRoy Carhart in Bethesda, Maryland. Posing as a 26-week pregnant woman who is considering aborting her healthy baby, she admits both she and her baby are healthy and that she is unsure about what to do. The caller asks about the procedure and whether the baby feels pain when its heart is injected with a needle.

The clinic staff describes the three-day procedure claiming they don't feel pain, saying, "Research has shown that the Digoxin injection into the heart, there wouldn't be any pain, it would actually slowly stop the heartbeat." AbortionClinic.org staff goes on to erroneously tell the caller that a 24-week gestated baby would not survive, saying "the chances of viability would be very slim."

In 2009, Carhart explained he wouldn't do elective abortions after 24 weeks, saying, "After a certain point in time, the fetus is viable, and we have to look at it differently than if it were not viable." Newsweek reported in 2009 Carhart's objections and noted, "And at 24 weeks, many studies show a fetus's chance of survival to be above 50 percent." More recent studies show over 60 percent will live.

Shaver has a different version of the late-term abortion procedure. "The procedure is horrific," she states, after the injection through your abdomen. She adds:

The mom is then sent away to stay in a local hotel with little to no support as she undergoes artificial dilation of her cervix. Over the course of these days, she walks around with her dead baby in her womb until the abortionist is ready to induce her. During labor and delivery of her stillborn child, she is in a clinic setting where other patients are having abortions and essentially gives birth wherever that happens to occur, in a toilet or on the floor, who knows.

This procedure runs a very high risk of complications. Shaver explains that "when you call an abortion center, the staff is there to sell abortions and make sure that the abortionist can do the abortion without any worry of malpractice." Over the course of Carhart's practice in Maryland, pro-life advocates witnessed at least 10 occasions when ambulances were called to whisk away women suffering from botched abortions from the Germantown facility. In 2013, Jennifer Morbelli died from a botched abortion performed when she was 33 weeks pregnant.

Another incident in Carhart's career happened when Carhart was an associate at George Tiller's abortuary in Wichita, Women's Health Care, in 2005. Members of Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life Christian activist organization, were holding vigil the day Christin Gibert died and witnessed the events. They claim if they weren't there, Gilbert's death would have been covered up.

Gilbert had Down syndrome and was sexually assaulted and became pregnant. Her parents took her to Carhart for a third-trimester abortion, and Gilbert developed sepsis, a very serious blood infection. Staff at the clinic misdiagnosed the condition, sent the parents back to the hotel and Gilbert's conditioned worsened until "Christin died a horrible, agonizing death at the hands of LeRoy Carhart and the staff at George Tiller's infamous abortion mill."

Clearly unsure of what to do, the caller asks to have an in-office consultation to talk about the procedure and her decision, but the staff responds with "we're not going to do like an options counseling session. It's not necessarily something that we provide."

"If you want to talk about the actual procedure itself, we do do that but there is a charge."

Shaver noted:

This latest undercover call reveals that abortionist Leroy Carhart in Bethesda, MD., is performing late-term abortions on healthy women carrying healthy babies through 28 weeks of pregnancy. He is not, however, inclined to offer in-office consultations for his patients who have questions before the 3–4 day abortion procedure. The abortion industry is not concerned with giving women information and choices; these profiteers are merely killers for hire, who don't want to answer any questions, they just want to get paid.

"Late term abortions are more profitable," Shaver explains. "A first-trimester abortion is around $500 but a 26-week abortion is $7,000 in some abortion mills. Late term abortions are incredibly lucrative, which is a major motivation for these abortionists."

AbortionClinic.org just opened its doors on October 17. Carhart's previous clinic, Germantown Reproductive Health Services, was closed after Maryland Coalition for Life purchased the property and closed Carhart's abortion mill. Betsy Evans, from the Rockville Women's Center, said, "It was humbling to see so many personalities, so many different denominations, so many different sizes of churches be unified in eliminating this abortion facility."

Carhart has been commuting from Nebraska to Maryland since 2010 when abortions after 20 weeks were banned there. Carhart who is an outspoken abortion rights activist is well-known in pro-life circles. His arrival at the Germantown abortion mill greatly concerned pro-life advocates who started the "Kick Out Carhart" campaign to pressure Carhart's landlords to shut down the clinic.

Throughout the pro-lifers campaign, Carhart vowed to keep his facility open, saying, "I am doing everything in my power to keep my practice open," adding, "It's heartbreaking that anyone would want to take health care away from women and families by targeting our clinic."

Shaver said, "I think that more abortionists would be doing late-term abortions if their state had no laws limiting these abortions, so we do have pro-life legislation to thank for preventing even more late-term abortions." She told Church Militant, "We have other calls lined up to release to bring further education to the public."

"We urge individuals to forward these videos and reports to their legislators and friends and urge both parties to abandon their apathy and demand that every measure is taken to preserve the lives of these babies," Shaver said.

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