Sunday, December 07, 2008

Abortion deaths in 1980

The Centers for Disease Control deigned to count the following abortion deaths in their most recent Abortion Surveillance Summary, for 2004:



Today I'll look at deaths in 1989. The CDC counts 12 -- 8 legal, 1 illegal, and 2 unknown.

I know of 7:

  • Gwendolyn Cliett reacted to the anesthesia and died on the table before the abortion could even be performed.

  • Betty Damato was deliberately subjected to an incomplete abortion, and given a trash bag to put the rest of the fetus in as it was expelled.

  • Georgianna "Jeannie" English was one of two patients to die from safe, legal abortions at the hands of erstwhile criminal abortionist Milan Vuitch.

  • Marie Gibson died from getting amniotic fluid in her bloodstream during the abortion.

  • Linda Lovelace developed sepsis from a perforated uterus.

  • Vanessa Preston had the dubious distinction of being the first identified death from disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) brought on by a second-trimester dismemberment abortion.

  • Shirley Williams died of infection and hemorrhage.

    So the CDC knows of at least four abortion deaths I'm unaware of -- possibly more if I have noted the deaths of women who, like Latachie Veal, they simply failed to count.



    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



    For more abortion deaths broken down by year, see this post.

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  • 2 comments:

    Kathy said...

    Correction -- I think you meant to say that Betty was deliberately subjected to an *incomplete* abortion.

    Christina Dunigan said...

    Fixed. Thanx.