The state of Colorado does not have a single limit on abortion. Advocates say this is necessary for women’s health and safety. Last week, however, a Colorado coroner’s report officially announced that the death of a Colorado teenager last year was the direct result of a second-trimester surgical abortion at a Fort Collins, Colorado, clinic run by Planned Parenthood.

Activists may dismiss this young girl’s death as a freak accident. Unfortunately, the truth is that abortion is neither safe nor healthy. Colorado’s own abortion record is proof.

Aside from the obvious fact that every abortion requires violence against an unborn child, abortions are never completely safe. Chemical abortions, which comprise nearly 60 per cent of abortions today, can be life threatening if taken too late into a woman’s pregnancy or if the woman has an ectopic pregnancy.

Not only that, but recent studies have found that the serious adverse event rate associated with chemical abortion drugs is at least 22 times higher than what the FDA reports. Newer data suggests that one out of 10 women who take chemical abortion drugs have serious or life-threatening complications within a few weeks.

The complications associated with surgical abortions are far greater, and increase the further along a woman is in her pregnancy. Former abortionist and current obstetrician-gynaecologist Dr Catherine Wheeler previously highlighted in The Federalist: “Once a woman is past the 12- to 13-week window, however, abortion risks increase exponentially as the baby and the uterus grow.”

“In the second trimester,” she continued, “abortionists have little room for error. They must delicately balance completing these complex procedures quickly to minimise the loss of blood and performing them precisely to minimise the risk of perforating the woman’s uterus, bowels, or bladder. In the third trimester, abortions are multi-day labour inductions with at least the risks of preterm births, which are only performed in regulated hospitals.”

Despite these dangerous conditions, Dr Wheeler highlights the shocking fact that abortion clinics are quite literally “less regulated than tattoo parlours”. How is this good for women?

According to Dr Wheeler, the very same Planned Parenthood that caused the death of a Colorado teenager last year “had to call at least seven ambulances for patients in their care due to undisclosed reasons”. Why so many? This should be a major red flag to women in the state, and those responsible for overseeing state abortion clinics.

Unfortunately, so far, next to nothing has been done. Why? Because abortion activists who claim to champion women have done everything in their power to keep abortion legal up until birth in the state. They do not seem to care about the female casualties their abortion extremism creates – all they care about is making Colorado a national beacon of abortion extremism.

This abortion extremism should be a major red flag for any woman considering abortion – regardless of how she feels morally about the procedure. If you know that a medical provider prioritises politics over your health, why would you trust them to perform an incredibly invasive, potentially dangerous procedure?

Just look at the infamous and now deceased late-term Colorado abortionist Dr Warren Hern. He made it very clear that abortion activism was his passion. He kept his clinic open for late-term abortions and continued personally providing abortions well into his 80s.

When asked how far was “too far” into a pregnancy to have an abortion, and how he determined viability, Hern was very frank that he did not consider viability at all. “The viability of a fetus is determined not by gestational age but by a woman’s willingness to carry it,” he said, to the shock and disgust of many Americans.

Women should run from such activism. If a medical professional is willing to be arbitrary about clear scientific facts such as when a child is viable, or when abortion can be extremely dangerous, then they are not someone whom you want to trust with your life.

A Colorado teenager did so. Her tragic death is not just a casualty of the abortion industry. It is an indictment of politics in healthcare, and sobering evidence that abortion politics will always triumph over basic science and safety at women’s expense.