By Cheryl Sullenger

Sterling Heights, MI – Not every danger faced by women at abortion facilities happens in the procedure room.  An incident on June 14, 2019, at the Northland Family Planning – also known as Serendipity – in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is a case in point.

A couple was engaged in a heated argument as they pulled into the abortion facility parking lot just before 8:00 a.m., while the clinic was still preparing to open for the day. 

A series of five 911 calls placed by five different witnesses detailed what happened next.

“She was trying to get out of the car and he ran her over,” said one caller.

A worker from Northland Family Planning was among those who called 911. She noted that a woman, presumed to be a patient who was there for an abortion, was injured when a car hit their building.  The clinic nurse went out to the parking lot to render assistance.

“She’s talking and breathing but she’s on the ground,” the clinic worker said, then asked how long it would take for an ambulance to arrive.

“They are coming lights and sirens, okay?  They are coming as fast as they can,” the dispatcher told the clinic worker.

Another woman called 911 to report the accident.  “Her foot is swelling. . . her foot’s probably broke,” the woman said.

The final call was from the woman’s fiancée.  He was very emotional and broke down sobbing as he tried to ask for an ambulance and explain what happened.

“I’m so sorry!” he sobbed.

As the dispatcher calmed him down, the story began to come into focus. 

The couple argued angrily on the way to the abortion facility.  They were still arguing when the woman, who was driving the car, pulled too fast into a parking space and hit the brick wall that surrounded the parking lot.

The already-angry man became “frustrated.”  He told her, “If you can hit things, I can, too.” 

From the passenger seat, he put the car into reverse then reached over with his left foot and hit the accelerator pedal just as the woman was getting out of the car.  She was hit by the open driver’s side door, which knocked her to the ground. 

“She drove the car into a wall, and I got really frustrated and I started backing it up, and while I was backing up, she opened the door and I couldn’t stop backing up because it was only my left foot. . .” the upset man told the 911 dispatcher.

Since the man could not reach the brake pedal from the passenger seat, the car was out of control as it continued in reverse.  It rolled over the woman, then crashed into the side of the abortion clinic’s building.

Witnesses described various injuries to the victim.  It seemed from the accounts that the car dragged her on her back, which was scraped and bleeding, then rolled over her arm and foot.

The woman’s fiancé tried to help her after the accident, but she ordered him away and refused to even speak with him. 

Soon the police, an ambulance and at least one fire unit arrived at the clinic to sort things out.  The woman was transported to the hospital as a pro-life activist snapped photos of the scene.

It is unknown if the man faced charges for injuring his girlfriend. A newspaper search for arrests made on June 14, 2019, yielded no results that matched the circumstances, but there could be reasons for not publishing the incident.

According to ScienceDaily.com, 21 percent of pregnant women suffer “emotional violence” and 3.6 percent endure physical or sexual violence.

“Domestic arguments are not uncommon at abortion facilities.  It is an emotionally charged time, and if one does not want the abortion, things can get out of hand. Abortion is an ugly business and all kinds of ugliness goes along with it, including anger, arguments, and even sometimes domestic violence,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “I pray that this incident helped to save the baby from abortion, but we really have no way of knowing.”