Woman Dead After Late-Term Abortion in New Mexico

An autopsy report reveals a 23-year-old woman died following a late-term abortion at the nation’s largest abortion facility that markets abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

Keisha Marie Atkins died on February 4 after being transported from abortion facility Southwestern Women’s Options (SWWO) in Albuquerque, New Mexico to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Hospital.

According to pro-life organization Operation Rescue, Atkins was at least six months pregnant and checked into SWWO on January 31 for a four-day late-term abortion procedure to be performed by abortionist Curtis Boyd, 80.

Pro-life organization Live Action provides a medical animation video narrated by former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino about how late-term abortions are performed:

An autopsy report from the UNM Health Sciences Center just obtained by Operation Rescue and Abortion Free New Mexico shows the pathologists citing the cause of Atkins’s death as “pulmonary thromboembolism due to pregnancy,” or blood clot in the lungs. However, the summary of their findings goes into more detail about the abortion procedure:

Ms. Atkins was at a clinic preparing for the final portion of a termination of pregnancy. She presented to the clinic with complaints of cramping pain as expected and was resting preparing for labor. While at the clinic, she noted that she was feeling short of breath, and her oxygen saturation dropped below her baseline … Due to the concerning symptoms, she transferred to University o f New Mexico Hospitals, where she continued to have cramping abdominal pain, elevated heart rate and difficulty maintaining normal blood oxygen levels despite supplemental oxygen therapy.

…

Due to rapid decompensation in her clinical status … and the concern for a clinical infection, she was taken emergently to the operating room to complete the abortion procedure. During the operation, she sustained a cardiac arrest. Extensive resuscitation efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.

Operation Rescue asserts the pathologists’ stated cause of death as blood clot in the lungs due to pregnancy is “a whitewash meant to blame Atkins’s pregnancy for her death instead of what appears to be a mismanaged late-term abortion procedure.”

“UNM is a biased promoter of abortion that is attempting to shift blame onto Atkins’ pregnancy, instead of the abortion, where the blame rightfully belongs,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, in a statement. “Keisha Atkins and her family deserve the truth, not a cover-up. But with UNM and SWO, covering up their misdeeds has become standard operating procedure.”

In February of 2016, the special House panel charged with investigating alleged fetal tissue trafficking in Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities issued subpoenas to UNM and SWWO after both organizations were shown to be uncooperative with the congressional investigation.

“While it was our hope that these organizations would voluntarily work with us in this effort, some have refused to cooperate by withholding information that is critical to providing us with answers to questions the American people are asking,” said chairwoman Rep. Marsha Blackburn. “Consequently, if forced to do so, we will issue subpoenas to any organization that refuses to fully cooperate with our investigation.”

As New Mexico Alliance for Life posted on Facebook, UNM and SWWO “have come under investigation after it became clear the university had a close relationship with one of the nation’s most notorious late-term abortionists to receive aborted babies’ tissues and organs for scientific experiments.”

Elisa Martinez, executive director of New Mexico Alliance for Life, said in a statement:

The flimsy agreement between UNM and late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd, signed by UNM’s Dr. Eve Espey, appears to be constructed to conceal the potential sale of late-term baby body parts to UNM, which to date, has withheld any documentation as to the compensation of Curtis Boyd, the compensation of residents and any record of their late-term baby body parts inventory.

In June of 2016, Blackburn wrote to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, Jr. that the congressional panel had uncovered potentially “too close a relationship” between UNM and SWWO.

“We understand that SWWO is the sole provider of fetal tissue to UNM,” Blackburn wrote, adding that the House panel also discovered “that transfers of value to SWWO from UNM occurred within a context of aggressive abortion advocacy.”

“We appreciate your swift attention to the serious and systematic violations of law committed by the University of New Mexico and Southwestern Women’s Options,” the chairwoman concluded.

Newman is now calling on Balderas to step up the criminal investigation into the relationship between UNM and SWWO, and on the State Medical Board to investigate Boyd.

“Curtis Boyd should be stopped from practicing, and the dangerous Southwestern Women’s Options should be shut down for good,” he said.

Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico, tells Breitbart News, “Many in this country do not believe that late term abortions occur and even more believe that just because abortion is legal that they are also safe.”

“The death of Keisha Atkins is proof that late term abortions are being performed in New Mexico and that women pay for this procedure with their lives when the abortion industry operates without accountability and oversight,” she adds. “We hope that Keisha’s death will compel Americans to come together and demand that our leaders put an end to this tragic reality.”