Woman Brutalized by Botched Abortion Sues Abortionist Who Almost Killed Her

Less than four months before infamous late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart died from liver cancer in 2023, the 81-year-old killer brutally botched yet another abortion. Now, three years later, the survivor has filed suit against Carhart’s remaining estate and his disastrous late-term abortion clinic, CARE Reproductive Health, located in Maryland.

When Chanetta Smith walked into Carhart’s poorly named CARE clinic, she probably didn’t know that Carhart had already killed two mothers: Christin Gilbert in 2005, and Jennifer Morbelli in 2013.

But that’s not all Smith didn’t know. The lawsuit filed by Smith earlier this year alleges Carhart and his reckless abortion business failed to obtain informed consent of the “various alternatives and risks” of a late-term abortion at 24 weeks of pregnancy.

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“That line in this lawsuit says it all,” says Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Women are repeatedly told abortion is safe by the media, medical professionals, and trainwrecks like Carhart — and just as many are coerced into abortion by being led to believe there is no alternative. These two lies keep abortion operations like Carhart’s going for decades. Meanwhile, mothers who could have been supported and empowered to choose parenting or adoption end up undergoing a dangerous procedure that lands them in an emergency room or, in tragic cases like Gilbert and Morbelli, the morgue.”

The Botched Abortion

The lawsuit alleges that a “national abortion services company” referred Smith to Carhart’s clinic on 10401 Old Georgetown Rd in Bethesda. Smith traveled from her home in Lincoln, Delaware.

On January 16, 2023, Smith had an initial appointment — day one of a two-day Dilation & Evacuation (D&E) abortion. An ultrasound was done and Smith was given oral medication. Laminaria were also inserted vaginally to cause cervical dilation. Smith spent the night in Bethesda.

On the morning of January 17, Smith returned to complete the late-term abortion. She was given more medication to further dilate her uterus before Carhart began dismembering her 24-week baby. The lawsuit states neither Carhart nor his staff produced any notes detailing the performance of the abortion. The only details made available included:

• Smith was further dilated using Pratt and Denison dilators,
• Her cervix was dilated to 49,
• A fetal injection was given at 12:23 PM (to stop the baby’s heart),
• Smith tolerated the procedure “very well” with “no complications,”
• Smith was stable and discharged.

The hospital records tell a far different and much more horrific story — indicating that Carhart and his staff either intentionally or apathetically fabricated Smith’s records. She, in fact, experienced severe complications and became very quickly unstable. And she wasn’t discharged; she was transferred by an ambulance for emergency care.

Hospital Records Reveal Harrowing Injuries 

According to the lawsuit, hospital records reveal Smith developed “significant post-operative bleeding and hypotension” following the dismemberment and removal of her baby. This means Smith was actively hemorrhaging and her blood pressure was dropping. The clinic was forced to call 911 — which was nowhere in the clinic’s notes.

When emergency responders arrived, Smith had been given drugs to try and slow the bleeding, as well as some fluids. En route to the hospital, Smith was given more fluids as her blood pressure continued to struggle. She complained of “pelvic pain, feeling extremely cold, and feeling like she was going to die.”

By the time Smith was being rolled into Shady Grove Adventist Hospital nine miles from CARE clinic, Smith was described as “pale and lethargic.” Her blood pressure was 57/32 and she was shaking uncontrollably. She complained of “10/10 buttocks pain.”

At the hospital, Smith was given multiple transfusions of plasma and platelets. Her hemoglobin had fallen dangerously low (4.3) and she developed a fever.

Hospital staff working to save her life performed a transvaginal ultrasound. The imaging revealed “blood in the uterus and vagina” as well as reported “nodular debris” — parts of her once living baby left inside her by Carhart. An obstetric hospitalist reported Smith was suffering a “life-threatening deterioration,” one that required the highest level of intervention, including the removal of what was left of her child. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital did not have these capabilities. Smith, in her still fragile state, would have to be moved.

By 10:52 PM, Smith’s blood pressure was stable enough to risk transporting her to University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in Baltimore.

Sometime after 1:00 AM, Smith arrived at UMMC. The lawsuit states she was found to be in hemorrhagic shock due to the pieces of her child still in her uterus. On January 18, she was taken to an operating room for examination under anesthesia and a surgical dilation and curettage. She would essentially undergo her second abortion in 24 hours.

During the examination, the medical team found two vaginal tears, a cervical tear, and a 3 cm strand of tissue extending from the cervix, which was reportedly removed. A foley catheter was also placed, but it was removed the next day before Smith was discharged. She was told to follow up with her regular OB/GYN within two weeks and sent home.

The Carhart Nightmare Continues 

Five days after being discharged, Smith showed up at an emergency room in Delaware. She complained of continued leaking urine since the catheter was removed at UMMC. A CT scan revealed fluid inside Smith’s uterus, enough to make it distended or swollen. There also appeared to be a perforation in the uterine wall, and more fluid collecting just outside or around that perforation and in the vaginal canal. This fluid, in turn, was putting pressure on Smith’s right ureter and causing her right kidney to back up (a condition known as hydroureteronephrosis).

An MRI was ordered next. The MRI revealed the uterine perforation was actually a uterine rupture in the right side of the uterine wall that was allowing air and fluid into the pelvis. In addition, imaging showed a vesicovaginal fistula — essentially a tunnel-like opening between the bladder and vagina that allows urine to continuously and involuntarily leak.

A “fistula revision” was recommended in 8-12 weeks, with a Foley catheter being used until that time. A cystoscopy was also ordered — a scope of the bladder with a small camera — before any more surgical intervention.

Smith would spend the next year and half in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices trying to identify and repair all the damage Carhart did to her body. Finally, in August 2024, Smith underwent a final surgery for a right ureteral reimplant and stent insertion.

By that time, Leroy Carhart had been dead for over a year.

“Carhart performed this abortion at 81-years-old in terminally poor health,” says Newman. “He should have been trying to make some kind of peace in his final days, but instead he chose to continue violence and carnage. That is his legacy. It will always be his legacy. I hope and pray this lawsuit bankrupts Carhart’s estate and his abominable CARE clinic that remains open and continues to injure women and dismember late-term babies.”

Carhart’s Felonious Replacement 

Carhart’s Bethesda CARE clinic recently moved to a new location where felon abortionist Tyrone Malloy is currently committing late-term abortions. On June 1, Operation Rescue published a report on Malloy after an investigation from the Board of Medicine unwittingly revealed evidence that Malloy might be killing babies born alive in late-term abortions.

“Our investigation into Malloy remains open,” adds Newman. “We will soon share new information about Malloy and his obvious intent to practice the same kind of brutality and incompetence as his ‘colleague’ Leroy Carhart.”

LifeNews Note: This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.