Teaser

Jennifer Morbelli was young, attractive, and pregnant with a baby she desperately wanted. A 29-year-old school teacher in White Plains, New York, Jennifer had married her college sweetheart TJ in 2009, with whom she was happily starting a family. When Jennifer’s 33-week-old unborn baby girl, who she named Madison, was found to have a birth defect which caused seizures, she chose to travel to Maryland to have a late-term abortion. The late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart was the physician who advised Jennifer throughout the process. The abortion took multiple days, with the process of delivering Madison’s dead body alone taking nine hours. Jennifer’s condition deteriorated shortly after the procedure finished. She began to experience shortness of breath and chest pains in her hotel room. Carhart, who lived in Nebraska but flew into his clinic in Maryland to perform abortions, left town after finishing the procedure and was apparently unavailable for any follow-up. 

When her panicked family took her to the hospital, Carhart refused to give any information to emergency personnel. Jennifer, it turned out, had suffered an amniotic fluid embolism; after the abortion, amniotic fluid had spilled into her bloodstream, making it impossible for her blood to clot. Her heart stopped six times before she ultimately passed away. Carhart didn’t arrive at the hospital until after she had died. Jennifer Morbelli and her baby girl, Madison, were buried together. 

Jennifer Morbelli's death wasn't the first Carhart was responsible for, or even the most dramatic, although this case made national headlines after her death in 2013. Another patient died at his hands nearly ten years before in a case that garnered far less publicity and public outcry, but was no less horrifying. 

If Jennifer Morbelli and her family had known about Christin Gilbert, they might never have gone to Dr. Carhart in the first place.

Introduction

You’re listening to Conceiving Crime, the podcast dedicated to Investigating crimes past and present involving sex, procreation, pregnancy, birth, and all things human reproduction. I’m your host, Sami Parker. See the full show notes & links to resources from this episode at ConceivingCrime.Com.

ACT I

Christin Gilbert was born on May 30, 1985 in Austin, Texas. Christin had Down Syndrome, and by all reports, brought joy to everyone around her. She grew up with her parents and sister in the small town of Keller. Christin was full of love. Those who knew her were greeted with hugs and happiness; she was the center of attention whenever she walked into a room.

Christin was also passionate about sports; she participated in the Special Olympics for 10 years, winning the gold medal for softball throw in 2003. She attended and graduated from the Special Education Program of Keller High School, where she joined the girls’ softball team as their bat girl. She kept everyone’s spirits high, even during bad games, greeting each player at the dugout with a hug and telling them she loved them. The team won the state championship with Christin by their side.

That’s why it was all the more tragic when, in 2004, at just 19 years old, Christin was raped. As heartbreaking a discovery as this was, it was not surprising; people with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at a rate seven times higher than people without disabilities. The rate of sexual assault against people with disabilities is one of the highest among any group in the United States. According to one study, nearly half of all people with intellectual disabilities will experience 10 or more sexually abusive incidents.

Even worse, they’re more likely to be assaulted by someone they know, and are targeted specifically because the predator knows they can be manipulated easily, and will have a harder time testifying against them later. Police and prosecutors are also less likely to take on these cases, because they see them as harder to win. And that means these abusers usually are able to escape punishment, free to attack again. 

Little is known surrounding the details of Christin’s rape. A grand jury was assembled to investigate the case in the Texas county where the crime occurred, but no perpetrator was ever identified. Christin’s rapist was never even found, let alone tried for the crime.

Several weeks later, Christin’s mom noticed that her stomach had gotten bigger, and became suspicious. She took Christin to see their family doctor, who confirmed that she was pregnant. How the decision was made to have an abortion is not known, but that decision had devastating consequences for the Gilbert family.

George Tiller 

Christin wasn’t taken into the local, friendly OB/GYN’s office to monitor her and her baby throughout pregnancy–she was taken by her parents to see Kristin Ann Neuhaus, an associate of the noted late-term abortionist George Tiller. Both worked out of Wichita, Kansas at the time at Women’s Health Care Services, where Tiller served as the medical director. But Christin’s fate wasn’t put in Tiller’s hands. Instead, she was given to another late-term abortionist: LeRoy Carhart. At that time, Carhart didn’t own a facility of his own, but worked under Tiller.

Christin underwent what is known as an induction abortion, which are most commonly committed after 25 weeks of pregnancy. This is a multi-day procedure which begins with injecting either digoxin or potassium chloride into the woman’s abdomen, targeting the preborn baby’s head, torso, or heart. The poison can be released into the amniotic sac, but it will take longer to kill the baby. The abortionist then inserts laminaria, or seaweed sticks, into the woman’s cervix; these absorb liquid and will gradually begin dilating the cervix so the body of the dead fetus can be removed. On the second day, the laminaria will be replaced, and the abortionist will make sure the digoxin or potassium chloride has successfully ended the life of the preborn baby. It usually takes between two to four days for the cervix to be dilated enough for labor; the abortionist may decide to give the woman drugs to force labor, or she may go into labor herself. It’s not unusual for the baby’s body to be delivered at the woman’s home; in that situation, she is usually advised to sit on the toilet and wait for an abortion staffer to come.

According to a staffer who was present during Christin’s case, Carhart delivered a fatal shot of digoxin to the baby’s heart. He then inserted the laminaria into her cervix, and sent her and her family to the La Quinta Inn to wait. The next day, on the way back to the abortion facility, Christin delivered the body of her dead baby in the family van. Carhart then carried out a dilation and curettage procedure – where the abortionist uses a curette to scrape the lining of the uterus – and ended up tearing Christin’s uterus. That tear was sutured–surgically stitched up. 

Sometimes, the baby’s body doesn’t come out in one piece. The abortionist will then do a dilation and evacuation procedure, where he will use a sopher clamp to dismember and remove the baby.

Despite the fact that he had already committed two abortion procedures on Christin, and that her baby had already been delivered, Carhart wanted what he referred to as an “insurance policy.” He gave Christin RU-486, or the abortion pill, mifepristone, which blocks the progesterone hormone from reaching the lining of the uterus- a critical hormone necessary for the survival of the young preborn baby.

Christin began to experience sepsis within 24 hours of being given mifepristone. The 

mifepristone had been given to her as a vaginal suppository. Considering her uterus had just been lacerated, this was incredibly dangerous; it made her much more susceptible to infection, but Carhart either did not know, or did not care.

After her family brought her back to the facility, complaining that her condition was  worsening, the staffers brushed off their concerns. Sepsis was already wreaking havoc throughout Christin’s body, which was weakened from the abortion, but they merely said she was dehydrated. They gave her IV fluids, but offered no other treatment, and made no documentation of anything. By the evening, Christin’s condition had worsened to the point where she would not eat.

By the evening Christin was cramping, bleeding, vomiting and passing out. Between midnight and 4am, the family again called for help; Carhart’s “head nurse,” Cathy Reavis, was on call and came to the hotel to assist the Gilberts. Reavis, despite being referred to as a nurse, was not licensed in Kansas or any other state. All Reavis did was place Christin into a warm bath – which may have made her condition worse – and then put her back to bed.

Carhart was called, but he did not respond until the next day.

The next morning, January 13th, the family tried to take Christin back to the abortion facility, but she again passed out and couldn’t be woken up. For reasons unknown, they did not call 911 or take her to an emergency room. It’s known that abortionists will sometimes advise their patients not to seek emergency help and instead, rely solely on them.  

It's possible that the Gilbert family were given the same instructions. Why else would they not think to bring their ill and dying daughter to the emergency room? They arrived at the abortion facility at 8am, by which time Christin had miraculously woken up and was able to walk through the door. She quickly collapsed again and staffers eventually called 911. When they did, their main goal was to make sure the reality of Christin’s condition was kept quiet – not to get her help as quickly as possible.

In the 911 transcript, it was noted that the facility staffers were being “very evasive” and 

“refused to give any information” surrounding the urgency of Christin’s physical state. Keep in mind as you listen to the call between the abortion staffer and the 911 operator- Christin’s life is on the line. 

9-11 Call Transcript: 

Operator: “Nine-one-one Wichita.” 

Staffer: “Uh, yes, this is Dr. Tiller's office, we need an ambulance.”

Operator: “What’s the address? 

Staffer: “It's five one zero seven East Kellogg, but, please, please, please, no lights and no sirens.”

Operator: “Ma’am, I can't control that. What's the problem, tell me exactly what happened?”

Staffer: “Okay, this is the correct number for the ambulance right?”

Operator: “Yes, ma'am. What's the problem? Tell me exactly what happened.” 

Staffer: “Okay, all I know is that it's a patient who has to go to the hospital.” 

Operator: “Okay, for what reason?”

This is the hold music the 9-11 operator listened to as he waited 45 seconds for the abortion staffer to return. 

Staffer: “I’m sorry, I don't have that information. All I know is that we need to transport to the hospital.” 

Operator: “So you have no information as to why?”

Staffer: “No sir, I don’t. I was asked to call.”

Operator: “Okay, so do you need the police over there?”

Staffer: “Oh no, no, no.” 

Operator: “Well, see, that's why we have these questions, so we know how to respond and what units to respond. If you can't even give me that information….”

Clearly, Christin’s well-being was not a priority to the staffers at Tiller’s facility. 

Despite being described as awake and alert, paramedics arrived and the scene was horrifying. Christin was lying in “huge amounts” of “coffee grounds” blood and fluid — “way more than you would normally see,” with Carhart on top of her, trying to force fluids out of her stomach. Paramedics told him to get off of her, but he refused, and reportedly, they had to physically drag him away. For 15 minutes, the paramedics desperately tried to save Christin’s life; during that time, her heart stopped, but she was able to be resuscitated. She was taken to the hospital and arrived at 9:18am, where she was given antibiotics to try to counteract the sepsis, but nothing could be done.

Christin Gilbert was pronounced dead at 4:14pm, on January 13th, 2005. She was only 19 years old.

Once the autopsy was performed, it was clear just how much Christin had suffered at Carhart’s hands. She had bled from every single orifice, including her mouth and her eyes. Her body had been so badly ravaged by sepsis that her organs couldn’t even be donated, as she had gone into multi-system organ failure. Christin’s excruciating death could have been prevented, had Carhart and the staffers at Tiller’s abortion facility only bothered to give her basic medical care. 

As the medical examiner wrote in the autopsy, “Administration of antibiotics during her clinic and hospital admission would most likely prevent the growth of a causative agent in postmortem blood cultures.”

Christin didn’t require extraordinary care. All she needed was antibiotics. But she was completely and utterly failed by the medical staff to whom her parents entrusted her life.

ACT II

At the time of Christin’s abortion, George Tiller was one of only a handful of abortionists willing to commit abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. He committed abortions up until his murder in 2009, when he was shot while at church in an unjustified act of violence. After his death, Tiller was deified by the abortion movement as a pro-woman hero. In one New York Times article dedicated to memorializing him, Tiller was painted as a dedicated and cherished leader in the abortion profession and a “freedom fighter.” Tiller's real legacy was much more horrific. 

In one video, he callously said, “The woman is the patient. The fetus is the problem.” He also admitted that the vast majority of late-term abortions he committed were on healthy women and healthy babies. His patients didn’t always sing his praises, either. One woman, who went by Patient A, said she was one of the last women to undergo an abortion on the day of her procedure, and was told she wouldn’t remember anything. However, she remembered everything – including the brutal abortion process.

“They all literally looked like zombies just lying there. It was creepy,” she said of the other patients. “I was not allowed to have my husband come back to see me or comfort me. Finally it was my turn. I was taken in and given a drug to almost knock me out. It’s one where they say you don’t remember things, but I do… I can remember him [Tiller] half delivering my baby, jabbing the scissors into his head and killing him, then just kind of throwing him to the side and finishing up.”

Tiller committed so many late-term abortions, he had to use a full-size crematorium. According to one of his former employees:

“He called out for me to come and help him. The box was so big and heavy in his arms that he couldn’t get the key into the lock. So I unlocked the door for him, and, pushing the door open, I saw very clearly the gleaming metal of the crematorium- a full sized crematorium, just like the one’s used in funeral homes. I went back to my computer. I could hear Dr. Tiller firing up the gas oven. A few minutes later I could smell burning human flesh.”

Under Kansas law, before committing a late-term abortion, an abortionist has to get a second opinion from another doctor, confirming that “serious harm” would be done to the pregnant woman without an abortion. 

Neuhaus, the associate at Women’s Health Care Services who played a pivotal role in Christin’s case, was that second opinion for Tiller. Neuhaus eventually was stripped of her license to practice medicine by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts in 2012, after years of reported abuses and malpractice. 

In 1999 and 2001, she was disciplined by the medical board for allegedly forcing a woman to have an abortion after she changed her mind and revoked her consent to the procedure, as well as poor record keeping and “improper” patient care. But it wasn’t until the abuse of 11 underage girls came to light that Neuhaus finally lost her license. These girls, whose ages ranged from 10 and 18, were taken to Tiller for late-term abortions. Neuhaus said every single girl was suicidal due to their pregnancy, though no mental health treatment was recommended beyond abortion, and Neuhaus didn’t bother to follow up with the supposedly suicidal girls. She didn’t conduct an actual mental health evaluation either, and instead, just checked “yes” or “no” on a computer program. For five of the girls, this phony evaluation was done after the abortions had already begun.

Essentially, Neuhaus was rubber-stamping the forms needed to allow Tiller to commit illegal late-term abortions. Shockingly, Neuhaus was still allowed to practice medicine at the time Christin’s parents brought her to the facility, meaning Neuhaus happily gave the required second opinion needed to make Christin go through with a late-term abortion that would ultimately lead to her death.

LeRoy Carhart 

Leroy Carhart committed abortions in numerous states. He first worked in Kansas with George Tiller, then later opened his own facilities in Maryland and Nebraska. Throughout his decades-long career, there were numerous complaints filed against him, including altering patient charts, talking on the phone while carrying out abortions, and falling asleep while injecting a patient with lidocaine. One of his former staffers also reported that he left the facility in the middle of an abortion procedure to go outside and throw rocks at the window.

Other staffers said he would lie about the gestational age of preborn babies in order to circumvent the law. They also said he kept his facility in unsafe conditions, with dried blood on surgical instruments, missing narcotics and illegal drug use by employees. Other complaints accused him of illegally disposing of biohazardous waste, along with private patient medical information and even drugs.

He also, strangely, gave his patients several contact numbers, including a 24-hour hotline in case of emergencies. Yet the number listed went to his wife’s horse business, not to Carhart himself or a person who could help in case of emergency. And, as became sadly clear with Christin Gilbert, Carhart was not easy to get assistance from when things began to go badly.

In her case when he finally did arrive at the facility, he merely exacerbated Christin’s condition with the administration of RU-486. At the time of Christin’s abortion, mifepristone was not approved for use for late term abortions. The fact that mifepristone wasn’t approved for use in late-term abortions generally doesn’t seem to have bothered late-term abortionists.

At Southwestern Women’s Options in New Mexico – a facility in which women have died –late-term abortionists Shelly Sella and Carmen Landau experimented on hundreds of women by giving them mifepristone during late-term abortions. The goal was to see if the process could be hurried up, so they could carry out more abortions in a shorter period of time. A study was published from their experiments; complications were reported to include “hemorrhage, cervical laceration, retained placenta, and extramural delivery.” The abortionists concluded there was no benefit to using mifepristone during late-term abortions and gave up the practice in 2017.

One woman, Keisha Atkins, died during this experiment. She became septic, which is telling – sepsis is known to be a potential side effect of the abortion pill regimen. At Southwestern Women’s Options, for example, women are given strict instructions, which read:

We will see you here in our office if necessary — do not go to the emergency room; call our phone number below with any concerns and we will take care of you, no matter the time of day or night.

During testimony relating to the death of Keisha Atkins, Landau was asked why women were told not to go to the emergency room, and she said it was because emergency room personnel are “not qualified” to handle a post-abortion complication. But was that really true? Or were late-term abortionists like Landau and Carhart attempting to cover up the risky and dangerous care they provided for women under the guise of so-called “health care?” 

ACT III - The Aftermath

To make things worse, Tiller and Carhart completely escaped any accountability for their role in Christin’s death. Despite being an obvious case of malpractice and the autopsy specifically listing abortion as the cause of Christin’s death, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts cleared them, saying that Tiller, Carhart, and the abortion facility staff were not responsible. Then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius had appointed many of the people on the board, and she had received campaign contributions from Tiller.

For his part, Carhart ran. A petition was successfully launched to force a grand jury 

investigation, but it was quickly dismissed. The grand jury foreman later came forward to explain why: Carhart had fled the state of Kansas to Nebraska, and though he had been subpoenaed, Asst. District Attorney Ann Swegle would not issue the subpoena to Nebraska to force him to come back for the investigation. The foreman also said they tried to get a copy of Neuhaus’ records, to find out why she said Christin’s abortion was legally justified, but they never received it. Swegle told them it would take an “act of God” to get those records. And so it seemed the stars aligned to make sure that Christin Gilbert’s death was completely covered up; not only was she robbed of her life, her family was robbed of any chance to get justice after her death, too.

The Executive Director of the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, Larry Buening, later resigned from his role in 2008, having been accused of failing to properly discipline physicians. Buening was friends with Tiller, and is believed to be the person who allowed Neuhaus’ rubber-stamping of Tiller’s late-term abortions to continue for as long as it did. Within a year, Tiller would be murdered, and his facility permanently closed.

Carhart, however? Christin’s death seemingly had no effect on his life whatsoever. He even denied having ever treated her as a patient. Carhart continued carrying out  abortions until he died in 2023 at the age of 81.

Christin was laid to rest in her hometown of Keller, Texas, and the 2005 Keller Special Olympics were dedicated to her. She was called one of God’s angels in her obituary, and while that is surely true, another sad truth is that Christin should still be here today – and would be, were it not for George Tiller and LeRoy Carhart. She was a victim–and not just of sexual assault and negligent medical care. A family source told the pro-life group Operation Rescue in confidence that Christin would have never chosen abortion for her baby had she understood what was about to take place. Christin was likely, according to this family member, a victim of an illegal forced abortion.

Why do we go to doctors for medical care? Let’s face it – many of us could probably attempt to stitch up a cut or monitor an illness on our own, and it might be fine... but what if something  goes wrong? We trust our physicians, not just to care for us when we’re injured, but to be there if there are complications, to know the things we don’t, to respond in an emergency, and to care as deeply about saving the lives of our loved ones as we do.

We expect doctors to care deeply about our lives, to “do no harm.” So, stories like this one where a doctor abandons their patient and leaves them to die, only to continue practicing medicine, chips away at the trust we have in the medical establishment as a whole.