Chicago Woman, 24, Dies At Hospital After Abortion

Chicago, IL — A 24-year-old Chicago woman, Tonya Reaves, has died after a fairly standard abortion procedure, and her grieving family wants answers following her sudden passing on Friday night.

Reaves underwent a dilation and extraction (D&E) procedure, during which inserts are placed in the cervix before the patient returns for the second part of the process. But Reaves, 24, began to bleed profusely and soon slipped away at a Chicago area hospital.

Now her parents, twin sister, son, and fiance are trying to piece together what went wrong during the procedure or afterwards that caused the young mother to die during a medical happenstance that women across America undergo each day.

Sister Toni Reaves, also 24, was distraught discussing Tonya’s passing to a local CBD affiliate, saying:

“It happened so fast. She was just fine one day and then the next day she was gone… We’re just trying to figure out what happened… what happened.”

Planned Parenthood CEO Carol Brite has addressed the tragedy but notes the provider cannot say more about Reaves’ death during an abortion procedure due to patient privacy laws. Brite stressed that abortion remains a safe procedure for most women opting to undergo it:

“We were shocked and saddened upon learning of a tragic development at a nearby hospital… While legal abortion services in the United States have a very high safety record, a tragedy such as this is devastating to loved ones and we offer our deepest sympathies.”

Planned Parenthood of Illinois also addressed Brite’s death, confirming a patient had died but being unable to say much else due to HIPAA laws:

“Planned Parenthood of Illinois cares deeply about the health and safety of each and every patient. We do not publicly discuss private patient matters and we follow HIPAA laws that forbid the disclosure of patient information.”

It remains unclear whether Reaves encountered the complication during the abortion, in recovery, or at the hospital.