An Idaho couple is suing the nation’s leading abortion provider for child support after a failed abortion attempt.
Biana Coons and her partner Cristobal Ruiz allege that Planned Parenthood “deceived” them after a drug-induced abortion failed and are seeking $765,000 to cover the cost of raising an “additional unplanned child,” among other damages.
Coons was six weeks pregnant with her son at the time of the “medication abortion,” otherwise known as the “abortion pill.”
Prior to the medication abortion administered at a Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they drove 700 miles from their home in Idaho to avoid the mandatory waiting period in their home state, the couple claim they were told they would not lose access to Planned Parenthood services upon their return – that is, in the case that the pill failed.
After the medication abortion failed, the couple claims that they were told by Planned Parenthood to either drive back to the Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque for a follow-up procedure or that they would have to pay out of pocket at a Planned Parenthood near their home in Idaho, which they claim they could not because of “extreme poverty.”
Fox News reports,
The couple, which already had two children, didn't want another one. But the drug-induced abortion, known as the abortion pill, ultimately failed to end the pre-born child's life and the couple, in ‘extreme poverty,’ could not afford a follow-up procedure. Planned Parenthood warned her, in a letter, that the abortion drugs could cause birth defects.
The couple was ‘deceived into thinking that they could come to New Mexico and initiate the [medication abortion] and then return to Idaho without losing access to ‘Planned Parenthood Services,’’ but the abortion provider allegedly told them they needed to return to New Mexico and get it done free of charge or find another office in Idaho and pay, as each Planned Parenthood operates as a separate business.
Instead, Coons gave birth to a ‘jaundiced and ill’ baby boy, now 2, in August of that year -- one month early.
The lawsuit maintains Planned Parenthood's ‘failure to properly supervise and administer the abortion service directly resulted in the failure of the pregnancy termination which resulted in injury to plaintiffs’ interests in family planning and their interests in financial planning for the future of their family.’
According to Planned Parenthood’s website, “Medication abortion — also called the abortion pill — is a safe and effective way to end an early pregnancy.”
“For people who are 8 weeks pregnant or less, it works about 94-98 out of 100 times,” the website states. “The abortion pill usually works, but if it doesn’t, you can take more medicine or have an in-clinic abortion to complete the abortion.”
Planned Parenthood reportedly declined to comment on the lawsuit.