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UK Teen Fearful of Angering Boyfriend's Family Dies from Legal Abortion

By Peter J. Smith

BRISTOL, U.K., June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Welsh teenager who died from a "safe and legal" chemical abortion done at home underwent the abortion because she was afraid of the displeasure of her boyfriend and his family, an inquest heard today.

Manon Jones, 18, an A-level student, admitted herself to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, two weeks after having a legal chemical abortion at home.1

The inquest heard that while the UK's National Health Service doctors were very adept at helping to abort Jones's six-week old unborn child, when it came to saving her life they neglected to provide her with lifesaving blood transfusions, because they were too busy with another emergency.

Jones' tearful mother Llywela, told the inquest her "bubbly" daughter was "besotted" with her boyfriend, and although she wanted to keep the baby, she was in fear of his family on account of their Muslim religion.

"Manon found it very hard to make a decision to terminate the pregnancy, she wanted to keep the child but there were difficult circumstances which she had to consider with her boyfriend's family and their Muslim religion," Llywela told the inquest.

Llywela Jones traveled to Bristol on June 11, 2005 to be with her daughter, who had taken medication the day before to abort what Mrs. Jones plainly told the inquest she knew to be her grandchild.

"She was scared and I tried to reassure her. It was a very emotional experience for us both to witness her pass her baby and my grandchild into the bedpan," she said.

Jones was in her sixth week of pregnancy - the stage where an embryo develops fingers and toes - at the time of her abortion. Mother and daughter both returned to the hospital on June 12 to complete the legal abortion.

However, within 48 hours after the hospital released her, Jones began to bleed heavily. Jones's boyfriend Naeem Muzzafar took her back to Southmead Hospital on June 15 for a scan, which hospital workers told her was "normal."

Continuing to bleed and feel unwell, Jones returned to Southmead Hospital on June 23, 2005. As she continued to bleed, NHS hospital officials put her on a waiting list for blood transfusions. Jones then went into seizures and cardiac arrest. Without hope of recovery, doctors removed life-support four days later and the girl passed away, devastating her family.

The inquest heard that a post-mortem examination revealed Miss Jones died of hypovolemia, an abnormal decrease in blood volume and shock caused by what officials termed the "retained products of conception" - the remains of Jones's unborn child at 6 weeks gestation.

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr. Lucy Jackson, who treated Jones, said she thought Manon Jones's early symptoms did not point to hypovolemia and could wait for a transfusion while she was involved in another emergency.

"If we hadn't been so busy, particularly with the other emergency, we would have had more time and things could have been different."

The inquest continues to investigate Southmead Hospital and the circumstances behind the death of the young woman.

1 CLARIFICATION: A clarification is necessary in the June 12 report UK Teen Fearful of Angering Boyfriend's Family Dies from Legal Abortion. The report initially says the teenager Manon Jones died from complications after having a chemical abortion "at home." While Jones did return home after taking the RU-486 abortion medication she obtained from Bristol's Southmead hospital, it should be noted more clearly the final step in the abortion was finished at Southmead hospital in Bristol.

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