January 14, 2004: Young Black Woman Dies from Chemical Abortion

Chanelle Bryant in 1998
Blair High School, Pasadena, CA 

Twenty-two-year-old Chanelle Bryant was about nine weeks pregnant when she want to Glendale FPA, owned by the notorious Edward "Fast Eddie" Allred. There she was given the drugs for a chemical abortion. She was instructed to use the prostaglandin as a suppository, rather than take an oral prostaglandin. This off-label use is being investigated by the CDC and FDA after Chanelle and four other US women died of chemical abortion complications. Those other women were Oriane Shevin, Holly Patterson, Vivian Tran, and Brenda Vise. Since then other women including Amber Thurmond and Alyona Dixon.

Chanelle suffered terrible pain four days after self-administering the medication. She sought emergency care at Huntington Memorial Hospital. Her condition deteriorated, and she was transferred to the intensive care unit at 1:20 PM. At 4:11 she went into cardiac arrest. She was taken into surgery at 5:27 to try to identify the source of her problems. Ten minutes into surgery she went into cardiac arrest again. She was pronounced dead at 5:51.

Chanelle had been perfectly healthy before her abortion, according to her mother, Lynn Bryant. She told reporters that it was vital for medical professionals to be educated about the dangers of chemical abortions to prevent further maternal deaths.

The coroner‘s report attributed her death, January 14, 2004, to "sepsis and pneumonia due to endomyometritis with abscess formation due to Termination of Pregnancy." Her manner of death was listed as undetermined.

Thus Chanelle joined the sad ranks of women known to have died after FPA abortions: Denise Holmes, Mary Pena, Patricia Chacon, Josefina Garcia, Laniece Dorsey, Tami Suematsu, Joyce Ortenzio, Susan Levy, Deanna Bell, Christine Mora, TaTanisha Wesson, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Nakia Jorden, Maria Rodriguez, and "Kyla Ellis"

FPA is a member of the National Abortion Federation, an organization that ostensibly ensures that abortions are done safely.