Tonya Reaves, 24, is gone, and she will not rest in peace.
For Reaves and her family, the most private of matters has become the focus of a public debate.
Last week, the young Chicago woman had an abortion procedure at Planned Parenthood. Afterward, she hemorrhaged and died, News One reported. The Cook County medical examiner ruled her death an accident, with her pregnancy listed as a contributing factor.
Understandably, Reaves’ family wants to know what happened. Was her pregnancy too far along for the procedure to be performed? The Reaves family has hired an attorney, Corey Meyer. who reportedly said that Reaves was 14 to 16 weeks pregnant at the time of the procedure. Was there malpractice involved? Who can be brought to task for the sudden death of this young black mother?
In a shocking display of poor taste, Reaves’ death has fueled the conservative argument that abortion shouldn’t be an option for women. For some pro-life advocates, Reaves is the perfect poster child for the argument against abortion—she was a young and beautiful mother of a 1-year-old. Reaves was also engaged and seemed to have the world ahead of her.
Fox News rolled out the red carpet for Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who called for more congressional oversight of Planned Parenthood earlier this week. “I would like to find out how they spend our half a billion dollars, and I would also like to explore some of the safety aspects, particularly in light of this death, of this tragedy,” Stearns said.
President Obama has not responded directly to the death of Reaves, but on July 24, during a stump speech in Oregon, he said, “Mr. Romney wants to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. I think that’s a bad idea, I’ve got two daughters. I want them to control their own health care choices.”
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation, told LifeNews: “We have to wonder how Mr. Obama would have felt if that had been Malia or Sasha bleeding to death on that abortion table.”
