DENVER, Colorado, January 23, 2018 (Operation Rescue) – On this forty-fifth memorial of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the U.S., this abortion horror story illustrates the human price of that tragic decision.

Last week, a local pro-life activist attended one day of the malpractice trail against late-term abortionist Warren Hern, who is accused by a former abortion patient, Jennifer D., of botching her abortion by leaving a piece of her baby’s skull inside her womb that resulted in a hysterectomy.

The activist, who wishes to remain anonymous, visited the courtroom on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, for Day 5 of the proceedings. The observer took notes and reported to Operation Rescue about the day’s testimony.

According to the pro-life observer, Dr. Robert Arias, a psychologist from Lincoln, Nebraska, who specializes in neuropsychology and behavioral sciences, gave testimony through a video deposition. He spoke of the plaintiff’s pain and suffering that resulted from her ordeal after her abortion by Hern at his Boulder Abortion Clinic in 2013.

He testified that she did not exaggerate her claims of pain and suffering, and that her claims are real and accurate. There was testimony of spousal abuse and other issues her life that made the complications she endured for 14 months after her abortion particularly traumatizing.

In addition, Arias’ testimony and other court records revealed that Jennifer had a son with severe birth defects prior to the 2013 abortion. That son died from his conditions in 2014, which only added stress and grief to an already difficult situation of coping with her abortion-related injuries.

One court record, an exhibit for the defense, obtained by Operation Rescue, stated in part:

In 2009 [Jennifer] was diagnosed with depression and incapacitating migraine headaches, exacerbated by stress. She was now (in 2015) diagnosed with adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood. She was grieving over the loss of her son and deciding how to proceed with her marriage. Jennifer was a victim of verbal and physical abuse; in addition, her husband had been having an affair for the first few years of their marriage. Currently Jennifer and Jason state that their marriage is a “work in progress.”

Hern’s defense attacked Dr. Arias’ testimony by attempting to belittle him.

The courtroom observer explained that Jennifer D. sat through the day’s proceedings without reaction, and appeared to stare blankly as testimony was given by Dr. Andrew Robertson, her maternal fetal medicine physician, who reviewed the gruesome details of what happened to her baby during the abortion.

Dr. Robertson reviewed the case and testified that Hern failed to follow multiple protocols that are written in Hern’s own book, which is considered the standard for abortion procedures.

Testimony indicated that when Hern conducted the abortion of Jennifer’s 25-week baby, he only dilated her cervix to 2 cm, barely large enough to insert the instruments used to dismember a pre-born baby that big.

Even though Hern conducted an ultrasound, which showed indications of a “echodensity” that should have been an indicator that something had been left behind, Hern ignored the ultrasound result and reported that the abortion was complete.

That “echodensity” was later found to have been a 3.5 cm bone fragment, which weighted five grams and accounted for over fifty percent of the baby’s skull.

Hern’s defense consisted of attacking Robertson for conducting a hysterectomy after he tried and failed to remove the skull bone, which kept chipping and breaking into fragments as he attempted removal during surgery. Hern insists a hysterectomy was unnecessary.

Another witness, C.C., who has worked for Hern for 17 years, testified that although she was not in the procedure room that day, she was the one tasked with reassembling the baby’s remains to determine if everything had been removed.

Hern removed the baby in approximately “100-1,000 pieces,” making it impossible to weigh the remains without the placenta, she stated.

There was a discrepancy in the weight of the remains and placenta with the weight of a 25-week pregnancy. 209 grams were missing from the actual weight of the remains and what should have been the actual weight. C.C. attempted to blame the discrepancy on a malformed skull, but that and the five grams of bone found embedded in Jennifer’s uterus did not account for the full discrepancy.

C.C. was obviously covering up for her long-time employer by calling him an amazing and meticulous man for whom safety of his patients is his primary concern.

“It is disturbing to hear witnesses describe the most barbaric of human abuses in an emotionless, clinical fashion, as if tearing a 25-week baby into 1,000 pieces is a normal medical procedure. It’s not normal. It’s the kind of thing a mentally-ill serial killer would take pleasure in doing. We should all be appalled and horrified,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “This is the legacy of Roe v. Wade.”

Day 6 of the trail resumed on January 17, 2018, with further video testimony from Dr. Arias, the psychologist who testified of Jennifer’s mental state, according to courtroom minutes.

This was followed by testimony from Jennifer’s husband, Jason, who personally took the stand for about an hour.

Before lunch, there was a dramatic development. After the plaintiff’s case, Hern’s attorneys made an oral motion for judgement, which would have ended the case in Hern’s favor. Judge Phillip A. Brimmer granted the motion in part by dismissing the Boulder Abortion Clinic from the suit, but he denied the motion to dismiss Hern, so the trial continued.

After lunch a Planned Parenthood abortionist Frederick Hopkins was sworn in. He testified for the rest of the day on behalf of the defense.

Hopkins’ testimony continued into Day 7 of the trial on January 18, 2018. Hopkins was followed by someone referred to only as V.H., then by Dr. Kristina Tocce, an Obstrician-Gynecologist with the University of Colorado Denver.

Day 8 of the trial was supposed to continue on January 19, however, court records for that day were not yet available.

The proceedings appear to be spilling into their third week, but the disposition of the case remains unknown. Operation Rescue will continue to monitor court records and post updates as they become available.

“We want to thank the court room observer who provided details from the courtroom. Those insights were important in helping us understand what happened to Jennifer, and how Hern is attempting to shift the blame onto others for his own mistakes. We pray for her and her family that there can be healing from this tremendous trauma,” said Newman.

Documents:

Courtroom Minutes 1/16/2018

Courtroom Minutes 1/17/2018

Courtroom Minutes 1/18/2018

Defense Exhibit



Read previous report about this trial.

Reprinted with permission from Operation Rescue.