{"id":233025,"date":"2020-10-16T15:12:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T20:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=233025"},"modified":"2020-10-16T15:12:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T20:12:06","slug":"elderly-frail-louisiana-abortionist-history-botched-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/elderly-frail-louisiana-abortionist-history-botched-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly, frail Louisiana abortionist with history of botched abortions is still in business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Louisiana abortionist who has to use a walker and is unable to drive is still committing abortions, despite her own health problems and a history of botched procedures.<\/p>\n

Abortionist Mary Francis Gardner, age 80, needs assistance getting from a vehicle into the abortion facility because she’s unable to do so herself,\u00a0according to Operation Rescue<\/a>. Gardner is still committing abortions at two<\/em> facilities: the Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge and the Women’s Health Center in New Orleans. A photo taken by pro-life activist Richard Mahoney showed Gardner being helped, while using her walker, into the Delta Clinic on October 12, 2020.<\/p>\n

Complaints against Gardner go back decades, dating as far back as 1975<\/a>, when the state of Louisiana first suspended her license. Another complaint, filed in 2011<\/a> on behalf of a patient identified only as “Jane Doe,” alleged Gardner treated her with abusive language and botched the abortion procedure.<\/p>\n

“We were herded like cattle into a very small room without sufficient seating to watch a video that was from the 1980’s and full of static,” the patient wrote in the complaint, explaining that they were given urine tests and ultrasounds to confirm their pregnancies as a group. Jane Doe said she opted for abortion pills, but it went wrong from the beginning; she said she had pain for days, but very little bleeding. Facility staffers, including Gardner herself, repeatedly tried to dissuade Doe from being seen to address her issues.<\/p>\n

“The Doctor went on to explain that she is the physician, that I was not the physician, and that she knew more than me. I told her that I would go to the emergency room and hung up on her,” the complaint read. “The Doctor immediately called me back and screamed at me that she had better things to do than to put up with me and she did not get paid enough to deal with me.” Gardner threatened to drop her as a patient, but eventually Doe was able to get in touch with someone at the facility who agreed to help her, and performed an ultrasound. Unsurprisingly, it was discovered that the abortion pills did not work; they merely gave Doe more abortion pills, and those did not work, either. Eventually, they scheduled her for a D&C (dilation and curettage) surgical abortion.<\/p>\n