December 6, 2023

Granite City Abortion Clinic Hospitalizes Three Women Within a Week

Ambulance outside HCW receiving post-abortion
patient for emergency transport
photo via Operation Rescue
Within the span of a week, Hope Clinic for Women (HCW) in Granite City, Illinois hospitalized at least three women.

The emergencies were reported by pro-life onlookers to Operation Rescue, a pro-life organization dedicated to documenting medical emergencies at abortion businesses throughout the country. During the past several months, Illinois abortion businesses have garnered the overwhelming majority of emergency reports on Operation Rescue's website.

Details from emergencies at Illinois abortion businesses have become more difficult for Operation Rescue to obtain. Abortion clinics are careful about what they say to 911 operators to prevent information about abortion injuries from reaching the public, and local governments are less cooperative with FOIA requests for dispatch reports.

Operation Rescue was able to obtain 911 call recordings for the three emergencies taking place on November 3, 7, and 9. Click here to listen to those recordings.


On November 3, an HCW employee called 911 to report that a 35-year-old woman was "possibly" having "a seizure." The worker requested an ambulance to transport the patient to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri "for observation." Barnes is a level 1 trauma center where HCW frequently sends seriously injured patients.

Operation Rescue suggested that the seizures could have been caused by incorrect administration of anesthesia or bleeding from uterine perforation.

The emergency on November 7 involved a 40-year-old patient. The HCW employee who called 911 told the dispatcher that she had "some extra bleeding" after a "procedure." The employee again requested an ambulance to transport the patient to Barnes's emergency room.

"Extra bleeding" after an abortion could only be defined as hemorrhage. The most frequent cause of hemorrhage after an abortion would be uterine perforation. In addition to hemorrhage (which is life-threatening on its own), uterine perforation can lead to serious infection.

The November 9 emergency is the most ambiguous of the three. An HCW employee called 911 to request an ambulance to transfer a 21-year-old patient to Barnes. The employee said that the patient was "post-procedure" with stable vital signs, but she needed to to Barnes for "further evaluation."

When the 911 dispatcher asked if they needed any special equipment, the employee requested ACLS, otherwise known as Advanced Cardiac Life Support. This equipment is used when a patient is at risk of cardiac arrest.

It is not known whether these patients survived or if they sustained life-long injuries such as infertility.

“We hope that through our work people, many see the myth of ‘safe abortion’ for what it is: a lie invented by people who make huge profits out of killing innocent lives and maiming women,” said Operation Rescue’s President, Troy Newman. 

In this dreadful process the Abortion Cartel calls ‘healthcare,’ unsuspecting women are hurt and some of them even die. We pray that one day every state in our nation may see through these lies, and save women and their babies from such horror and pain.”