A team of doctors entered Shanyce Thomas’s hospital room to explain what had happened and why she could no longer have children. She never imagined her trip to Planned Parenthood would lead to multiple surgeries and a medically induced coma.
Looking back nearly six years later, Thomas says her “message to Planned Parenthood is that you guys need to close down.”
Thomas is sharing her story publicly in hopes that it will prevent other women from having the experience at Planned Parenthood that she had.
Thomas was in college when she found out she was pregnant.
“I thought my mom was going to kill me,” she remembers thinking at the time. After talking with her boyfriend, Thomas went to Planned Parenthood for an abortion.
When she arrived at the abortion clinic 10 weeks pregnant, the clinic gave her mifepristone and misoprostol, the two pills used to conduct a chemical abortion, and a packet of information.
“They didn’t really give a thorough explanation” of the possible effects of the pills, she recalled during an interview with The Daily Signal.
Thomas returned to Planned Parenthood when she found herself in “severe pain.”
“They told me that everything was fine and sent me back home,” Thomas said, but when she continued to decline physically, her father rushed her to the hospital near her family’s home in Connecticut.
“I developed a severe infection behind my uterus that went undetected until it became life-threatening,” she explained.
Thomas was placed in a medically induced coma for a month, and doctors were ultimately forced to perform a partial hysterectomy.
“In one moment, my ability to carry children in the future was taken from me, not by choice, but by necessity to save my life,” she said.
Thomas is one of five siblings and always thought she would have a big family of her own.
“It hits me sometimes when I see my siblings having kids,” Thomas said. “I could still have kids, just not physically, I just can’t carry them.”
About five months after taking the abortion pill in early 2020, she finally started to regain her strength and return to normal life activities. Today, Thomas works as a surgical technologist and is in nursing school.
“Planned Parenthood patient safety and clinical quality are always of the utmost importance,” Planned Parenthood told The Daily Signal.
“Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) cannot comment on any specific patients’ medical treatment or records to protect the confidentiality of our patients and to comply with federal and state patient privacy laws. We follow rigorous medical standards and guidelines to ensure that all patients receive the care and information they need,” Planned Parenthood added.
Thomas said her experience led her to “get more connected to God,” and today she is sharing her story as a Live Action fellow in hopes it ”is able to help another person going through the same thing, or could prevent another girl from going through the same thing.”
“I think it’s time for me to advocate for this, advocate for myself, and advocate for other women,” she said.
Thomas spoke last week at Sen. Josh Hawley’s, R-Mo., press conference in Washington, D.C., announcing the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act. The bill, if passed, would remove the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. The bill would also allow women like Thomas who have been harmed by the abortion pill to sue manufacturers for damages.
The bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate as it would require 60 votes to pass.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., has introduced companion legislation in the House.
