Anniversary: Teen dies, doc blames boyfriend

Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Suddeth underwent an abortion by Frank Robinson on June 30, 1982.

On the drive home, Jennifer bled heavily, alarming her live-in boyfriend, John. John called the clinic repeatedly over the four hours after their return home, but staff would not put the call through to Robinson. One nurse admonished John to "be realistic" about how severely Jennifer was bleeding. By that time, Jennifer had bled through two pairs of sweat pants, two blankets, and a towel. At last the hysterical boyfriend was able to contact Robinson, who insisted that the bleeding was normal and instructed John to stop calling.

When Jennifer went into convulsions, John called an ambulance. Parmedics arrived at the home to find Jennifer already dead. Police interviewed the weeping and hysterical boyfriend, then pressed charges against Robinson for involuntary manslaughter in Jennifer's death. Although Robinson beat the rap, the state of California nevertheless counted Jennifer's death as due to illegal abortion.

Robininson, through his attorney, blamed John Fredzess for Jennifer's death, saying that the young man should have been more concerned about the blood. He also attributed John's weeping when interviewed by the police to fear that he might be arrested for murder for not having done enough to save her.

Anniversary: Mother of two bleeds to death

Kendra McLeod, mother of two, underwent an abortion at a clinic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on June 12, 1998. She bled heavily after the abortion. The day after her abortion, she sought help at an emergency room. She had fainted three times by the time she got into the ER.

Doctors at the hospital transfused Kendra with nine units of blood and performed surgery to try to save her life, to no avail. She died on June 30, at the age of 22.

Her family lost a lawsuit against the hospital. Documents do not note if the family sued the abortion provider.

Anniversary: Woman screams, dies during abortion

Dawn Mendoza underwent an abortion at the hands of Edward Rubin at Women's Medical Pavilion in Dobbs Ferry, New York, on June 29, 1988.

Rubin did a D&C abortion on Dawn, a 28-year-old mother of two, who then started screaming and gasping for breath. Staff tried unsuccessfully to revive her, but she died without ever being transferred to a hospital.

The medical examiner determined that she had died from amniotic fluid embolism, as evidenced by particles of placenta and amniotic fluid in her lungs.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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What remorse looks like

West Bengal doctor books himself for negligence death

Doctor Pradtoy Naskar from Sonarpur town said he had operated on a woman who had come for an abortion, but he accidentally perforated her uterus, which led to her death.

Naskar filed a complaint with the police, who arrested him from his nursing home. He said he was ready to serve any punishment.

"Every person has a different ideology and different philosophy. According to my conscious, what I thought at the moment, I did it. I am feeling very sick. Whatever action will be taken by the judicial system against me, will be welcomed by me," he said.

The closest I've come to seeing this in the US was when Suresh Gandotra commented, "I knew I screwed up" after leaving Magdalena Rodrigues unattended to bleed to death. Whereupon he fled the country to escape prosecution.

HT: Jivin' J

No sign that anybody has complained to the nursing board

I have tried to look up discipinary action against the nurse who inserted laminaria into Edrica Goode's cervix despite obvious signs of bacterial vaginal infection. There's no sign of any nurse being disciplined for this at the site of the California Nursing Board.

From the page on how to file a complaint:

Complaints may be filed by completing the complaint form and submitting to:

Board of Registered Nursing
Attn: Complaint Intake
PO Box 944210
Sacramento, CA 94244-2100

In filing your complaint, the information you provide will determine the action the Board will take. The most effective complaints are those that contain firsthand, verifiable information. Therefore, please provide a statement, in your own words, which describes the nature of your complaint. Please include as many specific details as possible, including dates and times, as well as any documentary evidence related to your complaint. The emphasis should be on providing necessary factual information. While anonymous complaints will be reviewed, they may be impossible to pursue unless they document evidence of the allegations made.

The complaint form is available here.

The only information I have on the nurse is that he or she was identified as "K. Sorenson". She is NOT Kelleigh Lee Sorenson, who is listed as being in San Luis Obispo. So who is this mystery nurse?

Name: K. Sorenson
Employer: Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties
Business Address: I'm guessing it's their Riverside clinic: Riverside Clinic / 3772 Tibbetts, Suite A / Riverside, CA 92506
Details of complaint: On January 31, 2007, patient Edrica Goode went to Sorenson's place of employment for a second-trimester abortion. She was a little over 14 weeks pregnant. Despite "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", Sorenson inserted laminaria into the patient's cervix, starting a cascade of events that ended in the patient's death on February 14.

The nursing board needs to know we're watching them.

Anniversary: Woman dead, nurse/midwife implicated

On June 28, 1900, Mrs. Andre Jorgenson died on the scene from an illegal abortion.

Mrs. Anna Pihlgren, whose occupation is listed as nurse or midwife, was arrested and held by the Coroner's Jury. Andre Pihlgren was held as an accessory.

His lawyer will be talking to her lawyer....

Wife: He's dead. Yank his feeding tube and stop giving him water.

Husband: I'm not dead yet.

Wife: Hi, Honey! No hard feelings, right?

Injured man's awakening called 'miracle'

Anniversar: Two physicians, women still dies

On June 24, 1929, 19-year-old Winifred Garner underwent an abortion at the office of Dr. Anna Schultz, aka Rollins. Schultz was assisted by Dr. James White.

Winifred died on June 27.

On June 27, both physicians were held by the coroner.

Schultz was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury on October 6, 1930.

Turn around on abortion

Overbrook Research’s newly released public opinion survey “Turnaround on Abortion” by Christopher Blunt and Fred Steeper

I've lifted a few graphics from the report to illustrate their findings, which look at changes in self-reported stand on abortion in Missouri from 1992 to 2006.

First of all is the overall trends. As you can see, there's been a switch from a greater self-identification as "strongly pro-choice" to a greater self-identification as "strongly pro-life".



Both men and women have become "strongly pro-life" and moved away from "strongly pro-choice", with women being more in the "strongly pro-life" camp than men.



This is seen most strongly among the younger women:



Educated people likewise have made a major shift, presumably because they're reading the newspaper and thus having their opinions changed. Though personally I think there may be a strong "been there, done that, hated it" factor here among women who bought their educations with the blood of their unborn children and have reflected on it.



The shift among Catholics was tiny, presumably because they were already largely pro-life in the first place. Protestants, on the other hand, have made a huge shift toward "strongly pro-life." But there was also a massive shift among the "other" and non-religious. In fact, this group is now where the Protestants were back in 1992.



Those who seldom or never attend religious services, likewise, have shown the biggest percentage of change toward a "strongly pro-life" position.



This is all very heartening for prolifers. Especially for those who have been demonized by their own supposed compatriots for supporting a PBA ban that, frankly, in and of itself accomplishes squat.

HT: Mother May I Be Born

Who is your ideal candidate?

2008 SelectSmart.com Presidential Candidate Selector

Your Results:

1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100%)
2. Tom Tancredo (77%) Click here for info
3. Duncan Hunter (75%) Click here for info
4. Kent McManigal (72%) Click here for info
5. Ron Paul (70%) Click here for info
6. John McCain (69%) Click here for info
7. Mitt Romney (68%) Click here for info
8. Sam Brownback (68%) Click here for info
9. Chuck Hagel (66%) Click here for info
10. Jim Gilmore (65%) Click here for info
11. Newt Gingrich (63%) Click here for info
12. Fred Thompson (61%) Click here for info
13. Rudolph Giuliani (50%) Click here for info
14. Tommy Thompson (50%) Click here for info
15. Mike Huckabee (47%) Click here for info
16. Christopher Dodd (28%) Click here for info
17. Dennis Kucinich (24%) Click here for info
18. Mike Gravel (23%) Click here for info
19. John Edwards (20%) Click here for info
20. Barack Obama (19%) Click here for info
21. Bill Richardson (18%) Click here for info
22. Alan Augustson (18%) Click here for info
23. Al Gore (14%) Click here for info
24. Joseph Biden (14%) Click here for info
25. Hillary Clinton (13%) Click here for info
26. Wesley Clark (10%) Click here for info
27. Elaine Brown (9%) Click here for info

HT: Big Blue Wave

How to score with hot babes

Just buy a condom! It magically turns you from a pig into Mr. Right!

I have to agree with Jill Stanek on this one: A man exploiting a woman in a bar to be his unpaid hooker is a pig with or without a condom in his pocket.

And Planned Parenthood has their panties in a twist because CBS and FOX rejected the ad. An ad that promotes the idea that women are nothing but sex toys, that a condom makes you less of a swine for treating a woman like a sex toy.

PP scoffs at Catholics for their reluctance to "putt a little rubber thing over your cock," as the Monty Python gang put it in "The Meaning of Life." But here's an ad saying that the very thing that makes you HUMAN is that little rubber thing over your cock.

Not being interested in her as a human being. Not caring about her real needs, such as her needs for love, respect, affirmation, and fidelity. Nope. That little rubber thing over the end of your cock is all it takes.

And we wonder why there are so many deadbeat dads. So many weeping women climbing on the abortion table because they've been abandoned. So many kids growing up with absent fathers. So many men murdering their pregnant girlfriends because they refuse to abort. We've built a society that gives the message that women are interchangable sex toys, and that a man has 100% fulfilled any obligation he has toward his sex toy du jour as long as he's put one of those little rubber things over his cock.

We gve the message that all we need to strive for is to prevent STDs and babies. That as long as we're doing that, it's okay to treat each other like pieces of meat that exist purely for our own gratification. That striving for any kind of real intimacy, real bonding, real committment is a joke, something only big-haired born-agains and mind-numbed followers of the Vatican would even desire in the first place.

Who needs love when they have a condom?

What a message!

HT: Generations for Life

Another NJ abortion mill shut down by the state

New Jersey Sees Second Abortion Business Closed After Health Violations

Another abortion business has been shut down in New Jersey for violating the state's health codes .... The Atlantic City abortion center known as Alternatives, located on Pacific Avenue, is the latest one to be closed.

....

Papers from the state obtained by the Bergen Record newspaper indicated that health authorities inspected the abortion center every year from 1990 to 1996 but did not show up again for an inspection until 2000 and then once again in 2002. There were no inspections after that.

In their review, health inspectors found dirt and debris throughout the abortion facility, open packages of items that were supposed to remain sterilized before their use, and other problems.

On this date: Humanity officially restored to unwanted people

Many defenders of abortion simply point out that it's perfectly legal to kill fetuses, and that the law doesn't recognize them as human. Therefore, these folks contend, fetuses aren't human.

This is sawing off the limb you sit on, since it asserts that the government can indeed decide who is or isn't human, who is or isn't entitled to protection under the law.

On this date in 1976, full legal protection was restored to a group of people who had been very much unwanted. Unwanted enough that it was made legal to kill them. This unwanted group? Mormons.

On October 27, 1838, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri issued an Extermination Order, declaring that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace...." Most Missouri citizens backed the order (although some did question or denounce it). The Mormons were, in the simplest of terms, "unwanted."

On October 30, with the Extermination Order as justification, a band of the Missouri Militia launched an attack on a small Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill, killing 17 Mormons, including a 10-year-old boy who was shot in the head as he cowered under the bellows of the blacksmith shop, and a 78-year-old man who was shot after he had surrendered his musket.

Several years ago, I spoke with a Latter-Day Saints historian, who told me that survivors of the Massacre sued the state of Missouri over the deaths of their loved ones, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court, he said, backed the state on the grounds that the killings were perfectly legal.

Meanwhile, the Extermination Order remained on the books in Missouri until recinded by executive order of Governor Christopher S. Bond on June 25, 1976. So until 1976, it was perfectly legal to kill a Mormon in Missouri. Did that make it right?

Anniversary: Journey to safe, legal abortion ends in death

"Annie" traveled from New Jersey to New York for a first-trimester abortion on June 24, 1971. Shortly after she was given anesthesia, Annie went into cardiac arrest, and attempts to revive her failed. She left behind three children.

Finding a nugget of the positive

"I was betrayed by a pill"

Norine Dworkin-McDaniel laments that her chemical abortion experience wasn't the easy, safe, totally private and liberating process she expected it to be. She feels betrayed.

This is hard for me. I don't find her at all sympathetic.

Imagine, for example, a child abuser wanting to warn other child abusers about his own bad experience. He'd gotten an antibiotic-resistant strain of syphillis after having unprotected sex with a child that had been passed around a circle of abusers. And he was lamenting how betrayed he felt that nobody warned him to use a condom. How unjust and just plain wrong it was that exercising his right to sexual fulfilment led to such an unpleasant and dangerous experience for him. And he wanted to warn other pedophiles to either use a condom or to be sure to only rape kids that hadn't already been "used" by somebody else.

That's how sympathetic this woman comes across to me.

But as C. S. Lewis said, "When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend."

This woman honestly believes that all women are 100% entitled to kill their unborn, that it's 100% self-evident that women are entitled to kill their unborn, that society owes it to women to in every way facilitate and support and honor and praise the practice of killing the unborn. And she's risking becoming alienated from her friends and social network, in order to put forth an unpleasant truth. I have to give her credit for that. And Marie Claire does deserve credit for being brave enough to publish an account of an abortion that wasn't all about how safe and liberating and othewise wonderful abortion is.

They're taking a stand for truth, bravely, and in the face of risking attack from both sides. From the prolifers for endorsing the killing of the unborn. From the prochoice for "giving the other side ammo to attack our hard-won reproductive rights". Both the author and the publisher knew they were taking an unpopular stand, but were willing to stick their necks out for something true, to warn others of a risk to health and life. You gotta give them credit for that, even if, as it does with me, it really sticks in your craw.

HT: After Abortion

How to respond to a tragedy

Nine Parks Shut Down Tower Rides After Girl's Feet Severed in Kentucky

After a mishap, still under investigation, severed the feet of a 13-year-old girl on a Six Flags ride, the company has shut down not just that ride but all similar rides in all their parks.

The rides won't re-open until the park management figures out what went wrong and figures out how to keep it from happening again.

Wereas Edward "Fast Eddie" Allred, owner of the largest chain of for-profit abortion facilities in the world, admitted in a deposition that he and his staff have never done a preventability assessment after a patient death. Thus allowing tragedy to be needlessly repeated. Maybe there can be an excuse fo the death of Denise Holmes, who died of an amniotic fluid embolism in 1970. But still a preventability assessment could have improved staff awareness of the risks of AFE and how to identify and treat it.

Maybe they would have been more prepared when 16-year-old Patricia Chacon suffered an amniotic fluid embolism in 1984. Maybe, had Allred and his staff cared enough, they could have learned something that would have saved Patricia's life.

Then in 1985, Allred's staff failed to properly diagnose and treat lacerations suffered by Mary Pena, who bled to death. Maybe they could have instituted procedures for properly monitoring patients so that they could detect hemorrage before it took a woman's life, as it took the life of Josefina Garcia just two months after Mary died.

In 1986, 17-year-old Laniece Dorsey suffered anesthesia complications, and Allred's staff failed to adequately ressucitate her. No preventability study was done, and no corrective action taken. And two years later, when Tami Suematsu went into respiratory arrest, staff efforts to revive her were again insufficient. Again, no preventability study, no corrective action. Then in 1992, 13-year-old Deanna Bell stopped breathing, and again Allred's staff failed to revive her. Again, no preventability study, no corrective action. And in 2000, when Kimberly Neil stopped breathing, she wasn't properly resuscitated.

Back to 1988, when Joyce Ortenzio died from an infection Allred's staff failed to detect and treat. Again, no preventability study was done, and no corrective action taken. And four years later, Susan Levy died from an undetected and untreated infection. And two years later, Christine Mora died from amniotic fluid embolism and infection. Again, no preventability study, no corrective action.

And in 2004, Chanelle Bryant died of untreated infection after a chemical abortion at an FPA clinic.

How many women will have to die before this National Abortion Federation member shows as much concern for his patients as a chain of theme parks shows for their thrill-ride customers?



Granted, Six Flags may be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. It may be fear of lawsuits or fear of bad publicity rather than fear that another persom may get maimed. But they're still bending over backward to take corrective action.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Young widow dies after doc performs illegal abortion

Cora A. Burke was a 20-year-old who had been widowed about five months. She had a four-year-old son and lived in her own home along with her child and her parents. She'd recently become engaged. She'd been in good health up until the events that began to unfold on June 21, 1899.

In May of 1899, Cora told Mrs. Martha Johnson that she was about six weeks pregnant and wanted to find a good doctor to perform an abortion. Mrs. Johnson introduced Cora to Dr. R. J. Alcorn who had been practicing medicine in Kootenai County, Idaho, for a short time. Dr. Alcorn was living in the boarding house Mrs. Johnson operated with Mr. E.J. Abbey.

Cora went to Dr. Alcorn's room about two days after they were introduced. Mr. Abbey listened from an adjoining room, and heard Cora say that the instrument Dr. Alcorn was using was hurting her.

On the night of Tuesday, June 21, Dr. Alcorn asked Mr. T.J. Rundell to help him carry a table into his office, which was at the back of a drug store in the town of Harrison. Rundell's curiosity was piqued, and he asked Alcorn if he was going to "dissect a stiff." Alcorn told him no, he was going to perform an operation on somebody from across the river.

Rundell decided to snoop, so he returned at 10:00 PM and saw Cora go through the drug store into Alcorn's office. Rundell then slipped around to the back of the building, where he could peer into Alcorn's office around an ill-hung window blind. The following is what Rundell says he observed.

Alcorn stood beside the chair where Cora was sitting, supporting her head with one hand. He had a small vial containing a dark liquid, and was holding a cloth to Cora's face. Cora seemed to fall into a deep sleep, whereupon Alcorn picked her up and lay her on the table.

Alcorn removed Cora's undergarments and positioned her for the surgery. He examined her internally, inserted a speculum, then inserted a probe about a foot long into her body, causing a flow of blood which he blotted up with a cloth. From time to time, Alcorn applied the cloth to Cora's face again. The entire procedure took about an hour and a half.

Cora was awakened, and Alcorn helped her to set her clothing to rights and sent her on her way.

At about 4 PM the next day, Alcorn was called to tend to Cora, who was in a lot of pain. He examined her and found her uterus to be inflamed and bleeding. He prescribed ergot, to be given one-half teaspoon each half-hour for three doses, then every hour afterward for 18 hours. Cora's mother asked Alcorn about her daughter's condition. Alcorn told her, "She caught a bad cold. She does not flow enough when she has her monthlies. I will give her something to make her flow."

Over the ensuing days, Alcorn visited Cora five times, the last time about two hours before she died on Friday afternoon, June 23. Her feet and hands were cold, her fingers blue, her lips purple. Alcorn told Cora's mother that she was doing well and would be up soon. Alcorn immediately took a train to Washington state, returning about 10:00 on the following Sunday morning. The next day he again left the state, this time going to Montana, where he was arrested and returned to Kootenai county.

While Cora was ill, she passed a lot of blood and clots. Mrs. Knight, who visited Cora during her illness, testified, "I helped dress her after she was dead. Her clothing and bedclothing were saturated with blood. A quilt was doubled up under her four thicknesses, and it was clear through the quilt. It was clots of blood. I observed an odor in connection with it. There was too great a quantity to have come from the ordinary menstruation. Much greater in quantity."

At about 6:00 PM on the 21st, William Ketchum called Alcorn to visit Mrs. Ketchum, but Alcorn told him, "Well, I don't know. I am expecting a miscarriage here any minute. I can go over there, and come back, if it does not make any difference to them." So he went to Ketchum's home to attend to his wife.

Kootenai County sherrif F. H. Bradbury testified, "He told me that he never had anything to do with this girl, Cora Burke; that he began in the daytime an operation on a man for stricture, and did not complete it; and that he took him in the back room of the drug store and completed the operation in the evening. He gave me this statement after I had warned him not to make any statement to me. This was on the train between here and Missoula."

Alcorn testified on is own behalf, saying that Cora had attempted to do an abortion on herself with "a hair dart," which had punctured the wall of her uterus and broken off, leaving about 1 1/2 inches. Rundell said that he'd used a speculum and piston syringe to remove the foreign body from Cora's uterus.

The physicians called as expert witnesses on the case all agreed that Cora died of septicemia or blood poisoning. They also agreed that ergot itself would be enough to cause an abortion.

Alcorn's defense also raised the possibility that Cora hadn't actually been pregnant, but the court concluded that Cora had believed herself to be pregnant, had sought an abortion, and had undergone a procedure intended to cause an abortion, which was enough to demonstrate the intent of the defendant to kill a fetus, especially in the light of Alcorn's statement that he was expecting a patient to miscarry.

Alcorn was charged with murder, convicted of manslaughter, in Cora's death.

California woman dead after Planned Parenthood initiates abortion

Abortion procedure caused death, lawsuit alleges

The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a lawsuit filed by Aletheia Meloncon, the mother of 21-year-old Edrica Goode. Additional information is available at Press-Enterprise and World Net Daily.

Edrica went to a Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California, on January 31, 2007, for a second-trimester abortion. She was a little over 14 weeks pregnant.

A nurse there inserted laminaria to dilate Edrica's cervx, although Edrica had "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", indicative of a vaginal infection, at the time. Laminaria are sticks of seaweed that absorb moisture and expand, so they would wick any bacteria or viruses from the vagina into the uterus.

Edrica, who had not told her family about the abortion, did not return to the facility to have the laminaria removed and the abortion completed because her mental state had deteriorated overnight. She had became feverish, her mother said. She became mentally "confused and disoriented," not knowing what day it was, and started acting aggressively. She also began vomiting.

Planned Parenthood's patient profile for Edrica said that they mailed Edrica two letters telling her that she had to return and have the laminaria removed, but Edrica's mother said that the letters never arrived. She does indicate that Planned Parenthood called, but that Edrica was too sick to take the calls.

Edrica's family took her to Riverside County Regoinal Medical Center on February 4. A blood test there revealed the pregnancy to the physicians, but the hospital did not perform a pelvic exam because at the time Edrica was unable to consent to the examination due to confusion and inappropriate speech.

Edrica was treated in the medical ward for five days, then transferred to a psychiatric unit, which promptly sent her back to the medical unit to have them check her for possible sepsis. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. After Edrica's boyfriend told her family about the visit to Planned Parenthood, staff at the hospital performed a pelvic examination and discovered the laminaria, along with some gauze. Edrica miscarried that day, and died the next day, Valentine's Day.

The coroner's report attributes Edrica's death to toxic shock syndrome, prolonged retention of laminaria, and pregnancy. Which means that her death will likely be counted as a pregnancy death by health statisticians, but not as an abortion death because no abortion actually took place.

Edrica had been a student at Riverside Community College. Her mother said that she enjoyed traveling and reading. Her mother commented, "My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die." She added, "A lost dog gets more attention than my daughter did. This has really torn at my family."

Edrica is the third known death among Planned Parenthood patients in California in the last four years. Holly Patterson, 18, died of an infection after an RU-486 abortion in 2003. Diana Lopez, 25, bled to death in 2002 after her cervix was punctured during the procedure. Edrica's mother's lawyer indicates that Planned Parenthood did not report any of these deaths to the state, as required by law.

State records indicate that the clinic inquestion was last inspected in July of 2003. The inspection found 12 deficiencies, most involving recordkeeping and documentation problems that were to be corrected by Sept. 20, 2003. The file doesn't show if the corrections were made or not.

HT: Operation Rescue West

Balanced AP story on the Tiller situation

Abortion foes still trying to vindicate Kline

The author does show a slight abortion advocacy bias by failing to disclose what McHugh found in the records -- abortions for mere acute distress over things like being unable to attend concerts. But all it all it's probably the best thing I've seen in the MSM. And this from an AP writer! Who, God willing, won't get fired for having had the audacity to simply report what each side is saying without clearly siding with one or the other.

Anniversary: Chicago criminal abortion death

On June 21, 1929, 25-year-old Fannie Shead died from a criminal abortion performed that day by an unknown perpetrator.

Interestingly, the coroner only recommended an arrest for "unintentional manslaughter," not the usual homicide by abortion. I wonder if this might be due to the fact that unlike the other victims of Chicago abortionists whose cases I've documented, Fanny Shead was Black.

Oddly, the database lists a date a defendant was arrested -- August 10 -- but does not list a suspect.

Anniversary: Death after illegal abortion by midwife at hospital

On June 20, 1929, 28-yaer-old Jennie Kuba died at Chicago hospital from an abortion performed there that day by midwife Mary Zwieniczak. Zwienczak was arrested July 13.

The coroner also recommended the arrest of Dr. Joseph Mienczak, who assisted Zwieniczak, as an accessory. The grand jury handed down an indictment of homicide.

Christopher Tietze told us this in 1975

It's Not Enough to Be 'Wanted'

Abortion increases unwed births, because it contributes heavily to an increase in out-of-wedlock sex and to sloppy contracepting. And -- as horrible as some abortion supporters may find it -- not all women can just casually trip on down to Planned Parenthood and snuff their little unplanned embryos. They discover that the mother-child bond often is stronger than they'd expected.

Suggested reading:

Christopher Tietze, "The Effect of Legalization of Abortion on Population Growth and Public Health," Family Planning Perspective, May/June 1975

Kristin Luker, "Contraceptive Risk Taking and Abortion," Studies in Family Planning, August 1977

Don't be scared -- these are prochoice authors. Particularly Tietze, whose work championing abortion was so impressive that the ACLU named their humanitarian award after him.

And while I"m at it, I'm supposed to praise what's praiseworthy. And despite Tietze's appalling lack of any moral compunctions about the slaughter of the unborn, he did have a breathtaking intellectual honesty that I wish we'd see more of.

Doc reviewed Tiller records

Full 44-Min. Video Interview of Dr. Paul McHugh and Transcript

Some excerpts from the transcript of an interview. You can click on the link above to view the interview and read the entire transcript.

First, let's establish that he isn't some fly-by-night who can't get attention doing anything else but sitting interviews with Operation Rescue:

Paul R. McHugh was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School with further training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, and the Division of Neuropsychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. After his training he was eventually and successfully professor of psychiatry at Cornell University School of Medicine, Clinical Director and Director of Residency Education at the New York Hospital, Westchester Division, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Hills Scien – Service – Science Center, rather. He was Henry Phipps Professor and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Psychiatrist-In-Chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1975 to 2001. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine named him University Distinguished Service Professor in 1998. Dr. McHugh was elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences in 1992.

How did he get involved in this?

I became familiar with it because I was called by Attorney General Kline and asked if I would look at the records and to see whether I could confirm or reject the idea that those records demonstrated that the women involved in the abortions were in danger of suffering a substantial and irreversible impairment if the pregnancies continued, impairment of a psychiatric kind.

Was anybody's privacy violated?

The names, and some of the vital details in the sense of them, were not available on those records. Those were redacted out so that the point was not to identify them as a particular person, but to identify the state of mind that they were in and the examinations that were performed and the adequacy of those studies to reach the conclusions that the doctors had reached.

This is more privacy than patients get when the medical board is reviewing documents. Their names are not redacted during the review process, and are only redacted at the point where public record documents are generated.

So what was going on with these women?

We’re talking, you know, 26 to 30 weeks into the pregnancy. Well, the mothers were expressing great senses of distress and worry about their future. They were tearful and preoccupied with the idea that only an abortion would help them. They said that they were sad and frightened and they spoke about fears that their future life would be changed. They expressed ideas that they were not being given adequate support, and that they felt that the abortion would help them.

So lack of adequate support, and not anything wrong with the women themselves, was what sent them tearfully packing for Wichita. These were not sick women. They were stressed out women.

What kind of evaluations were these women given to conclude that abortion was appropriate for them in their circumstances?

These records that I was shown were very inadequate psychiatric records. Okay? They were not thorough, detailed, pages-long understandings of the biographies, backgrounds, states of mind, and particular directions that these young women were suffering from. There was no clear work of – in those records – that would be construed as capable of giving you a full picture of the mental condition of these women. They highlighted certain kinds of things, which, out of context, were hard of course to appreciate, but were sometimes of a most trivial sort, from saying that, “I won’t be able to go to concerts,” or “I won’t be able to take part in sports,” to more serious ones, such as, “I don’t want to give my child up for adoption.” But at no time could you see and understand the future of these individuals and in what way they should be seen as full people, people capable of being helped in this situation. Rather, they were highlighted for certain kinds of, well, preoccupations and concerns. Some of them would be construed as trivial and others would be construed as serious. A trivial one would not being able to go to a rock concert. A more serious one would be to say, “I am going to be worried about the life of this child later on in life." But notice, I could pick out only bits and pieces of this. This is not a – none of them represented a full psychiatric history.

Was Tiller giving them conscientious consults, with proper arrangements for follow-up, given their distress, which he insists was so severe that only abortion could help them?

And by the way, as well, there was no plans being made for these young women, whether they were going to be aborted or not, to be seen and followed up and giving counsel and support and kindness and doctoring, to help them readjust.

What assessment did Dr. McHugh make of the evaluation and care provided to these women?

I’m quite confident that 100% of psychiatrists would say that those are not irreversible conditions since most of their practice is taking care of exactly those things and restoring people to their mental health. We, we do that all the time. And again, that’s why I’m saying that the surprising thing was that if it was believed that these were the proper diagnoses – by the way, I think these women were all in a demoralized state of mind. You – these diagnoses become almost interchangeable, at least on the evidence that’s produced here. They’re all fundamentally demoralized young women and what they needed was support, help, care, and long-term treatment for the situation that they had – that they were – in which they felt abandoned, so that they could once again feel as they should feel, that their future is rich.
....

As I say, when I look at the records, as far as I can tell, all these young women were very similar in the sense that they were all demoralized, and what other diagnostic term you wanted to give it was almost interchangeable on the basis of these records. They were discouraged, fearful, worried young women who needed support, and would express a variety of ideas in that context to win what they were looking for, and that’s – that’s the way to understand these people, in my opinion. And a thorough psychiatric examination, and a thorough and adequate psychiatric plan was needed by them and was not received – here, anyway.

What kind of verification was Tiller obtaining that abortion, and only abortion, could prevent these women from suffering irreversible and permanent harm?

[T]he law requires in Kansas that two doctors do look at them and there was a second doctor, and there was always a letter from the second doctor that would say in her opinion as well these women suffered – could potentially suffer from irreversible and substantial of a bodily function. This is mental bodily function – a bodily function construed in mental terms if the abortion – if they didn’t receive and abortion. But again, that letter was not – did not come with the kind of pages of psychiatric study, evaluation, biographical details, an understanding of the person on which – from that record you can confirm that opinion.

... Well, at least from the record, that second opinion rested upon a description of the – it rested, let’s say, it rested upon an encounter with the young woman and a statement of her present state of mind. So it was an opinion derived in much the say way from the statements of the patients themselves about how distressed they were.

.... I wouldn’t describe it as highly detailed. I would describe it as brief, symptom-only based, and – and unsubstantiated in its prognosis on the basis of a rich, detailed study of the young woman and her potentials. .... And one wonders, looking at this, why some consideration isn’t being made to employ them for the benefit of these patients. And so the conclusion that imposes itself upon – I can’t say that it’s a conclusion that – that necessarily – the conclusion is these young women came here for an abortion, and the effort on the part of the psychiatric assessment was to support that idea that an abortion is appropriate, rather than considering the alternatives, the risks and benefits of this to the person in her life.

So was there any evidence that these women had undergone any sort of psychiatric evaluation whatsoever?

All the files justified the abortions on the patient’s present state of mind of being distressed and social proposals that this person’s life would be less successful, less developed, less opportune if this child were born, and those are not psychiatric reasons, those are social reasons.

....

On the basis of these records, I wouldn’t be satisfied with any specific diagnosis, and in point of fact, a diagnosis probably doesn’t capture the issues before you in these women. A diagnosis is a pigeonhole. These – to really understand these women, I believe that you would draw up a full history of them and formulate them as people in distress and trouble. And so what I — my diagnosis, if pinned to the wall on that, would not be a simple psychiatric diagnosis, it would be that these are demoralized people, discouraged, depressed in the sense of being discouraged and disheartened – those kinds of feelings, and I would identify them as that kind of person. Okay? Rather than subject them to a psychiatric diagnosis like major depression or acute stress disorder, because it wouldn’t carry the meaning of what was there. But these records that I had are so inadequate that I couldn’t confidently support either the diagnoses given or these ideas that are impressions that come across from the few descriptions of the women there.

....

I think that a psychiatrist would say – would all agree that these are inadequate records for laying out a psychiatric diagnosis and a psychiatric plan. And it’s a psychiatric plan that’s needed here. And a psychiatric plan that is being proposed be solved by an abortion. That’s – that’s what is intended in these files, and they’re inadequate.

What was Dr. McHugh's conclusion?

All I can carry away from this is that by these criteria, no person who would want an abortion – a late-term abortion would be turned away from that. And so I presume that – that the idea here is to justify that surgical procedure, and these records on a psychiatric basis do not so justify it.

Well, what would this guy conclude is appropriate for these women's well-being then, if not abortion?

But when you say that someone will end up an uneducated person, that is not a psychiatric diagnosis. That is a social prediction. Okay? And – and by the way, a social prediction certainly doesn’t have – as we know in our country – does not have to be fulfilled, if we offer social support. The occupational future, the person will fear family disapproval, words of that sort. Those are all social reasons. I don’t mean to say that if you do loose out in your education, that’s not harm, but it’s a social harm and those kinds of things should be treated in a social fashion. And by the way, re-supporting the individual, re-moralizing her, giving her her strengths, her self, she then as we know, can independently demand the kinds of support that – that comes, and that she would be entitled to.

....

Those are direct quotes from the records, sample notations from Dr. Tiller. “If She was forced to carry to term she would end up an uneducated person without occupational skills and have multiple other pregnancies,” and the like. Well, all of those things are social predictions, and obviously become subjects, interests, concern – but I’m saying, and we psychiatrists would say, will be avoided if we can get this person once again to feel what she’s entitled to feel, namely that she’s an independent individual with rights and proper approaches to her life. If you think, and teach her, that the only thing that can be done here is that this viable human being has to be killed in order for her to have anything in her future, that’s a lesson – that’s a social lesson that may well, in my opinion, prognostically take from her the sort of sense that she can overcome hurdles that life brings her. Now, that’s not a psychiatric opinion that I’ve offered you, either. But it – it’s a social attitude or an approach to women in our county that, in my opinion, is more meaningful than proposing that if they carry a viable child to term that their educational opportunities are lost and they end up fundamentally having multiple pregnancies, multiple sexualities – that their sexual life is lost as a meaningful way, that they will never flower and blossom. If anyone were saying that in another context about a woman, he would or she would be, you know, chased out of court.

....

I’m only saying here that the records carry with them by the statements that I drew out from you, give the impression – give the impression that a hopeless attitude is depicted going along with the hopeless feelings that the patient has and brings to the clinic. Doctors are supposed to give hope to people and support to people, and they have to believe that such hope is to be found in them. And usually, by the way, for psychiatrists anyway, I can tell you that that kind of hopeful attitude comes out of taking the full history of the person, noticing not simply what life has imposed upon her, but what she has brought to life, what her strengths are. If we approach a psychiatric problem as though there are only deficits, rather than assets for a person, we will never have an optimistic and a future-oriented therapy for people. We’ve got to see their assets as well as their vulnerabilities to bring them on, and those don’t come across in these records.

In other words, they're worthwhile human beings with strengths, and they deserve better than to have two more professionals certify their own low sense of self-worth and ability to cope with life.

Anniversary: Woman dies, doc takes own life

On June 18, 1928, 20-year-old Anna Mae Smith underwent an abortion at the Chicago office of Dr. George F. Slater. The next day, Anna died there from complications. Dr. Slater, upon learning of Anna Mae's death, committed suicide at his home by taking poison.

Nobody is really pro-abortion?

A world gone mad

"It seems like ancient history at this point, but as one who came of age as a 1970s Ivy Leaguer, no self-respecting career-oriented peer who conceived out of wedlock would have considered bringing that pregnancy to term."

This chick sees it as evil that women choose to assume responsibility for children they concieve, rather than cooly and matter-of-factly snuffing them.

This is what our society has come to?

In the introduction to The Rebel, in a paragraph in which Camus laments "massacres justified by philanthropy," you will find these words:

On the day when crime dons the apparel of innocence -- through a curious transportation peculiar to our times -- it is innocence that is called upon to justify itself.

We've come to the point where you have to explain yourself if you choose not to snuff the life of an innocent human being that your own actions have brougt into existence.

This is how I came to believe in Satan before I was really sure there is a God.

Mercy Ships launches maternity clinics

Maternity Clinic

Ellen Goodman needs a clue

Ellen Goodman's Latest Outright Falsehood

Sigh. It's not like she's at home blogging in her nightgown to an audience of twenty people. Maybe it could be expected that occasionally she'd get her facts straight.

Anniversary: Woman dies after abortion by hero doc

Benjamin Munson has been celebrated by abortion advocates for his willingness to be the only abortionist in South Dakota. He began doing abortions in 1967. He managed his illegal practice without any maternal fatalities. However, he was arrested in 1969 for performing an abortion on a 19-year-old patient. Munson challenged his conviction, winning in circuit court. The state appealed, and the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled against him. He appealed this decision, which was rendered moot by Roe vs. Wade, which freed him to practice without fear of prosecution. All should have been well.

Munson performed an abortion on 28-year-old Linda Padfield on June 15. He discharged her, and she later was hospitalized. She finally died of massive infection on June 13.

A pathologist found the remains of a five-month fetus in Linda's uterus, missing a leg, arm, part of its skull and part of its torso. The retained fetus caused the massive infection that had killed Linda.

Munson sued to enjoin prosecution for manslaughter, but the case went to court nevertheless.

The prosecution focused on the fact that infection will inevitably result from that much retained tissue. The Attorney General commented, "You take a three-inch leg off something, you have to know that there's more in there than just the leg."

The defense, however, argued that infection is an accepted risk of abortion, and that the state couldn't prove that Munson meant to harm Linda. The jury bought it, and Munson was aquitted. He later became a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF). In 1985, he sent a teenage patient, Yvonne Mesteth, home with retained tissue. She, like Linda Padfield, died of infection. Again Munson was prosecuted for manslaughter, and again he beat the rap.

Anniversary: New York offered safe, legal, fatal abortion

"Sara Roe" underwent a second trimester abortion in New York City in May of 1972. She had problems with retained tissue, so three weeks after the abortion she had a D&C to remove the tissue. Sara had developed infection from the retained tissue, and on June 18, 1972, the infection took her life. She left one child motherless.

Anniversary: Mom finds teen dead on bathroom floor

On the morning of June 15, 1984, 14-year-old Germaine Newman's mother found her dead on the bathroom floor.

The previous day, Germaine had undergone a second-trimester abortion performed by Dr. E. Wyman Garrett in Newark, New Jersey. She was 22 weeks pregnant. Germaine had suffered vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever afterward.

An autopsy found that Germaine's abdomen was full of pus and adhesions. The cause of death was abdominal infection and perforation of the uterus.

When the New Jersey medical board investigated Dr. Garrett, they noted that he had illegally altered Germaine's medical records.

Anniversary: RU-486 death

Oriane Shevin, age 34, died of infection following off-label use of RU-486 for an abortion in California in 2005. Oriane got the drugs at the Eve Surgical Center, located at 10150 National Boulevard in West Los Angeles. She took the mifeprestone on June 9 and vaginally inserted the misoprostol on June 10. The coroner‘s office was not able to deterime if a physician saw or examined her at the abortion facility. Both Christopher Dotson, M.D. and Josepha Seletz, M.D. are associated with the facility.

Oriane was an attorney with two young children, ages 3 and 4. She had sickened three days after taking the drugs. She was suffering from severe pain and havy bleeding, and was rushed by ambulance to Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, where she died on June 14 from severe metabolic acidosis and sepsis.

Dotson has a spotted history. At the time of Oriane‘s abortion, Dotson had not yet completed eight years medical board probation for gross negligence and incompetence in causing the death of a patient identified as "RJI"; on February 3, 1992. The board said that Dotson "was grossly negligent in the care and treatment of RJI". He failed to take an adequate exam, failed to classify her as a high risk pregnancy, failed to heed the risk of severe bleeding, failed to have appropriate equipment for monitoring, and failed to transfuse her in a timely way, having left the room while she was still bleeding. Dotson had also been investigated in 1993 after Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital of Los Angeles had reported him for being negligent in the treatment of six women.

Dotson had also worked at San Vicente Hospital, a notorious abortion mill that was bought out by Family Planning Associates Medical Group. San Vicente was where Sara Lint, Natalie Meyers, Joyce Ortenzio, Laniece Dorsey, and Mary Pena underwent their fatal abortions.

Margaret Davis died of sickle cell crisis after an abortion performed by Dotson on July 25, 1971.

Despite his appalling record, Dotson, through his Eve Surgical Center, is a member of the National Abortion Federation.

Illegal anniversary: Woman dies, midwife implicated

On June 7, 1930, 27-year-old Grace Iorio underwent an illegal abortion in the Chicago home of midwife Stepina Pazkiewicz. On June 14, Grace died at her home. On June 15, Pazkiewicz was arrested for her role in Grace's death. She was acquitted on November 26.

Anniversary: Too little, too late

Angela Hall, a 27-year-old mother of five, called to arrange an abortion at Dr. Thomas Tucker's office in Alabama. One of Tucker's employees, Joy Davis, screened Angela and felt that she had risk factors that made abortion in an office setting unsafe. Joy got on the phone with Tucker and indicated that she felt that Angela should be referred to a hospital. Tucker told Davis that "we need the money" and ordered her to prep Angela, who was in the second trimester of pregnancy.

Angela underwent the abortion on June 11, 1991, and started having difficulty breathing. Her blood pressure fell, setting off an alarm on a piece of monitoring equipment. Tucker told Davis to turn the alarm off because other patients could hear it. Angela was sent to a recovery room where she bled so heavily that Davis became alarmed and called an ambulance. Tucker swore at Davis when he learned of this, and he had her cancel the ambulance because they'd already sent a patient to the hospital that day. Angela continued to hemorrhage, and Davis continued to plead with Tucker to take action. Finally Tucker cursed at Davis, telling her to call the ambulance, and he left the building, leaving the untrained woman to cope alone with the critically injured patient.

Angela was taken to the hospital, where she suffered respiratory failure, clotting, and sepsis. She died just before midnight June 14. The autopsy found numerous tears and lesions in the pelvic area, and congestive necrosis in Angela's liver and spleen. The doctors concluded that amniotic fluid embolism had caused clotting problems resulting in necrosis, septic shock, and cardiac arrest. When Alabama authorities subpoenaed Angela's records, Tucker ordered Davis to destroy some and falsify others. Davis tore up the records, but then taped them back together and provided the authorities with photocopies.

Joy Davis' actions -- trying to convince Tucker to refer Angela to a hospital, her attempts to get appropriate care for Angela, and her refusal to participate in the cover-up -- need to stand as a reminder that abortion workers aren't monsters. They're human beings, many of whom do care about the patients and think of themselves as helping them.

Anniversary: "Not my fault"

A lawsuit filed by Eduardo Bermeo alleged that his wife, Rosario Bermeo, age 30, died following abortion by Dr. Joseph B. Shapse at Prospect Hospital in New York June 14, 1983.

Shapse contended he had no responsibility for actions of the certified nurse anesthetist, and no responsibility to monitor and evaluate Rosario's condition during and immediately after the abortion. Therefore, he said, he was not to blame for her death from respiratory and cardiac arrest.

Anniversary: First verified NAF death

Eighteen-year-old newlywed Barbaralee Davis called a local women's group for an abortion referral. They sent her to a member of the newly founded National Abortion Federation, Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois.

After the abortion, performed June 14, 1977 by Hope Medical Director Hector Zavalos, Barbaralee attended a post-abortion counseling session, during which she was pale and reporting lower abdominal cramping. She was kept for observation an additional two hours, but the CDC noted that Barbaralee's vital signs were last noted 45 minutes after the abortion. Barbaralee then reportedly told staff that she felt better and asked to be sent home, so they discharged her even though she was still showing, according to the CDC's investigators, symtoms "suggestive of internal hemorrhage." Barbaralee was not given a discharge examination before being sent home. Her sister helped her, pale and bleeding, to the car. Barbaralee slept in the back seat the whole way home, approximately a two-hour trip. Her sister helped her to bed.

When Barbaralee's sister checked on her several hours later, she was unresponsive. She was rushed to the Pickneyville hospital, where an emergency hysterectomy was attempted to save her life. Barbaralee died during the surgery, leaving one child motherless.

The autopsy found the face and spinal column of Barbaralee's baby embedded in a hole in her uterus. There were two quarts of blood in her abdomen. Barbaralee had bled to death.

The medical examiner noted: "A very large retroperitoneal hematoma is present with dissection of blood along right ureter. A 4 mc. tear is noted on the right anterior surface of the lower third of the uterus and a large amount of blood, estimated at 2000 ccs. is present in the pelvis. Two fetal parts, the face and thoracic spinal column, are embedded in a 700 cc. fresh hematoma inside the uterus."

Illinois law placed a 12-week limit on outpatient abortions. Zavalos told CDC investigators that he thought Barbaralee had been only 11 weeks pregnant even though her last normal menstrual period had been five months earlier. The clinic records examined by CDC staff said that the gross examination of the fetal tissue removed during the abortion was consistent with an 11-week pregnancy. However, the medical examiner drew a different conclusion, based on the tissue that had been left embedded in Barbaralee's uterus:

In an attempt to estimate the length of gestation in the absence of the whole fetus, the two parts, namely the face, less the crown, and the thoracic vertebral column without the rump, are laid end to end. Together they measure 9 cm. A conservative estimate of the crown to rump length would be 10 to 11 cm. This will place the gestational age at 16 to 16 1/2 weeks.

Hope Clinic for Women was not only permitted to remain in operation, it was allowed to remain a member in good standing of the National Abortion Federation.

Anniversary: Convicted abortionist takes own life

On June 14, 1948, Dr. Oswald Glassburg committed suicide in his jail cell, six hours after being convicted of performing the illegal abortion that killed 22-year-old Jane Ward. He ingested poison.

At 11 AM on October 17, 1947, Dr. Paul Singer, a gynecologist, had called police and reported that Jane, heir to the Drake's bakery fortune, had come to his office suffering from an incomplete abortion. He said that he had taken her to Park East Hospital, where Dr. Oswald Glasberg, a plastic surgeon, had helped him to complete the abortion.

Jane died on October 28, and the autopsy confirmed the cause of death as criminal abortion.

After the death, Singer and Glasberg were arrested and released on bail. The baby's father, Eduardo Schneidewind, a trade promotion executive for a South American government, was questioned as a material witness but was never indicted.

Dr. Alejandro Ovalle, an X-ray technician, was sentenced to one year after pleading guilty as an accessory, having profited from abortion referrals. Singer was convicted of manslaughter in Jane's death, and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. The judge, Francis L. Valente, said that Jane had been subjected to "surgical mayhem," and that Singer and Glassberg were "completely devoid of human feeling and decency."

Singer appealed his conviction, which was upheld.

Irreversible damage

What are some of the reasons Tiller was performing late term abortions, according to his own records? Women who wanted to attend concerts, continue to play sports, or participate in a rodeo.

God knows that if you miss a concert, you'll suffer irreversible harm!

See the video.

Illegal anniversary: Midwife implicated

On June 12, 1922, Mrs. Louise Huse, age 30, died at Chicago's Mid West Hospital from a criminal abortion performed there that day.

On June 16, midwife Agnes Tholl was arrested on the recommendation of the coroner.

Illegal anniversary: Doctor blamed, convicted

In June of 1902, Irene Wengel traveled to Tampa, Florida, where she was met by her cousin, J. Carl Christian. Christian had arranged for her to stay at the home of Dr. Frederick N. Weightnovel for an abortion. Christian visited Irene many times during her stay at Weightnovel‘s home. Two days after her arrival, Irene asked Christian to telegraph to Waycross for her trunk.

Testimony about days and dates is evidently jumbled. The abortion was reportedly performed June 6, which was a Friday. But Irene‘s cousin reported that he visited her on a Wednesday, about a week before her death, and she‘d told him that Weightnovel had performed the abortion the previous night, and that she‘d be ready to go home the following Tuesday. The only date we can perhaps rely upon is the date of Irene's death: June 12.

Dr. B. G. Abernathy was called in to attend to Irene after the abortion. Abernathy testified that Irene told him she‘d come to Weightnovel about two weeks earlier, that she did well the first day or two after the abortion, but that she became very sick and rapidly declined.

Abernathy diagnosed her Irene suffering from blood poisoning caused by retained placenta. Abernathy asked Weightnovel for a curette so that he could perform a D&C, and Weightnovel provided one. Abernathy also returned to his own house to get some other instruments. At some point Weightnovel asked Abernathy to send a telegram to Irene‘s parents.

State‘s witness Frank Middaugh testified that on the night Irene died, he‘d heard the cries of a girl calling, “&quo;Doctor, doctor,&quo; from Weightnovel‘s house. Middaugh also testified that he saw Weightnovel sitting in a lighted window, fanning himself.

An undertaker testified that he‘d been summoned to remove Irene‘s body, and was asked to do so quietly and discreetly to keep the news of Irene‘s death secret.

Officer Carter, who arrested Weightnovel, testified that when he made the arrest, Weightnovel picked up a bundle of women‘s clothing, which he rolled up and tried to toss under a table. Carter saw that the clothing was stained and took the clothing into evidence.

Weightnovel was convicted of manslaughter in Irene‘s death.

Music fans....

Yoko Ono didn't think it was a good time to have a baby. But she deferred to John Lennon. Should she abort this baby or let it live? John opted for life.

The child in question was Sean Lennon, about whom his famous father penned Beautiful Boy.

This revelation of how close Sean came to being snuffed before he even drew breath gives new, deeper meaning to the song's lyrics:

The monster's gone
He's on the run and I am here

and of course:

Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans

John and Yoko had other plans. They let life happen to them. And we all have Sean as a result.

HT: The S.I.C.L.E. Cell

Whatever is praiseworthy: Joy Davis

On this date in 1991, Joy Davis, a nurse at Tommy Tucker's Alabama abortion faclity, tried to dissuade her boss from performing an abortion on a high-risk patient named Angela Hall. When Tucker persisted and Angela suffered complications, Joy repeatedly attempted to get proper emergency care for Angela, despite Tucker's abuse.

We can't say nobody cared, because Joy did. She did everything in her power to save Angela. And when Tucker asked her to help in a cover-up, Joy refused and blew the whistle on him.

Kudos to Joy Davis.

Who, by the way, eventually left the abortion business and spoke out against abusive abortion practices.

Way to go, Joy!

Anniversary: One of two teens dies

On June 11, 1979, 19-year-old Angela Scott died of complications suffered from an abortion performed June 2 at National Abortion Federation member Atlanta Women's Pavillion. She was one of two teenage abortion patients to suffer fatal complications there in less than an hour.

It all began when Angela stopped breathing in the recovery room. A nurse-anesthetist was administering anesthesia to 14-year-old Delores Smith while Dr. Jacob Adams was performing her abortion. The nurse-anesthetist ran to assist in efforts to revive Angela, leaving Delores unattended with her anesthesia drip still running.

After staff had resuscitated Angela and loaded her into an ambulance, they returned their attention to Delores, who had gone into cardio-respiratory arrest. Adams had accompanied Angela to the Grady Memorial Hospital, and staff refused to release Dolores to an ambulance until the physician had returned to discharge her. This resulted in a 30-minute delay, during which the ambulance crew was unable to attend to Delores or begin transporting her.

Angela lingered for a week in a coma before dying on June 11. Delores never regained consciousness and eventually was admitted to a nursing home, where she died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on October 24, 1979, some time after her fifteenth birthday.

Whatever is excellent: Planned Parenthood

Prolifers have been bombarding the blogosphere with posts noting the evil that Planned Parenthood boasts about in its recently-released 2006 Annual Report.

However, in light of my recent commitment to Philippians 4:8 (Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.) I want to take a moment to point out what is admiralable, excellent, or praiseworthy.

PLEASE let me make this clear: I do not think that PP is a benevolent presence in our society. I need not go into this at length. I just don't want to be misunderstood. I don't want this taken as an endorsement of PP. It's just an act of obedience. Scriptures tell us to look at what is lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, etc. That would mean that we're to look on it wherever it's found. If we see God as the source of all that is good, that means that God can use even an organization as destructive as Planned Parenthood to work good, if we let him.

So, with that understood.

In 2005, Planned Parenthood put clinical resources into cancer screening and prevention, including pap smears, breast exams, colonoscopies, and cryotherapy procedures. I can't figure out how they caluclated what percent went into what sort of activity. Is this percent of appointments? Percent of fees collected? Percent of resources allocated? I have no idea.

Now, we can choose to simply dismiss this. After all, Ted Bundy met Ann Rule while they were saving lives on a suicide hotline, and he once rescued a toddler from drowining, right? Was that enough to redeem him?

Well, no. Only Jesus could redeem Ted Bundy. Just as only Jesus can redeem any of us.

But David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz repented and now has a prison ministry. Nobody is beyond God's reach. And I am open to the idea that this might include organizations as wells as individuals. God might choose to redeem Planned Parenthood rather than destroy it. And considering the massive infastructure they have in place, this could be an awesome thing.

Jonah 3:5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Let's not risk being like Jonah, so obsessed with seeing God destroy the wicked that we're incapable of rejoicing when they repent. If the people of Ninevah could get their heads out of their asses and get their act straight, surely Planned Parenthood is not beyond redemption.

A couple of times as I wrote this entry, I started to describe PP as "corrupt" except that to be corrupt, it would have to have started out with a benevolent purpose and turned awry. Whereas PP started out as Margaret Sanger's drive to treat people like stray animals that need to be kept from breeding. Which means, paradoxically enough, that the cancer screening and other benevolent services are actually a corruption, if you will, of PP's original purpose.

If you look at it from that perspective, it gives you one of those "Whoa!" moments. Goodness has been infiltrating an organization that was founded for evil purposes. Think of that a moment. Think of what that means.

And pray about what God wants you doing about PP. I know that posting this has been an eye-opener for me. Though I don't know yet what I'm gonna be doing about it.

New faith blog

Some of you may recall my recent post reflecting on Philippians 4:8.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I've been led into a new church, and thus into a Bible study based on the book of Daniel. The focus is on being like Daniel -- managing to be in Babylon and not be corrupted by it. And I've seen how I've been corrupted.

Part of my faith walk, as it plays out in my prolife work, will play out in this blog. But the other stuff will be in the new blog, Babylon Journal.

Those of you who are interested can follow the journey there, and keep me posted on your own spiritual journeys.

Thanks again for being there. All of you.

Like mother, like daughter.

Abortion: Meet the mother and daughter who have both had terminations

The older woman was browbeaten into the abortion by her mother. The younger woman felt she had no choice due to her circumstances. Neither of them seemed to consider the experence particularly liberating and/or empowering:

"It felt as if I was being carried along by everyone around me and was going along with what I was told to do."

"It was a horrible decision to make, but I felt there was no other option."

"You have to force yourself to move on."

"My baby hadn't been just a clump of cells, but a human being."

"Because I knew how difficult my mother had found her termination, I was determined to have mine before there was a chance I'd bond with the unborn child."

"It was a difficult choice and it's certainly one I wish I hadn't had to make."

Is this the best we can do? Leave women with a choice they don't want to make?

If somebody doesn't want to do something, but feels trapped into it, is faciliting that unwanted option really helping them? Or just making the "helper" feel like they've accomplished something?

HT: JJ, via Birth Story.

Whatever is excellent: Charlotte Taft

As much as I disagree with her decision to facilitate abortion, I have to admire the attacks Charlotte Taft is willing to undergo to do what she sees as best for women. She gets attacks from both enemies and allies, but still follows what she thinks is right.

Let's pray that she comes to see that she needs to go further in her efforts to give women what they really need, not what they may, in a moment of panic and stress, think they need.

Anniversary: Safe, legal, and one of a dozen

The survivors of 32-year-old Joyce Ortenzio filed suit against Edward Allred, his Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA), the San Vicente Hospital FPA facility, and abortionist Ruben Marmet. Joyce went to San Vicente for laminaria insertion by Marmet on June 7, 1988. Later, Marmet performed an abortion, but did not remove all of the fetal parts from Joyce's uterus.

The next day, June 8, Joyce was found dead in her home.

The cause of death was an overdose of the drug amitriptyline, infection from fetal parts that were not removed during the abortion and septic shock.

Joyce left three children motherless.

Joyce is one of many women to die at this National Abortion Federaton facility. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:

*Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
*Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
*Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
*Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
*Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
*Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
*Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
*Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
*Christine Mora, age 18, 1994
*Kimberly Neil, 2000
*Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004

I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.

Whatever is excellent...

I had promised to make a point of blogging every day something positive about a prochoice person or organization or about an abortion practitioner or facility.

Today's praiseworthy abortionist is Warren Hern.

Without pretending I approve of what he does as his main life's work, I do have to admit that I am very impressed with his volunteer work with the Shibibo Indians in Peru.

Hern travels to their remote village, at his own expense, and provides them with free medical care. He even learned to speak their language. When I think of how much I'm struggling to try to learn Korean, I find this particularly spectacular, since I doubt that he could just go down to the Boulder Community College and take a course in whatever language they speak.

So kudos to Warnie for his volunteer work in Peru.

I pray for the day that he will be doing this sort of thing full-time.

Anniversary: Death in Baton Rouge

A chronic ashtma patient, 27-year-old Sheila Hebert went to Delta Women's Clinic in Baton Rouge for an abortion on June 6, 1984. Shortly after the abortion, Sheila complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing. She lost consciousness, and staff injected her with adrenaline, but were unable to revive her. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died.

The coroner attributed the death to "cardiorespiratory arrest due to acute ashtmatic bronchitis" after "surgical termination of pregnancy.

A suit filed anonymously against Richardson Glidden and Delta Women's Clinic raised these issues in the death of a patient in 1984. The suit and news article therefore probably describe the same case.

Delta is the same facility where Ingar Weber underwent her fatal abortion.

Anniversary: Does anybody have more information?

Nicey Washington was 26 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion at Ambulatory Surgery Center in Brooklyn, New York, on June 6, 2000. Her heart stopped after the abortion. She was rushed to Lutheran Hospital at about 11 a.m. Attempts to revive her failed, and she was declared dead at around noon.

As of the time of the last article I could find on Nicey's death, the Medical Examiner's office hadn't determined the exact cause of death, but suspected a botched abortion. The state health department would not provide information due to confidentiality concerns, but added, "We are actively investigating this particular case."

Does anybody have more information?

The God Fuse

Ten Things Christians and Atheists Can -- and Must -- Agree On

I think we've got more common ground than we admit. For instance, both my atheist and Christian friends (I seem to have an equal number of both these days) tell me they agree with the following statement:

Celebrating the death of somebody you disagreed with pretty much makes you a dick.

He then lists the following points:

1. You Can Do Terrible Things in the Name of Either One
2. Both Sides Really Do Believe What They're Saying
3. In Everyday Life, You're Not That Different
4. There Are Good People on Both Sides
5. Your Point of View is Legitimately Offensive to Them
6. We Tend to Exaggerate About the Other Guy
7. We Tend to Exaggerate About Ourselves, Too
8. Focusing on Negative Examples Makes You Stupid
9. Both Sides Have Brought Good to the Table
10. You'll Never Harass the Other Side Out of Existence

Effects of the PBA ban

While it is true that banning The Procedure Formerly Known as Prince won't directly prevent any particular abortonist from slaying any particular fetus, indirectly the ban has triggered something that nothing else would: Discussion of exactly what abortion does to fetuses. About whether this is a nice, decent, acceptable thing for us to be doing to them

And that can only be good.

It's easy to pretend abortion is only about removing a blob of tissue when speaking remotely of "choice". It's another thing to pretend all abortion does is remove a blob of tissue in the face of graphic questions like, "Will I have broken the ban if while I'm trying to pull a leg off, the whole fetus comes out?"

We need abortionists shouting these questions from the rooftops!

See Aborting The Monster of Abortion One Limb at a Time

Urgent prayer need

I just got word from home that my sister-in-law's mom is in the hospital with a crisis with her diabetes. I won't go into detail but it's very stressful for the family, especially my poor SIL, and Phyllis (her mom) is not out of the woods yet. It's very bad.

Please pass it on!

Leaving an important part of the job undone

A discussion with Jacque from Texas has brought something to my attention I need to be a leader in repenting of.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Yes, part of my job is exposing the works of darkness. People do need to be warned of danger. They do need to know that caveat emptor applies in spades when they're dealing with abortion. They do need to know about the dreadful things that have befallen women, that can befall themselves and/or their loved ones. Yes, absolutely.

But --

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

I have not been doing this. (Oh, okay, once in a while I make a dulsatory effort. But you know what I mean!)

The pastor at my new church (He's a gem!) has said often, "The church needs to lead in repentance." He's preached several times about accountability. SO! Y'all are my source of accountability in this blog. Y'all, believers and unbelievers and muddled not-sure-what-I-believers alike. When I'm missing something true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, please remind me.

In a discussion just this past Sunday with Pastor Dave, he was talking about how he has discernment, and can see what's wrong, and that he needs to see that he doesn't go overboard into becoming a critical nitpicker. (I don't think he is! He's been a blessing to me in spades!) But his words are echoing in my head now.

So let's start with the National Abortion Federation.

(Ouch!)

I'm not going to pretend that the NAF logo on a clinic door makes them trustworthy. But then, a cross around somebody's neck doesn't make them trustworthy, does it?

Test everything. Hold on to the good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

NAF does put information in abortionists' hands to make it possible to improve their care of women's physicial well-being. And within their own walls, they do chastise each other for quackery and irresponsibility, and try to improve the care that women get in member facilities. There are folks in NAF that really do try. Michael Burnhill (may he rest in peace) must have felt like he was banging his head against a brick wall, but he kept at it. Warren Hern (Pray for him daily, believers!) is still at it, trying to get his fellows to take responsibility for the decisions they make that put women's health and lives at risk. Whatever he does that's deceptive and wrong outside NAF, when he's inside their walls he's doing everything he can to see to it that women who walk into abortion clinics come out without physical injury. He seems oblivious to the idea that their spirits or psyches can be harmed -- but he cares about them. Doesn't it make more sense to start with the genuine caring, the goodness and decency that's already there -- and want to see God build on that?

I'm going to try to make a concerted effort to blog something good about prochoicers and abortionists every day, to find in them things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy.

And can't you just see the shitstorm I'm inviting from the other prolifers? (Time to duck and cover!) Please, guys, stand with me in this!

Thank you for being here. I mean that. Acrhomic, L, Tlaloc, and the other prochoicers who stick around month in and month out. (Sorry I'm forgetting handles, but I never did have the knack of remembering names and that goes double for the internet, when I don't have faces to put to them.) We may disagree violently about abortion, but there's something (I'd say SomeOne) pulling us together and I really am glad you're on this journey with me.

More hope for the seriously brain-injured

Sleeping pill allows immoble and mute woman to speak and move

NEVER GIVE UP!

Ambulance-chasing

Woman Goes to Hospital in Washington State After Botched Abortion

1. Let's not jump the gun. For all we know the woman in question was a diabetic who was so frazzled by her pregnancy and the attendant stress that she forgot to take her insulin. Or some other medical problem totally unrelated to PP and/or anything they did or failed to do.

2. A medical facility calling an ambulance to transfer a patient is a responsible thing. I'm an EMT. We got frequent calls to take patients from outpatient facilities to the hospital. It's often just a precautionary measure. It could well be that during the pre-abortion exam (if the woman was indeed there for an abortion in the first place) the doctor discovered that something was amiss and very sensibly and appropriately braved bad publicity to call an ambulance.

3. Ambulance chasing is in poor taste. It doesn't matter if you're a lawyer hoping for a client or an activist hoping for a sordid story. This woman, regardless of her situation, is entitled to her privacy and she doesn't need vultures circling. Yeah, show up and see if she needs help. Prolifers have stepped forward to pay medical bills, to care for children while mom was hospitalized, to bring groceries to a woman who ended up a multiple amputee, to help with funeral expenses. This is appropriate. But "We want to pry and use your situaation for political fodder" is at the very least tacky and thoughtless.