An abortion clinic in Champaign, run by an Ohio doctor who gained notoriety in recent years for coming to Illinois on weekends to perform abortions after his home state tightened restrictions on the procedure, has been hit by a lawsuit from an Indiana woman who claims the doctor botched her abortion by perforating her uterus and leaving much of the aborted fetus behind in the process.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed suit in Champaign County Circuit Court, accusing Equity Clinic and Keith Reisinger-Kindle of medical negligence and other counts.
Doe is represented in the action by attorney Richard Craig, of Chicago.
According to the complaint, Doe traveled from Indianapolis to Equity Clinic in Champaign in April 2023 to undergo an elective abortion. According to court documents, the fetus was between 18-22 weeks of gestation at the time of the procedure, or within the second trimester of her pregnancy, which runs from weeks 13 to 26.
According to court documents, the woman had previously birthed four children.
According to the complaint, the woman underwent a so-called "dilation and evacuation" abortion procedure.
The next day, according to the complaint, the woman began suffering heavy abdominal cramps, "pressure" in her "bottom" and other pain.
According to the complaint, medical staff at Equity Clinic advised her to take over the counter pain medication, including ibuprofen, and a laxative.
A day later, the cramping and pain had not subsided, and the woman went to an emergency room in Indianapolis, where scans revealed "the remains of 'half of a deceased pre-born human being' ... in her right pelvis."
According to the complaint, the "fetal remains" were removed in surgery, along with "pieces of the fetal skull that were adherent to the patient's intestine," which were "removed piecemeal."
Doctors at the hospital also determined the woman's uterus had been perforated in the abortion procedure.
According to the the complaint, the discoveries came despite claims by Reisinger-Kindle that he had personally "visibly inspected" the "products of conception" and had "confirmed" the abortion was "complete."
According to the complaint, the day after the surgery to remove the "fetal remains," the surgeon had called Kindle to report the results of the surgery. However, according to the complaint, "Kindle refused to answer any questions or provide any information" to the surgeon about the woman's abortion, "claiming lack of consent" from the woman.
However, that same day, Kindle and the woman reportedly talked on the phone. According to the complaint, Kindle allegedly did not tell the woman that he had spoken with her surgeon.
According to the complaint, the woman, however, asked Kindle if he could determine if the aborted baby was "a boy or a girl." Kindle allegedly told her "he would look again," even though he allegedly "knew it was impossible at that point to determine the pre-born child's sex because whatever fetal remains had been removed from Plaintiff had already been discarded."
The lawsuit accuses Kindle and Equity Clinic of medical negligence, for allegedly causing the woman's injuries, but then doing little to investigate or relieve the cramping and other complications, which would have revealed the dangers facing the woman and necessitating the later surgery.
The complaint further accuses Kindle and Equity Clinic of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of more than $50,000 per count.
Kindle and Equity Clinic have gained notoriety in recent years, as Illinois led by Gov. JB Pritzker has sought to expand abortion access in the state, partially in response to efforts by most surrouding states to restrict and regulate abortions.
Kindle, for instance, was prominently featured in an article in 2023 in the Chicago Tribune, in which he was largely regaled for traveling to Illinois on the weekends to perform abortions, after Ohio moved to largely ban abortions after 6 weeks of gestation.
According to the article, Kindle said the Champaign clinic performs abortions on women who traveled from throughout the U.S., seeking to take advantage of Illinois' pro-abortion legal environment.
According to the article, more than 60% of women who undergo abortions at Equity Clinic are in their second trimester.
The clinic reportedly also offers training for other abortion doctors from throughout the country.
Resinger Kindle also works as a professor at the medical school at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, helping to lead that school's obstetrics and gynecology unit.