Timeline of Events at West Alabama Women’s Center Abortion Facility
Prepared by Operation Rescue
Below is a timeline of events at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. _____________________
January 10, 2019
– WAWC underwent an inspection with no deficiencies cited.
Early May 2020
– WAWC founder Gloria Gray sold the WAWC to the
Yellowhammer Fund.
Week of May 4-8
– Yellowhammer Fund President Amanda Reyes takes over control of WAWC as Clinic Administrator. At the time,
it was still operating under a facility license issued to former owner Gloria Gray in violation of Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 420-5-1, which requires the issuance of a new
license upon change of ownership.
May 7, 2020
– April Lowery, 29, has an attempted abortion at WAWC that perforated her uterus and caused internal damage and hemorrhaging. She died at the UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, about an hour after leaving the Tuscaloosa abortion facility.
May 15, 2020
– Yellowhammer Fund publicly announced its purchase of the
WAWC.
May 26, 2020
– Life Legal Defense Foundation, representing a coalition of state and national pro-life groups, sent a letter to the ADPH seeking an investigation
into the May 7, 2020, patient death, and to inquire about whether a new inspection was done and a new license was issued after the change of ownership.
July 23, 2020
– Utah abortionist Leah Torres was issued a temporary Alabama
medical license.
July 24, 2020
– Louis T. Payne, 81, who was on duty at the WAWC on the day April Lowery received her fatal abortion, retires as the facility’s abortionist.
August 11, 2020
– Operation Rescue first reports on the death of a patient, later
identified as April Lowery, who visited the WAWC on May 7, 2020. Abortionist Leah Torres officially hired by WAWC as the facility’s Medical Director.
August 13, 2020
-- AL.com reported on that an investigation had been conducted
into Lowery’s death and that the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s Department “found no basis for criminal charges.”
August 15, 2020
– A coalition of pro-life groups, including CEC for Life, Life Legal Defense Foundation, Pro-Life Tuscaloosa, and others hold a press conference in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, outside the WAWC calling for an investigation into April Lowery’s death.
August 20, 2020
– The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners suspended Torres’ temporary medical license and ordered her to cease and desist the practice of medicine after it found she had lied repeatedly on her permanent
medical license application and committed unprofessional conduct.
August 27, 2020
denied a request for a copy of Lowery’s autopsy that was made by CEC for Life. In its denial it cited notice from District Attorney Hays Webb that the Lowery death was still under criminal investigation even though the AL.com reported 12 days earlier the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s Department has concluded its investigation.
September 1, 2020:
Reyes told state inspectors that they had halted abortions
because they had no one on staff that could do them. Inspectors find rusty surgical instruments.
September 14, 2020
– Reyes hires an unnamed abortionist who lives on the west
coast to serve as WAWC’s interim medical director.
September 16, 2020
– Abortions resume under the Interim Medical Director who
never visited the WAWC, yet “certified” that two other physicians were competent to do abortions after briefly observing them dispensing abortion pills over Zoom calls. No observation of surgical abortions skills was made even though the two new abortionists also would be conducting surgical abortions.