Lake County Woman Challenges Denial of Care by Illinois Doctor and Religiously Affiliated Hospital Leading to Her Loss of Fertility

Round Lake resident was twice denied care for her ectopic pregnancy and subsequently lost her fertility.

June 9, 2026 12:30 pm

CONTACT:
 info@abortioninamerica.org
Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois, eyohnka@aclu-il.org

WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS — June 1 , 2026 — Harmonie Perrone, an Illinois woman who lost her fertility after being twice denied care for a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, today filed a lawsuit and a series of administrative complaints against an Illinois-based OB/GYN and a religiously affiliated hospital.

Ms. Perrone’s nightmare of callous treatment and denial of care is recounted in her complaint. Despite Ms. Perrone’s history of two prior ectopic pregnancies, including a rupture that resulted in the loss of her right fallopian tube, a visible mass on the ultrasound of her left tube, and tell-tale symptoms of a third ectopic pregnancy, Ms. Perrone was denied care — first from a religiously affiliated hospital where the OB/GYN was on call and later at the OB/GYN’s office — because there was allegedly “a 1% chance that there is a baby in there.” And when Ms. Perrone spoke out about her experience on social media, the OB/GYN sued her for defamation.

"What happened to me changed my life forever. Someone else made decisions about my body and now I'm the one living with the consequences. You know your own body best, and no one else should have the power to override that," said Harmonie Perrone, the plaintiff in the case.

After her life-saving care was delayed, Perrone’s remaining fallopian tube ruptured. At just 28 years old, she will now need IVF to have more children — a treatment she and her family cannot afford.

The lawsuit seeks damages to cover Ms. Perrone’s future family planning expenses, as well as compensation for the pain and suffering she endured. In addition to recognizing the fundamental right to abortion care under Illinois’s Reproductive Health Act, Illinois law also requires hospitals to provide emergency care for ectopic pregnancies and prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or reproductive health decisions. Each of these protections was violated over the course of Ms. Perrone's treatment.

"What happened to Harmonie should not happen in Illinois,” said Allison Siebeneck, Director, Women's and Reproductive Rights Project, ACLU of Illinois. “Policy makers and advocates fought hard to enact laws that guarantee everyone access to reproductive health care and protect their ability to make their own decisions about that care. Harmonie should have been able to have a conversation with her doctor about all of her options — the complete spectrum of reproductive health care available to her under Illinois law — in order to save her life and protect her fertility. That's what Illinois law requires. This lawsuit seeks accountability for those who denied Harmonie access to lawful health care."

“This kind of conduct thrives in silence,” said Elizabeth Kaveny, Managing Partner at Kaveny Sarmas Injury Lawyers. “Harmonie’s courage in coming forward helps expose the harm and stop this from happening to the next woman. If this is allowed to continue, there will be a next woman.”

"Illinois is the number one destination for people who can't access abortion care in other states,” said Molly Duane, Litigation Director, Amplify Legal. “If you can't get life-saving treatment in your home state, and you can't get it in Illinois either — then where can you go? Harmonie’s story should serve as a warning to people around the country about the harms of anti-abortionism. And wherever there are obstacles to reproductive rights and people are being harmed, we’ll be there to fight back with every legal tool available.”

Plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU of Illinois, Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of Abortion in America, and Kaveny Sarmas Injury Lawyers.

Abortion in America, a nonpartisan, non-profit project of Hopewell Fund, is a national effort to bring greater public attention and urgency to the toll abortion bans are taking on people’s health, lives, work, and families. Abortion in America is focused on documenting and sharing personal stories, supporting and organizing people who come forward to share their experiences, and creating change with organizing, strategic partnerships, and litigation through Amplify Legal. To learn more about Abortion in America, please visit abortioninamerica.org.

The ACLU of Illinois, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization, has been the state's principal protector of constitutional rights since its founding in 1926. Together with its affiliated Roger Baldwin Foundation, the ACLU of Illinois is dedicated to protecting the liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, state constitution, and federal and state human rights laws — through litigation, lobbying, and public education. Its advocacy spans racial justice, religious liberty, freedom of expression, criminal justice reform, reproductive justice, and the rights of children, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. To learn more about the ACLU of Illinois, please visit https://www.aclu-il.org/.

Documents

Jun 09, 2026

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Jun 02, 2026
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  • Women's and Reproductive Rights

Perrone v. Coll, et al.

We represent Harmonie Perrone, a 28 year-old suburban Chicago woman, who lost her fertility after she was twice denied treatment for a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy at a local hospital and an OB/GYN office. As a result of her lack of care, Ms. Perrone and her husband will now be forced to undergo expensive IVF treatment to build the family they have long planned. When Ms. Perrone became pregnant in 2025, she was attentive to her condition because of her history of two ectopic pregnancies—one of which ruptured, resulting in the loss of her right fallopian tube. After a few days, Ms. Perrone noticed some light vaginal bleeding, along with cramping and pain in her shoulder. These were exactly the symptoms Ms. Perrone had experienced during her prior ectopic pregnancies. She and her husband went to the emergency room at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital. Ms. Perrone told the ER staff about her history with ectopic pregnancy, and her test results indicated she was likely experiencing another ectopic pregnancy in her remaining fallopian tube. Rather than treat her, however, hospital staff scheduled a follow-up appointment the next day with an OB/GYN who they described as a “specialist.” The following morning, Ms. Perrone went to the OB/GYN’s office. The OB/GYN refused to terminate Ms. Perrone’s ectopic pregnancy by administering methotrexate, which Ms. Perrone knew from her own experience was standard treatment for this emergency medical condition. After desperately seeking treatment at two other religiously-affiliated health care facilities, Ms. Perrone and her husband finally found a hospital more than 30 minutes from their home that was willing to treat her. After the OB/GYN administered the injection of methotrexate, Ms. Perrone tearfully thanked her for saving her life. A few days later, Ms. Perrone felt a sudden burst of pain that left her unable to stand. She returned to the hospital that had treated her, and the OB/GYN explained her options. Ms. Perrone weighed the risks and benefits and decided her best course of action was a surgical procedure in which the physician would try to remove the ectopic pregnancy but leave her fallopian tube intact. During surgery, the OB/GYN discovered an ectopic pregnancy in her remaining fallopian tube. Because blood was already pooling in her pelvis—a sign of rupture—the physician was forced to remove Ms. Perrone’s fallopian tube, and with it her natural fertility. We are joined by lawyers for Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of Abortion in America, and Kaveny Sarmas Injury Lawyers in challenging the denial of treatment by Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital and its affiliated OB/GYN and medical office.