Friday, September 30, 2005

Gaylene Golden, Safe-n-Legal Anniversary

Dr. Joe Bills Reynolds was a jack of all trades, doing a variety of elective surgeries, including abortions, in his filthy clinic. Reynolds' anesthetist, age 60, had originally been hired as a janitor, and an untrained orderly was acting as his nurse. The operating room was littered with dirty cups and papers. Reynolds tried to collect $500,000 on his wife's life insurance after she bled to death after he opened 25-inch incision, ostensibly for liposuction, on September 7, 1989. Reynolds was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter. He voluntarily surrendered his Oklahoma license.

But Reynolds didn't kill only his wife. Gaylene Golden, age 21, died after an abortion by Reynolds.

Reynolds performed the abortion on Gaylene in his Oklahoma City office on September 30, 1985.
Due to a cervical laceration, Gaylene developed an embolism -- both air and amniotic fluid in her bloodstream. This embolism killed her. Gaylene left one child, a son, orphaned.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Looking back -- a tragic death from 1923

On September 29, 1923, 44-year-old Annie Allison of Brooklyn died at the office of chiropractor Henry Lee Mottard, who practiced under the name of Dr. Henry L. Green.

Mottard alleged that Annie had died after an accidental fall down an elevator shaft at the premises. However, Annie's death certificate, signed by another physician, attributed her death to chronic cardiac nephritis.

In the wake of the autopsy's preliminary findings, Mottard was arrested on suspicion of homicide. The autopsy had shown no broken bones or other injuries consistent with a fatal fall, and therefore showed that Mottard had lied about the circumstances of Annie's death.

Police, who were investigating Mottard for his suspected involvement in a kidnap/adoption scheme, were suspicious and had Annie exhumed. It was revealed that she had died from an abortion.

A Grand Jury questioned many people: Dr. Norris, who had performed the autopsy; one of Annie's friends; the undertaker who buried Annie; Annie's brother; and the owner of the building where Annie had supposedly fallen to her death.

The kidnap/adoption scheme involved Lillian McKenzie, who as kidnapped from her baby buggy outside a store. Lillian's mother swore to police that Mildred Grofe, the adopted daughter of a New Jersey couple she'd visited, was actually Lillian. Lillian's mother evidently had been led to the Grofe family after a nurse reported having received two infants from Mottard, who instructed her to care for them. One infant was adopted out to the Grofe family. The other was sickly and was returned to Mottard's care. Upon investigation, the Grofe baby was found not to be Lillian McKenzie, because she was several months older than Lillian would have been.

During the investigation, police searched Mottard's ten-acre farm outside the city for evidence of more bodies after allegations arose that Mottard had also performed an abortion there on a young woman the previous January. Mottard admitted to having performed three abortions in the farmhouse, which was outside Long Island, but denied having performed the fatal one on Annie. The police were also searching for the remains of the sick baby the nurse had returned to Mottard's care. When questioned about the infant, Mottard was unable to give the police a satisfactory answer.

An operating room and a machine gun were found in the 14-room farmhouse. A second homicide case was filed against Mottard by officials of Suffolk County, where the farm was located. They had evidence that one of Mottard's rural abortion patients had suffered the same fate as Annie Allison.

Source: New York Times 4-10-25, 4-11-25, 4-12-25, 4-16-25, 4-17-25, 4-21-454-24-25, 4-25-25, 4-29-25, 5-5-25

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Rhonda Hess, safe-n-legal anniversary

Rhonda Hess was 20 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. After the procedure, she developed an infection. The infection led to problems with clotting of the blood. Rhonda was taken to Moss Regional Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she died on September 28, 1982.

Monday, September 26, 2005

On the subject of parental involvement....

Today we remember a teen who died of complications of a secret safe-n-legal abortion.

National Abortion Federation member Abu Hayat performed an abortion on 17-year-old Sophie McCoy on September 18, 1990. That evening, she was bleeding, in pain, and having difficulty breathing. The next day she was taken to a hospital and found to have a perforated uterus and a case of sepsis.



An emergency hysterectomy was performed, but Sophie developed disseminated intravascular coagulopathy and died on September 26.

Sophie's mother found paperwork for Hayat's facility in Sophie's coat pocket. The case was reported to the district attorney and the New York Health Department, but nobody took any action against Hayat until he pulled the arm off an infant during an abortion attempt in 1991.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Sunday, September 25, 2005

Some folks are in a hurry...

If you don't have time for sex, you don't have time for a baby.

Minnie Lathan and Liliana Cortez, safe-n-legal deaths remembered

Minnie Lathan is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion. Minnie was 41 when she had an abortion and tubal ligation performed some time in September of 1978. Her uterus was perforated and her colon damaged during the procedure. She developed an infection and was hospitalized at Cleveland Clinic Hospital. She died there on September 25.

Twenty-two-year-old Liliana Cortez underwent an abortion by Leo Kenneally at his Her Medical Clinic in Los Angeles on September 20, 1986. Other than having asthma, Liliana was in good health when she went for her abortion. After the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest. There was a 40-minute delay until the paramedics arrived to transport Liliana to a hospital. She died five days later. Liliana's death was ruled a "therapeutic misadventure," which a coroner's spokesman called, "a nice medical term for a mistake." Donna Heim and Michelle Thames also died after abortions at Her Medical Clinice. Maria Soto died there after being injected with drugs and left unattended on September 9, 1985.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Friday, September 23, 2005

Here's a proposal on "wrongful life" suits

Wisconsin state Senator Neal Kedzie has authored a bill that addresses "wrongful birth" and "wrongful life" suits, which Wisconsin residents are currently allowed to file against health providers that didn't facilitate prenatal diagnoses and abortions in pregnancies that result in the birth of a disabled child.
Kedzie's bill, SB 71, creates a new law that would prevent the mother of a child born with a disability from claiming economic or noneconomic damages from a doctor on the basis that the doctor omitted a procedure, potentially revealing a disability, which led the mother to not have an abortion.

Also under Kedzie's bill, disabled children cannot claim damages on the basis that the doctor omitted a procedure that could have potentially revealed a disability, which led to the mother's decision to not have an abortion.

Wrongful life and wrongful birth lawsuits set a discomforting precedent, Kedzie said in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee took no action on the bill.

"These lawsuits are based on the idea that the lives of certain people-disabled people-are inherently wrong, and that death is preferable to life with disabilities," said Kedzie, R-Elkhorn. "The very idea that a person's birth or life is wrong is repugnant to me."


Prolifers support the bill, but
But Kelda Helen Roy, executive director of NARAL Pro Choice Wisconsin, said in a written statement that Kedzie's bill, which she called the "right to lie" bill, endangers the rights of pregnant women and is "an unprecedented attack on medical ethics and patients' rights."

"It encourages doctors to withhold critical information from patients that would allow them to make fully informed decisions about their own health care," she said. ,,,,

A legislative council analysis of Kedzie's bill shows that people could claim damages if a doctor is found to be intentionally negligent or intentionally withholding medical information from a patient. ....

Nicole Safar, public policy analyst for Planned Parenthood, said the bill hinders the ability of women to have abortions.

"The purpose of this bill is to place an undue burden in the path of a woman seeking an abortion, by depriving her of information needed to make an informed choice," Safar said in written remarks.


If these abortion supporters are so keen on women getting information, why aren't they backing a bill that would allow women to sue if a doctor failed to give her information that would have led her to reject abortion?

I've written to Sen. Kedzie regarding this.

Abortion leaves five children motherless

"Barbara" was 35 years old when she traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion in 1971. She was 20 weeks pregnant. Within 24 hours of being injected with saline for the abortion, she went into convulsions, then her heart stoped. Efforts to save her failed. She died on September 23, 1971, leaving behind five children. The autopsy could find no anatomical cause of death.

We can look at Barbara as an example of pre-Roe deaths, or as an example of deaths from saline abortions. But there's no way we can look at her and see a justification of leaving five children motherless.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Thursday, September 22, 2005

Linda Boom, safe-n-legal death

Linda Boom, age 35, went to Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee for an abortion on September 21, 1995. Linda learned that she was pregnant in June of 1995, but in September elected abortion because the fetus had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

Fourth-year resident Karen S. Watson administered an amnioinfusion. Linda reported pain and said she was "burning up all over." Watson's supervising physician, Daniel Gilman, injected more chemicals into Linda's uterus. Dennis Boom's attorney, Patrick Dunphy, said that the two injections caused the heart damage that killed Linda 36 hours after the first injection.

Watson did not use ultrasound to guide the needle injecting the poison into Linda, and apparently she injected the chemicals directly into Linda's bloodstream instead of into the amniotic sac.

The defense, of course, says that there was no negligence. Also, the hospital says that Gilman is responsible for Linda's death, because he performed the second injection and was supervising Watson. Gilman can't be named in the suit because the statute of limitations expired before Linda's husband filed.

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Gilman "had performed more than 100 abortions." Watson has started an ob/gyn practice in Milwaukee.

News coverage of the case does not indicate why Watson and Gilman chose the antiquated instillation technique for Linda's abortion. Since the late 1960s, nations such as Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union had abandoned instillation abortions as being far too dangerous for the mother. US abortionists began abandoning the technique in the mid-1980s.

As the case continues, I'll be attempting to speak to Dunphy and learn more about the case, such as what the chemical was that Watson used (I suspect it was hypertonic saline, from Linda's report that she was "burning up all over."), what medical justification, if any, Watson had for choosing the defunct instillation technique, and what steps staff took to address Linda's symptoms beyond giving her a second injection.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Pre-Roe Safe-n-Legal Anniversary

"Amanda" was 19 years old when she traveled from Indiana to New York for a legal abortion in 1970. She was 12 weeks pregnant. The doctor performed the abortion on September 3. He was unable to remove any of the fetus or placenta. For some reason, he did not suspect a problem. He discharged Amanda and she returned home.

Upon her return home, she suffered from pain, nausea, and vomiting, so she sought care from a physician in her community. She was admitted to the hospital with a perforated uterus. Her doctor performed a lapartotomy, and found that the fetus was still inside Amanda's perforated uterus. The abortion was completed and the hole in her uterus was repaired.

After the surgery, she had a series of complications beginning with difficulty breathing. On September 10, doctors performed a hysterectomy. She continued to be treated in the hospital, but despite all their efforts she died on September 22.

Other women and girls who died of legal abortions before Roe include

The bodies were already piling up, mostly in New York and California due to their extremely lax abortion laws, long before Roe came down the pike.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Blog roundup: PP publicity, the death penalty, etc.

Freakonomics has an interesting thread going, Planned Parenthood Gets Freaky. As if PP isn't freaky to begin with. At any rate, one PP is trying to discourage a prolife presence by having donors pledge money to PP proportionate to the number of protesters outside. Hey, guys! It's been tried before and it failed miserably, mainly because the pittance given to PP in these publicity stunt fund-raisers is a drop in the bucket of all the money PP gets from the government and big-money donors. If some deluded sap thinks giving a dime to PP every time I show up to protest will get me to stay home, he's welcome to throw his money at them. He's harming his own pocket (and soul), and not doing me or anybody else any more harm than he does by being a PP dupe in the first place.

Ravin posted some thoughts on abortion. I've invited her to join us at RealChoice and After Abortion.

Fast Times at Kanakuk High ponders, How about this can you be anti-abortion and pro death penalty. She or he doesn't have comments enabled, so I'll give a short, sweet answer here: When you show me an armed, aggressive fetus who's committed murder, I'll discuss the parallels between abortion and capital punishment.

LTI Blog says, Actions Speak Louder and ponders why women still have abortions even when they say they know it kills a baby.

Gindy posts the Chinese Abortion Headline of the Day: "China admits forced abortions, sterilisations in eastern province". I'm really going to have to peruse this blog. The names of the previous posts are certainly provocative.

The Double Standard Redux

We all know that according to the abortion lobby, we don't need informed consent laws because women contemplating abortion are smart, educated, and resourceful enough to find this information on their own (Which means they'd have to go to a university library and sort through decades of conflicting and confusing medical journal articles and decipher what the risks are to them given their own individual medical histories!), but they need Federal funding to "inform them of the availability of safe, legal abortion," as if these same women are too clueless to open the Yellow Pages and read a ad.

Well, Emily at After Abortion takes a look at the double standard when it comes to women's emotional strength. Evidently, according to the abortion lobby, women are emotionally resilient enough to go through the entire stress of being pregnant and troubled, emotionally abandoned, pressured, maybe abused, et cetera, and make a sound decision to abort with no emotinal trauma, but after the abortion they're fragile little flowers that will be sent into a spiral of shame and despair if they hear some other woman talk about how she regrets her own abortion.

I guess since fetuses change their nature so readily to the abortion lobby (changing from worthless blobs of tissue to precious unborn children depending on their mother's mood), the women themselves are equally malleable. Their nature changes according to the mood of the abortion lobby.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Blog Roundup -- Graphic images, poetry, teens

LTI Blog posts this reflection on when it's appropriate to use graphic images to reach the abortion-minded woman. This is a great piece! Read it!

Feeding on that which doth preserve the Ill posted an odd pro-abortion poem. Why is it that prolife poetry is so sappy, like those Precious Moments figurines, and prochoice poetry is so raw and semi-articulate, like gangsta rap?

Initiative Madness has thoughtful comments on California's Proposition 73, promoting parental involvement in teens' abortion decisions. Take a moment to review Why Teens Need Help With Decision-Making, and Parental Involvement in Abortion.

On a totally unrelated local note, I want to take a moment to caution people to have only very cautious dealings with Jeff Minana of Johnstown, PA.

Safe-n-legal anniversaries: Cassandra Bleavins and Michelle Thames

Cassandra Bleavins, a 20-year-old clerk, had an abortion performed on her at John Wesley Hospital, owned by Los Angeles County, on September 2, 1971. She bled heavily after the abortion, and a doctor tied off a portion of her cervix to control the bleeding. She was then sent home. On September 15, Cassandra returned to the hospital, reporting heavy bleeding. She was given a follow-up D&C and again sent home. She returned again on September 17, still bleeding heavily, and went into convulsions during treatment. Cassandra slipped into a coma. Staff trasferred Cassandra to LA County/USC Medical Center on September 18. She died after midnight on the 19th. The coroner discovered a 1.25 inch sutured laceration in Cassandra's uterus, additional sutures to her uterine artery, and uterine hemorrhaging. The medical examiner concluded that Cassandra had bled to death due to the lacerations and D&C.

Eighteen-year-old Michelle Thames suffered a seizure during her abortion at Her Medical Clinic on September 19, 1987. She died later that day. Her family filed suit, claiming that Her Medical Clinic staff had made inadequate attempts to resuscitate Michelle.

Michelle wasn't the only young woman to die at the notorious Her Medical Clinic, run by abortionist Leo Kenneally. Liliana Cortez died there September 20, 1986. Donna Heim died there August 12, 1986. And Maria Soto died there after being injected with drugs and left unattended on September 9, 1985.

The battle over Kenneally's medical license turned political after it was suspended by the medical board over the appalling conditions at Her Medical Clinic. Former state medical board executive director Dixon Arnett's said that Leo F. Kenneally's case was "the most egregious I have seen, bar none." But a judge restored Kenneally's license on the grounds that he was doing a public service "providing abortions" in an "underserved area."

The investigation of patient deaths wasn't the first time Kenneally got in trouble. His license had been suspended in 1979 for Medi-Cal theft, and previously in 1975 for records-keeping violations.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Blog Roundup

A Certain Slant of Light checks out The Starbucks Divide.

Prolifers in Colorado are pushing the Attorney General to investigate suspected abortion industry abuses.

Espresso Roast laments a court decision in favor of Missouri abortionists.

CPC World News reports that CPCs in the area hit by Katrina are in desperate need. Hospitals are sending women to them for help. Here's a chance to show what we're made of!

Tiller-bashers vindicated; death due to screw-up

Operation Rescue posted an update on the 19-year-old developmentally-disabled Texas woman who died after an abortion at Tiller's mill. I had hedged, refusing to blame him until it was clear that the death really was his fault.

The autopsy results are in. Christin A. Gilbert died of sepsis that evidently went undiagnosed and untreated long enough to injure her vital organs beyond repair.

I'll be updating her case on my site later. May she rest in peace.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Another sad anniversary: Kathy McKnight

Thirty-six-year-old Kathy McKnight underwent an abortion on September 17, 1993. Early the next morning, Kathy had trouble breathing. She was taken to University Memorial Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kathy died in the emergency room. Her autopsy revealed that she died of a pulmonary embolism.

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Friday, September 16, 2005

RU-486 anniversary

Today, September 17, is the anniversary of the needless death of Holly Patterson in 2003. Let's not forget the RU-486 deaths, or the sloppy practices that cost these women their lives.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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A lot of sad anniversaries

The first is a criminal abortion death. Helen Clark, age 23, died September 16, 1941. The abortionist, Sarah Howe, age 57, had been blind since she was three years old. She was charged in Sarah's death. Howe was convicted of abortion, but was found not guilty of manslaughter. She was sentenced to two to four years in prison.

But you don't need a blind criminal abortionist to end up dead.

Alerte Desanges, age 36, had been informed that her fetus was deformed, so she went for an abortion at Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens on September 16, 1994. She was 19 weeks pregnant. The abortion was performed by David Gluck. Staff said that after her abortion she suddenly went into cardiac arrest and died. Gluck's license had been revoked for three years after selling controlled substances to finance his gambling addiction. Gluck had also been Medical Director at C.R.A.S.H. when abortion patient "K.B." died.

Shelby A. Moran, age 39, was given Prostaglandin for an abortion at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in January of 1978. Immediately after the injection, Shelby experienced grossly elevated blood pressure. The abortionist, Dr. John J. Barton, thought that the elevation would be transient, and left the facility. Half an hour later, Shelby went into cardiopulmonary arrest. She suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen, causing dementia and speech aphasia. Shelby was no longer able to care for herself, much less her five children. She required 24-hour care in a nursing home until her death on September 16, 1999.

Gracealynn "Tammy" Harris, age 19, underwent an abortion by Dr. Mohammad Imran at Delaware Women's Health Organization on September 16, 1997. She was 18 weeks pregnant. After the procedure, Tammy was weak, and needed a wheelchair to leave the facility. She died that day. A lawsuit resulted in $2,252,000 to Tammy's family. The money was put into a court-controlled account for Tammy's son, who was nine months old when his mother died.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Thursday, September 15, 2005

Safe-n-legal: Janet Foster

Eighteen-year-old Janet Foster underwent an abortion at the hands of Richard Neal at Valley Doctors' Hospital in North Hollywood, California on September 11, 1971. Janet's abortion had been a "therapeutic" abortion approved by the hospital committee, as was required at the time. Neal reported that he'd estimated the pregnancy at 12-weeks and performed what he thought was an uneventful suction abortion.

Janet's brother-in-law reported that she was very weak and sleepy when he picked her up at the hospital. After returning home, Janet suffered abdominal pain, and called Neal on September 14. He told her he'd see her the next day. Janet felt ill, so she went to bed early. In the early morning hours, Janet went into convulsions.

Her brother-in-law and paramedics attempted to revive her, to no avail; Janet was pronounced dead at 3:55 am. The autopsy found that in Janet's uterus was a "macerated, lacerated and purulent male fetus of about 19 weeks gestation. This fetus measures 14.5 cm. in crown-rump length, shows lacerations in the shoulder area, evisceration of the bowel through an abdominal laceration, and destruction of the skull and facila structures." Janet's uterus also contained "approximately 20 cc. of red-brown purulent and foul-smelling liquid with similar odor and color to an exudate on the endometrial surface." Janet's death attrubuted to septicemia due to "incomplete abortion, therapeutic, septic."

An LA County grand jury indicted Neal on a felony manlsaughter charge in Janet's death. The 1976 trial ended with a hung jury.

Janet wasn't the first, or the last, woman to think she was about to undergo a first-trimester abortion, only to end up undergoing a late (and possibly lethal) late abortion. Some whose cases I've written up include "Taranda," age 17, who went to Family Planning Clinic for Reproductive Health what she thought was a 6 week abortion on December 22, 1989. Four days later, Taranda gave birth to a one pound, critically ill infant girl.

"Jean" thought she was in the first trimester when she went for an abortion on November 20, 1973. At 5AM on November 22, Jean's mother-in-law rushed her to the emergency room, where she expelled a severely mutilated 19-week female fetus.

Fred H. Pulver voluntarily surrendered his medical license at the age of 79 in the wake of allegations regarding his January 18, 1990 attempt to perform an abortion on a woman who gave birth to a three-pound, 27-week baby boy five days later. Pulver had estimated the pregnancy as 11 weeks.

"Francine," age 16, went to All Women's Health Center for an abortion in August of 1986. Abortionist Harold Ticton estimated the pregnancy at three months. Upon removing the fetal arm, he realized that the fetus was actually seven months. Francine had the dead fetus removed by c-section, was admitted to the intensive care unit, and was hospitalized for over a week.

And other women besides Janet have ended up dead as a result of abortionists' choices to proceed with abortions when the pregnancy was far more advanced than the woman had thought. They include Eurice Agbaaga, Magdalena Rodriguez, and Maria Ortega.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Tucker's Story


Ashli at The S.I.C.L.E. Cell posted Tucker's Story, about a little boy who lost both legs and most of his fingers in a late-term abortion that he somehow survived. So much for "pro-choice" also being "pro-child"! (As if that wasn't obvious already.)

More abortion survivors:

Ana Rosa Rodriguez

Gianna, a fetus with attitude

Heidi Huffman

Sarah Smith

Ximena Renaerts


Note: This is not a comprehensive list of abortion survivors. It's just survivors for whom I could quickly find an online story and image in English.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Baby Torres dies

Tragedy just follows tragedy. After passing the two-pound mark and making time off the vent, Susan Torres' baby girl has died after emergency surgery to try to repair a perforated intestine. Prayers for the family.

RU-486 death reminder

Today, September 12, is the anniversary of the day Brenda Vise died after a chemical abortion in Tennessee.

Let's stay on top of what needs to be the main thrust of this story: Sloppy abortionists are killing women. Stop attacking the drug and start pointing the finger at the responsible parties.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Sunday, September 11, 2005

Another safe-n-legal anniversary: Diane Smith

Diane Smith, age 23, was one of the women mentioned in the Chicago Sun-Times expose, "The Abortion Profiteers." According to the report, and her death certificate, Diane was admitted to Englewood Hospital in Chicago due to hemorrhaging. She told staff that she'd had an abortion in a Chicago-area clinic. Diane was treated for a perforated uterus and sepsis, to no avail. She died on September 11, 1976.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Cover-up could be tough before legalization

Today, September 11, is the anniversary of a criminal abortion death -- that of Barbara Covington. And it's a good time to reflect on how tough it could be to cover up a death from a criminal abortion, when the abortion itself was a crime.

Abortion advocates claim that pre-legalization mortality numbers were grossly underreported. After all, they say, doctors aren't going to alert the health department when they kill a patient during the commission of a crime. What these abortion advocates don't take into account is how many other people could alert authorities to the real reason a woman died.

Three cases from the archives of the New York Times serve as examples.

Rose Lipner, age 32, mother of 2, died at Riverdale Hospital on January 29, 1936. Dr. Maxwell C. Katz, who lived at Riverdale (maternity) Hospital, which he operated, signed a death certificate indicating that Rose had been operated on for a tumor. After the funeral, an anonymous caller notified police that the death was suspicious, and Rose was exhumed for an autopsy. The medical examiner determined that Rose had died from an abortion. Katz was arraigned for second-degree manslaughter.

On January 21, 1961, Dr. Mandel M. Friedman contacted a Queens undertaker, asking him to arrange burial for 23-year-old Vivian Grant of New York. Friedman told the undertaker that Vivian had died of a heart ailment. The undertaker notified authorities, who determined that although Vivian had not been pregnant, Friedman had attempted to perform an abortion on her, causing her death. Friedman was charged with homicide and falsifying a death certificate.

Dr. Mandel M. Friedman resurfaced late the following year. He was charged with homicide in the September 11, 1962 death of Barbara C. Covington, age 35, a Florida socialite. Friedman attributed Barbara's death to a heart attack and tried to get an undertaker to arrange a burial. The undertaker reported the case to authorities.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Saturday, September 10, 2005

Barcelona mill greases the "mental health" wheels

Evidently taking a page from Wichita's late-term abortionist George Tiller, Spain's late-term abortion mill is assuring potential referrers that it can find a "mental health" justification for any woman they bring for a late abortion. They're also evidently paying kickbacks for referrals:
The clinic offers to pay British women's travel expenses and even make discounts on the price of the terminations.

It is also offering financial commissions to British pregnancy advice helplines in return for them referring women to the Continent.

....

The law in Spain states that pregnancies over 22 weeks can only be terminated if the mother's mental or physical health is at "serious risk". Dr Leonardo Llorente, who is one of the abortionists working at Mediterrània Mèdica, told an undercover reporter that despite the stipulations of Spanish abortion law his clinic would never refuse a six-month pregnant woman a termination since "probably all women wanting to get an abortion at this stage will be psychologically affected".

He added: "Always it can be proved that the patient at this moment had serious mental problems even though later on the patients can be completely normal." Asked whether this meant that the woman could be given an abortion "whatever the situation", he answered: "Definitely."

....

Asked whether a commission would be forthcoming for a helpline forwarding British women to the clinic he said: "I think we can arrange that for sure."

He later directed the reporter to another member of staff who also confirmed that commissions were paid.

Another safe-n-legal anniversary: Mistue Mohar

Thirty-one-year-old Mitsue Mohar went to Pacolma Lutheran Hospital in Los Angeles County for a D&C abortion on August 5, 1975. Dr. Baca performed the abortion under general anesthesia. After the abortion, Mitsue went into convulsions. She remained 16 days at Pacolma Lutheran without regaining consciousness.

On August 21, she was transferred to LA County/USC Medical Center, where she died on September 10 without ever regaining consciousness. The autopsy found that she had suffered hypoxic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest during the abortion, and had developed pneumonia which eventually killed her.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Friday, September 09, 2005

Blog roundup - PP's exploitation of Katrina

Bloggers comment on how PP is using Katrina to fill its coffers under the guise of collecting money for hurricane victims:
  • Stones Cry Out
  • Donn's Center of the Universe
  • Reasoned Audacity
  • WI Catholic Musings
    The PP web site invites donations to help victims, but in fine print notes that donations will go to PP affiliates.
  • Massive shredding by Tiller

    Operation Rescue has posted photos of Tiller's massive document-shredding. Is it mere coincidence that Tiller needs industrial-grade document shredders just when he and other abortionists across Kansas are being investigated for possible illegal abortions and cover-up of statutory rape?

    HT: Papa Familias

    History - Death and the end of a career

    Did a mystery abortion ruin Fatty Arbuckle?

    In 1921, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was one of the highest paid men in Hollywood. But on September 5 of that year, Arbuckle's life took a horrible turn nobody could have predicted. An aspiring actress, 25-year-old Virginia Rappe (pronounced ra-pay), took ill under strange circumstances at a weekend party Arbuckle was holding at a San Francisco hotel. Four days later, she was dead.

    Arbuckle stood trial three times for Virginia's death. Two of the trials ended with hung juries. The third brought an unprecedented apology from the jury:
    Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him ... there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgement of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.


    After the dust settled, it appeared that Virginia had died from delayed complications of a botched abortion, an abortion that according to a local criminal abortionist, would have been Virginia's fifth. A definitive cause of death will never be known, because her autopsy was performed illegally on site at Wakefield Sanitorium, an alleged abortion mill, without consulting the coroner's office. One of the doctors overseeing the autopsy, Dr. Melville Rumswell, was reputed to be an abortionist.



    For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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    Thursday, September 08, 2005

    Still selling abortions to non-pregnant women

    According to this Life News article, abortionist Yogendra Shaw sued Melanie Mills after she spoke up on a St. Louis radio station about her story. Shaw had performed an abortion on Melanie at Hope Clinic for Women, even though she had blighted ovum, not an actual pregnancy. Shaw had allowed Melanie to suffer from post-abortion trauma rather than inform her that there'd been no baby.

    Hope Clinic is the National Abortion Federation member facility that performed the fatal abortion on Barbaralee Davis.

    Another safe-n-legal reminder

    Seventeen-year-old Kathy Denise Murphy went to Inglewood Women's Hospital in Los Angeles County for an abortion on August 24, 1973. During the days after her abortion, Kathy suffered breathing problems and became semi-conscious, so Inglewood staff trasferred her by ambulance to Centinela Hospital on September 7.

    Later that night, Cetinela transferred Kathy back to Inglewood, where John Dupont pronouced her dead at 1:20 on the morning of September 8. The autopsy found that Kathy had died of sepsis from the abortion; her cervix and uterus were infected, and her cervix covered with greenish-black pus.

    The Inglewood facility was far better at evading responsibility than it was at providing adequate care. After Kathy's death, the next woman to die was 22-year-old Lynette Wallace, who underwent an abortion at "Inglewood Women's Hospital" on September 13, 1975, just a little over two years after Kathy Murphy's death.

    Elizabeth Tsuji was the next to die. She had a saline abortion at a place identified as "Inglewood General Hospital" on February 2, 1978. The next to die was Cora Mae Lewis, age 23, following abortion under general anesthesia at "Inglewood Women's Hospital" in 1983.

    Yvonne Tanner died next. The 22-year-old mother of one had an abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood. The last death I know about at Inglewood was Belinda Ann Byrd, a 37-year-old mother of three. She underwent an abortion by Steven (Stephen?) Pine at Inglewood on January 24, 1987, when she was 19 weeks pregnant.

    Belinda's mother wrote to a Los Angeles district attorney: “I am the mother of Belinda Byrd, victim of abortionists at [Inglewood]. I am also the grandmother of her three young children who are left behind and motherless. I cry every day when I think how horrible her death was. She was slashed by them and then she bled to death ... and nobody cares. I know that other young black women are now dead after abortion at that address. ... Where is [the abortionist] now? Has he been stopped? Has anything happened to him because of what he did to my Belinda? Has he served jail time for any of these cruel deaths? People tell me nothing has happened, that nothing ever happens to white abortionists who leave young black women dead. I’m hurting real bad and want some justice for Belinda and all other women who go like sheep to slaughter.”

    In the wake of the series of abortion deaths at Inglewood, the authorities inspected the place. Among other things, they caught an abortionist writing post-operative examination notes without even examining the patients. When the state closed Inglewood for numerous violations, the facility simply re-opened as Inglewood Women's Clinic; as a clinic rather than a hospital they were no longer subject to the same intense scrutiny and were able to remain in business.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Wednesday, September 07, 2005

    Tiller shredding documents

    According to this Life News article, Tiller's abortion facility in Wichita has begun a massive document shredding project, just as the Attorney General is making progress in his bid to review clinic records for evidence of illegal abortions and/or cover-up of statutory rape. Let's see if the left gets as bent out of shape about this as they did about the shredding at Enron.

    Two more anniversaries

    Synthia Dennard
    Twenty-four-year-old Synthia Dennard went to Biogenetics in Chicago for an abortion and tubal ligation on September 7, 1989. The surgery was performed by Inno Obasi.

    Synthia began to hemorrhage during the surgery. A medical investigation later found that Obasi had "failed to summon help in a timely manner; refused to allow trained and skilled paramedics to attend to Synthia; refused to allow paramedics to transport Synthia to a hospital in a timely manner," and otherwise "allowed Synthia to bleed to death."

    Synthia's survivors had to file a court order to keep the facility from destroying her records. An autopsy revealed that instead of removing a section of Synthia's fallopian tube, Obasi had removed a portion of an artery. The autopsy also revealed that Synthia, mother of two, had not been pregnant at the time of her abortion.

    Tanya Williamson
    Tanya Williamson is referred to as "Patient A" in medical board documents pertaining to her abortionist, Moshe Hachamovitch. By cross-matching details with outside sources, I was able to identify her by name.

    Tanya had laminaria inserted at Hachamovitch's facility on September 6, 1996, for an early second-trimester abortion. Hachamovtich estimated that she was almost 14 weeks pregnant. He instructed Tanya to return the next day for her abortion.

    Tanya returned on September 7, as instructed. Medial board documents tell how Hachamovitch and his staff failed this patient, allowig her to die due to their ineptitude and inaction.

    Tanya was not the only woman to die under the dubious care of Hachamovitch and/or staff at his facilities. The others I know of are Christina Goesswein, age 19; Luz rodriguez, age 40; Lou Ann Herron, age 33; Jammie Garcia, age 14; and Lisa Bardsley, age 26.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Tuesday, September 06, 2005

    September 5 safe-n-legal anniversaries

    Let's remember:

    Deanna Bell
    A wrongful-death suit filed by survivors of Deanna Bell, age 13, alleged that she underwent a multi-stage abortion September 3, 4, and 5, 1992 at Edward Allred's Albany Medical Surgical Center in Chicago. Deanna was 21 weeks pregnant. Her abortion was performed at a National Abortion Federation member facility by Steve Lichtenberg, a frequent presenter at NAF Risk Management Seminars.

    Deanna’s survivors say that non-physicians performed some medical procedures including inserting laminaria and Dilapan in Deanna’s immature cervix.

    An expert witness testified that Deanna was administered at least 250 mg Brevital, when sufficient dose for an adult would be 70 mg., and that Deanna had been given 400 mg Brevital for anesthesia during laminaria removal procedure the previous day. Brevitol is not approved for pediatric use. Deanna, at age 13, would be a pediatric patient.

    Expert review indicated that the pre-operative physical examination performed on Deanna was "limited." Deanna was "reported to be 'uncooperative'" when laminaria was placed.

    When the time came to remove the laminaria, Deanna was transferred to another facility for Lichtenberg to remove the laminaria under general anesthesia. During this process, Deanna’s membranes were accidentally ruptured.

    The destructive procedure upon the fetus was initiated September 5, and according to clinic records took 9 minutes to complete.

    Deanna was noted as being discharged to the recovery room at 7:51, and was rated 9 favorable points of possible 14 for normal color, respiration, etc. But her pulse was 130-135, per Lichtenberg's Clinical Summary written after Deanna's death.

    Deanna was noted by monitors as lacking vitals at 7:53. The first resuscitative efforts were documented at 8:51, although Lichtenberg's Clinical Summary written after Deanna's death indicated that resuscitative efforts made for the 1-hour period. No record of pupil dilation response was noted in the recovery room record, and "no effort was made to transport the patient to a more fully-equipped facility" during the hour they reported attempts to resuscitate her.

    Deanna "never regained productive cardiac activity or consciousness." She was pronounced dead at 8:52. According to Lichtenberg's Clinical Summary, the coroner was immediately notified.

    The lawsuit states that nurse noted no vital signs registering on monitoring machines. The suit also stated that the facility lacked any protocol for dealing with cardiac-respiratory arrest.

    Lichtenberg also noted, "Prior to the removal of the body from the premises a total of 18 family members congregated in the clinic and were addressed by our clinic manager ... who was with me during my initial presentation to the patient's mother and sister." Although the clinic told family and the press that the probable cause of death was amniotic fluid embolism, the autopsy showed that "Histologic studies showed no microscopic evidence of amniotic fluid embolism."

    The autopsy reported congested lungs, a uterus full of clotted blood, and the cause of death and manner of death listed on death certificate as "undetermined," although "how injury occurred" was "expired after abortion."

    Deanna’s survivors alleged failure to monitor Deanna, lack of adequate resuscitation equipment, failure to properly resuscitate or transfer to hospital, lack of informed consent, and hiring unqualified staff. Edward Allred stated in his deposition that he found no fault with staff's handling of Deanna's case.

    A report sent to the hospital that had referred Deanna read, "Date of service 9-5-92, Uneventful D&C, Thank you!" signed by Lichtenberg.

    Jacqueline Reynolds
    A suit was filed on behalf of the 6-year-old son of Jacqueline Reynolds, age 22. Jacqueline underwent an abortion at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta on August 27, 1986. Due to inadequate oxygenation during general anesthesia, Jacqueline lapsed into a coma. She died on September 5.

    Her death was attributed to use of a mask for anesthesia rather than an endotracheal tube. The case was settled for $3 million.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Remembering another pre-Roe legal abortion death

    I've been away from home, so I didn't have the chance to blog about this death on the anniversary. No disrespect to the deceased is intended.

    After California legalized abortion on demand in 1970, a Texas company began selling abortion referrals and air fare. Twenty-year-old Katherine Morse was one customer.

    Katherine was admitted to Bel Air Memorial Hospital in LA County on September 1, 1972. (Until Roe v. Wade, California abortions were performed in hospitals, and many hospitals opened specializing in abortion.) John Dupont initiated a saline abortion on Katherine. Katherine dveloped a 102 degree fever, then expelled the dead baby just after midnight on September 3.

    Katherine's blood pressure rose, she went into shock, and was pronounced dead by Dupot at 9:40 AM. An autopsy found sepsis, and gangrene of the ovary.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Friday, September 02, 2005

    The problem that didn't just go away

    Legalization was supposed to eliminate dangerous self-induced abortions. Evidently there is something other than illegality driving women to these grisly acts.

    In September of 1989, 33-year-old mother of four Laura France was found dead in the garage of her home in Mansfield, Ohio.

    Laura, part-owner of a bicycle repair shop and go-go dancer at a local bar, evidently attempted a self-induced abortion with an air compressor. She had given herself a massive air embolism by putting 90 psi of air into her own uterus with an 18-inch air hose.

    Legal, illegal, professional, amateur, or self-induced, the woman is just as dead, and her family is just as bereft.