Women are facing life-threatening situations nationwide due to medical malpractice and abortion organizations that prioritize profit over patients. Sadly, polling indicates that many of these same victims would have preferred to parent anyway.

Just look at the plaintiff in a new lawsuit against Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle. As the Kansas City Star’s Melinda Henneberger reported last month, “Jane Doe” (name protected for privacy reasons) visited Dr. Reisinger-Kindle for an abortion at 22-23 weeks gestation — 7-8 weeks past the point when unborn babies can feel pain. Dr. Reisinger-Kindle performed the procedure and sent Doe home, where she experienced “excruciating pain in her abdomen.” In response to Doe’s frantic inquiries, Dr. Reisinger-Kindle advised her to take pain medication or a laxative.

Two days later, Doe was completely unprepared for the discovery that Dr. Reisinger-Kindle had left half of her deceased child inside of her. Doe was rushed to emergency surgery to remove the child stuck in her pelvis. As Henneberger reports, one of Doe’s operating surgeons said it was “the worst thing I’ve ever seen at surgery.”

Henneberger’s horror permeates her reporting on the subject. She argues that both those who would deny the event happened at all and those who would argue it happens all the time must unite in ensuring that if this happened once, it must never happen again.

Some might argue Henneberger was too cautious in suggesting the rarity of such tragedies.

Pro-life advocates have long warned that states lacking pro-life protections endanger both babies and moms. Just three years ago, the nation was shocked at the discovery of the “D.C. Five,” five babies whose mangled bodies showed signs of late-term abortion, and possibly illegal partial-birth abortion. Disturbingly, Washington, D.C., does not have a single limit on abortions, meaning that other babies are likely suffering gruesome late-term abortions like the D.C. Five to this day. The abortionist responsible, Cesare Santangelo, continues performing abortions unscathed despite the D.C. Five scandal. He was also allegedly responsible for the death of a patient who died after “fetal debris” entered her bloodstream due to a procedure at Santangelo’s hands.

If pro-life advocates had not discovered the remains of the D.C. Five, Americans would still be unaware of the atrocities going on behind Santangelo’s closed doors. Moreover, the fact that Santangelo didn’t lose his license over these horrors has garnered significant outrage from the pro-life community, which continues to argue that such tragedies are not myths as the pro-abortion lobby would like Americans to believe.

Henneberger’s op-ed later takes a subtle swipe at pro-life lawmakers who have made it “impossible for someone … to get an abortion in Missouri.” She goes further in asking: When will these same lawmakers help women give birth instead, as Doe allegedly “now says she wishes she’d done? Because it seems like the answer is never.”

Pro-life advocates who have spent the past 50-plus years on the front lines working with women and children in need, and lobbying at the state and federal level for them, would likely respectfully disagree with Henneberger.

There is currently a nationwide network of over 3,000 pro-life organizations — maternity homes, pregnancy resource centers, mobile clinics, and more — that exists to serve women and children in need. These organizations have transformed lives, helping women have real options they won’t find at Planned Parenthood. This often includes counseling, education, professional and career assistance, parenting classes, and free resources such as clothes, baby food, diapers, and so much more.

Legislators, including those in Missouri, have fought to install pro-family tax credits to help incentivize donations to pro-life pregnancy centers supporting moms in the state. These programs have been successful not only in supporting babies and moms, but also in saving the state money.

Anecdotally, these efforts have also helped to reduce the rates of abortion coercion that so many post-abortive women report, including Doe. Indeed, 60% of post-abortive women report that they would have preferred to parent if they had more support or resources. Fortunately, many of these pro-motherhood services are projected to increase. As Valerie Harkins, director of the Maternity Housing Coalition, told the Missouri Independent, in 2023 alone the organization saw a “21% increase in new maternity homes opening.”

Sadly, the same pro-abortion advocates who funnel women across state lines into dirty, run-down, and understaffed abortion clinics spend precious time and resources attacking pro-life organizations providing women like Doe with real choices that don’t end with medical emergencies. Blue states such as Massachusetts and Vermont have ruthlessly sought to shutter maternity homes while ignoring the insane optics of such agenda-driven attacks, which expose their true motives.

Now, pro-life advocates hope stories such as this Jane Doe case out of Illinois inspire Americans to demand justice for the many victims of the abortion industry and to support the pro-life advocacy that offers true assistance to women and children in need.