The death of 29 year old Jennifer McKenna Morbelli just days after her late-term abortion in Maryland has resulted in both pro-life and pro-choice activists speaking out.
Huffington Post reports that McKenna Morbelli, a teacher from New Rochelle, NY, had visited a Germantown, MD abortion clinic to begin a several-day procedure to terminate her 33 week pregnancy last week.
McKenna Morbelli’s fetus was determined to have abnormalities, forcing her and her husband TJ to decide to abort the pregnancy. However, since the abnormalities were not life or health threatening to Jennifer, a late-term abortion could not be performed in New York.
A resident of New York, McKenna Morbelli had to travel to Maryland where it is legal to perform late term abortions if there are foetal abnormalities in non-life threatening circumstances. LeRoy Carhart performed the abortion.
Carhart gained national attention when in 2005 another patient of his died after undergoing a similar procedure.
Read more: Savita Halappanavar’s family distraught after draft report into her death is leaked to media
Just four days after her procedure, McKenna Morbelli was admitted to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Maryland after complaining of chest pains and other discomforts. The 29 year old died a few hours later from internal bleeding into her abdominal cavity.
In the wake of her death, pro life groups are calling for Maryland’s legislation regarding late term abortion to be reformed, and for Carhart’s facilities to be closed.
Michael Martelli, executive director for the Maryland Coalition for Life, said, “It is so tragic that this family had to lose not only their nearly full-term child, but also their wife, daughter, and sister.”
“What is most appalling is that the state of Maryland refused to hear the pleas of the community, and has allowed [Carhart] to butcher women and children.”
McKenna Morbelli’s memorial service on Monday and press conference also set the stage for Martelli to call upon the Maryland State Legislature to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has already been introduced in both the House and Senate and looks to ban late-term abortions, except in cases where a mother's life or health is at risk.
Where the Maryland Coalition for Life is calling for reform, pro-choice groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland are expressing their condolences while remaining steadfast in their belief that women have the right to choose.
Read more health and medical news here
“We are keeping a close eye on the details of this situation as they come to light, and, as always, our concern is first and foremost for the safety and health of women," Amber Banks, outreach and communications coordinator for NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, wrote in a statement to The Huffington Post.
"The people who are pushing for laws to ban abortion after a certain point cannot possibly know the circumstances of every woman and her doctor who are making medical decisions about her pregnancy," the statement continued. "Every pregnancy is different, and we believe that every woman has the right to make her own medical decisions based on the unique circumstances in her life.”
While the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Montgomery County Police Department are both investigating McKenna-Morbelli's case, they do not suspect criminal conduct.
However, pro-life activist Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation, said his organization plans on taking legal action against Carhart regardless.
“We will press for criminal charges in this case, in addition to Board discipline," he said in a statement. “We are dedicated to working through the legal system to ensure that no more women will suffer Jennifer’s fate."
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.noeldoyle | Feb 16, 2013, 03:26 AM EST
at 33 weeks it is no longer a choice - but murder. Jennifer chose to murder her baby @ 33 weeks which was almost full term and viable baby. Unfortunately, she lost out on this occasion.
noeldoyle | Feb 16, 2013, 03:26 AM EST
at 33 weeks it is no longer a choice - but murder. Jennifer chose to murder her baby @ 33 weeks which was almost full term and viable baby. Unfortunately, she lost out on this occasion.
noeldoyle | Feb 16, 2013, 03:26 AM EST
at 33 weeks it is no longer a choice - but murder. Jennifer chose to murder her baby @ 33 weeks which was almost full term and viable baby. Unfortunately, she lost out on this occasion.
noeldoyle | Feb 16, 2013, 03:26 AM EST
at 33 weeks it is no longer a choice - but murder. Jennifer chose to murder her baby @ 33 weeks which was almost full term and viable baby. Unfortunately, she lost out on this occasion.
noeldoyle | Feb 16, 2013, 03:26 AM EST
at 33 weeks it is no longer a choice - but murder. Jennifer chose to murder her baby @ 33 weeks which was almost full term and viable baby. Unfortunately, she lost out on this occasion.
rose528 | Feb 15, 2013, 02:59 PM EST
it's the woman's choice not another woman's nor a man's, she knew the difficulties of this abortion and went and did it anyway
Porickseantuny | Feb 15, 2013, 02:26 PM EST
Just remember red hair and freckles are abnormalities. Come to think of it, the Brits think being Irish, even without freckles is abnormal. Look out you abnormal beings.
SeanDavie | Feb 15, 2013, 01:55 PM EST
Look also at the complications for surviving aborted women. MEDICAL effects: vacuum abortions have an immediate complication rate of 12%, which is very high but less than D&C, etc.; depending on countries, between 17 and 50% of all aborted women suffer long-term complications. Consider too that Abortionists are not the “cream of the medical crop,” as TV coverage of Abortion Mills have correctly pointed out. PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS: The aborted woman’s ambiguity towards morality of abortion, plus her sense of being forced into it, lead her to guilt, remorse and self-hatred. Many have been driven to alcohol, drug addiction and suicide. In a study of AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, 43% of aborted women had immediate negative response to abortion and in later review, up to 50%. 10% suffered serious psychiatric complications. Yet some “wishful thinkers” continue pushing the conflated, jaundiced argument that abortion is a woman’s right.
SingleDonald | Feb 15, 2013, 01:49 PM EST
I fully agree that late term abortions are murder, plain & simple! I too am mystified why a sonogram couldn't determine any birth defects, at a very early stage.
SeanDavie | Feb 15, 2013, 01:41 PM EST
There is an important book by Dr. David Reardon titled ABORTED WOMEN; SILENT NO MORE, based on interviews of hundreds of women who survived abortions. Their regrets grow over time. The vast majority of them were actually urged to abort by husbands or boyfriends, other family members, abortion center counselors, doctors. Most said they would have chosen against the abortion had their significant other persons backed them in this decision. In fact 55% of these women stated to Reardon they were “very much forced to abort by others.” Since “Roe v. Wade” was unconstitutionally legislated from the bench in the 1960s, 55 million American babies were aborted—about one of every three babies. CDC claims 98% of them had nothing to do with rape, incest or danger to life of mother. Christian women and men, and Churches, must continue to decry this modern Holocaust.
Kaykay | Feb 15, 2013, 01:41 PM EST
KathleenBerio, they would not abort using a Caesarean section--the idea is to create a *dead* baby. The technique for late term abortion is too gruesome to describe here, so I will suggest that you Google it instead. As to why she waited so long, I can't imagine; serious defects would show up earlier than that. She may not have had any idea that there were any problems until that late, and had tests only then.
KathleenBerrio | Feb 15, 2013, 01:23 PM EST
This was a live, viable birth at 33 weeks, not an abortion. Why did she wait so long to terminate the pregnancy?
WoundedKnee | Feb 15, 2013, 12:47 PM EST
She'll have met her baby in the afterlife by now.
Helen Ferone | Feb 15, 2013, 12:16 PM EST
The abortion should have been done much earlier than 33 weeks if the baby had problems. At this date they should have gotten labor induced, delivered the baby, and hope a mistake had been made regarding the diagnosis. No none is perfect, and this girl lost her life when she didn't have to.
Mike7571 | Feb 15, 2013, 11:59 AM EST
A baby can live outside the womb at 26 weeks gestation. At 33 weeks, that is a normal sized baby, to kill it is plain wrong, murder really.
Emland | Feb 15, 2013, 11:56 AM EST
We knew at 24 weeks my son had genetic issues. He was born at 34 weeks due to complications. He is the joy of my life. What a horror story all 'round.
falconflash | Feb 15, 2013, 09:37 AM EST
Carhart is a killing machine.
BishopSean | Feb 15, 2013, 09:25 AM EST
I would ask our fellow-bloggers who can still accept the conflated argument that abortion is a woman’s right: who exactly do you think performs abortions? The cream of the medical crop? If abortions are so safe for the mothers, why are organizations like Planned Parenthood being sued by parents of young aborted mothers who died as a result of their procedures? Have abortion supporters been reading/watching news reports about abortion mills and how unsafe they are for both babies and mothers? I would ask abortion supporters to please stop being “nice guys in the wrong way” and look long and hard at this unnecessary tragedy vis a vis conventional Biblical wisdom concerning these matters.