The intention of the fundraiser, devised by the school's Student Representative Council, had been for students to come in with a bandaged arm or leg, he explained.
INJURED people wear a bandage on an arm or leg.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Aussie school holds "Dress Like a Disabled Person Day"
This is without a doubt one of the stupidest "disability awareness" ideas ever. If the people behind it actually HAD any "disability awareness", they'd be aware that people with disabilities dress just like anybody else.
INJURED people wear a bandage on an arm or leg.
INJURED people wear a bandage on an arm or leg.
Inside the Abortion Mill: Video for those with strong stomachs
WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC VIDEO, VERY GRAPHIC LINK
What happens inside an abortion mill? This video was evidently intended to generate great sympathy for the women and for the abortion staff but it shows something that you'd never expect to see from such a video -- the aborted baby. You can clearly see a hand, an arm, a leg and foot, and the baby's mangled face. The doctor holds the foot against a measure to verify gestational age. Often the final cost of the abortion is based on the size of the baby's foot.
So look at the results of an abortion. What is worth buying at this cost?
And listen to the women. These women ended up on the abortion table because they made very bad choices about sex. And then what? An abortion to return them to the same dismal, unsatisfying, dead-end relationships? Where's the great victory in that? What is there to celebrate in any of this?
What you see in this video is what people are marching to CELEBRATE when there is a "prochoice" rally. Miserable, demoralized women having their babies pulled out in bloody pieces. Ain't choice great?
And for those of you who say, "Well, that particular fetus was a 20-weeker! Most abortions are done earlier!" I have two things to say:
1. Notice that the woman's reason for ending up on an abortion table at 20 weeks is "the age that I am and the things that I still need to do". Not grave health problems. Not a baby that's got severe health problems. Just the same reasons women give for having those nice, palatable 8-week abortions.
2. Go check out these pictures of embryos and fetuses of the more palatable, "It's just a blob of tissue" stage of pregnancy. Is shredding them when they're smaller really less nasty?
What happens inside an abortion mill? This video was evidently intended to generate great sympathy for the women and for the abortion staff but it shows something that you'd never expect to see from such a video -- the aborted baby. You can clearly see a hand, an arm, a leg and foot, and the baby's mangled face. The doctor holds the foot against a measure to verify gestational age. Often the final cost of the abortion is based on the size of the baby's foot.
So look at the results of an abortion. What is worth buying at this cost?
And listen to the women. These women ended up on the abortion table because they made very bad choices about sex. And then what? An abortion to return them to the same dismal, unsatisfying, dead-end relationships? Where's the great victory in that? What is there to celebrate in any of this?
What you see in this video is what people are marching to CELEBRATE when there is a "prochoice" rally. Miserable, demoralized women having their babies pulled out in bloody pieces. Ain't choice great?
And for those of you who say, "Well, that particular fetus was a 20-weeker! Most abortions are done earlier!" I have two things to say:
1. Notice that the woman's reason for ending up on an abortion table at 20 weeks is "the age that I am and the things that I still need to do". Not grave health problems. Not a baby that's got severe health problems. Just the same reasons women give for having those nice, palatable 8-week abortions.
2. Go check out these pictures of embryos and fetuses of the more palatable, "It's just a blob of tissue" stage of pregnancy. Is shredding them when they're smaller really less nasty?
1917: One of three known abortion deaths for Chicago physician
On April 30, 1917, Mrs. Ruth Lemaire, age 24, died at West Side Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. In her deathbed statement she implicated Dr. Lillian Hobbs. However, the coroner's jury did not place blame on Hobbs, and the case came to naught.
Hobbs was also convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.
These fatal abortions were typical of pre-legalization abortions in that they were performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Hobbs was also convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.
These fatal abortions were typical of pre-legalization abortions in that they were performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1923: Back alley death in Chicago
On April 30, 1923, 29-year-old Emma Herod died in her home from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Emma J. Warren was arrested for the death. On July 15, Warren was indicted for felony murder in Emma Herod's death.
Emma's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Emma's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
1990: Home abortion proves fatal for California systems analyst
In Chapter 4 of Lime 5, Mona ghost-wrote of the death of a 32-year-old California woman I'll call "Daisy."
We learned of Daisy's death by ordering a database run of all deaths in California that met the ICD codes for abortion. We then ordered death certificates and, where possible, autopsy reports.
Daisy was not a poor, ignorant woman. To the contrary, she was a systems analyst for a defense contractor. Daisy knew that abortion was legal and readily available. She had an appointment to abort her second-trimester pregnancy scheduled for April 30, 1990, at a local abortion clinic.
But for some reason, Daisy didn't wait for her appointment. On April 28, she allowed her boyfriend to insert a plastic tube into her uterus in a home-abortion attempt. Daisy died of complications of that abortion.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
We learned of Daisy's death by ordering a database run of all deaths in California that met the ICD codes for abortion. We then ordered death certificates and, where possible, autopsy reports.
Daisy was not a poor, ignorant woman. To the contrary, she was a systems analyst for a defense contractor. Daisy knew that abortion was legal and readily available. She had an appointment to abort her second-trimester pregnancy scheduled for April 30, 1990, at a local abortion clinic.
But for some reason, Daisy didn't wait for her appointment. On April 28, she allowed her boyfriend to insert a plastic tube into her uterus in a home-abortion attempt. Daisy died of complications of that abortion.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1973: Death after abortion by civil-rights pioneer
Survivors of Julia L. Rogers, age 20, alleged that she underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by erstwhile civil rights pioneer Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard at Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on April 21, 1973.
Julia's death certificate states that her death April 28 at Tabernacle Hospital was due to "bronchopneumonia and generalized peritonitis complicating extensive necrotizing endometritis and myometritis with sealed perforation."
In other words, she developed pnuemonia on top of peritonitis. A hole had been poked in her uterus, causing an infection that made the muscle tissue of her uterus start to rot inside her.
Evelyn Dudley and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Julia's death certificate states that her death April 28 at Tabernacle Hospital was due to "bronchopneumonia and generalized peritonitis complicating extensive necrotizing endometritis and myometritis with sealed perforation."
In other words, she developed pnuemonia on top of peritonitis. A hole had been poked in her uterus, causing an infection that made the muscle tissue of her uterus start to rot inside her.
Evelyn Dudley and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Monday, April 27, 2009
1990: Mother bleeds to death in front of children
On April 27, 1990, 23-year-old Sandra Milton underwent an abortion, performed by Dr. Carl Armstrong at Toledo Medical Services in Ohio. (Armstrong is John Roe 67 in Lime 5.)
Sandra's abortion was performed at 10 a.m., and she was discharged shortly thereafter for the 90-minute drive home.
The babysitter stayed with Sandra and her three children for three hours as the young mother slipped in and out of consciousness and suffered pain and abdominal swelling. Twice the alarmed babysitter called the clinic, but was told that the symptoms were normal. The third time the babysitter called the clinic, she got no response at all, and summoned an ambulance.
Sandra was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Sandra's abortion was performed at 10 a.m., and she was discharged shortly thereafter for the 90-minute drive home.
The babysitter stayed with Sandra and her three children for three hours as the young mother slipped in and out of consciousness and suffered pain and abdominal swelling. Twice the alarmed babysitter called the clinic, but was told that the symptoms were normal. The third time the babysitter called the clinic, she got no response at all, and summoned an ambulance.
Sandra was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
An abortion death in 1871
Dr. Charles P. Wood admitted that Elvira Woodward had come to his house in Manchester, new Hampshire, on April 1 and remained there until her death. He said that she'd expelled a dead fetus on April 3, and that she suffered from puerperal fever. Elvira took ill, languishing and finally dying on April 27, 1871, at about 2:30 PM, at Wood's house.
Dr. Wood said that on the morning of the 27th, Elvira had told him that she had a sense of impending death. A Daniel K. White testified on Wood's behalf, saying, "I knew Elvira Woodward; saw her at Dr. Wood's house the morning of the day she died; found very large gash in her throat; Dr. Wood stepped to the bed and removed a towel from her throat. I saw Dr. Ferguson there; Dr. Wood went for him about ten minutes after I got there; she looked pale, quite so; apparently recognized me by a nod of the head; I observed nothing else, except that her throat was cut, and there was a good deal of blood upon her bed-clothes; she said she did not expect to live till noon; that she was sorry she didn't do the deed at once, and go where her mother was; that she would be glad to die; that she didn't expect to live till noon, and probably shouldn't."
White said that only he was present when Elvira made that statement, because Dr. Wood had gone to fetch Dr. Ferguson.
Elvira's sister, Florence Woodward, testified in a deposition that she'd seen Elvira at Dr. Wood's house twice on the day she died. She made the first visit at around 10 or 11 in the morning. Dr. Wood and his wife were there, and a Mrs. Eaton had accompanied Florence. They stayed with Elvira about an hour, but Elvira didn't speak to them, but seemed to recognize her visitors. A man who Florence believed to be Dr. Ferguson passed through Elvira's room briefly.
Florence visited her sister again between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, at which time her Elvira was unconscious and clearly dying. Florence said that she'd never seen Elvira at Dr. Wood's house before that day. Florence also indicated that it wasn't until after Elvira's death that she knew her sister died from any cause other than fever.
Dr. Ferguson was called in Dr. Wood's defense. He testified that Dr. Wood had summoned him and he found Elvira looking "very pale, worn, emaciated, and desponding." He removed a cloth from her throat and found it wounded. "I asked her why she had attempted to hasten death by suicide. Told her that her condition was so low already that a few hours would extinguish life. I said to others in her presence and hearing that she would possibly die in the morning, or in the early part of the afternoon. She said she did not much care; that she had no desire to live."
On cross-examination, Dr. Ferguson said that the cut on Elvira's throat was superficial. Nevertheless, he didn't expect her to survive the day. He sutured Elvira's throat at Dr. Wood's request. He aslo noted that Elvira was frequently vomiting.
One of Dr. Wood's defense witnesses said that on the morning of her death, Elvira said that she'd been operated on previously by a Dr. McCooms for an abortion. Dr. McCooms had operated on her three times at a place in Manchester and once at Suncook. She also reportedly told the witness that Dr. McCoombs had prescribed oil of savin for her, which she ingested. She said that she'd expelled a fetus on April 3.
Mrs. Merrill, Elvira's landlady, testified that she'd accompanied Elvira to Dr. McCoomb's rooms at the Manchester House on February 8. Elvira spent about an hour with Dr. McCoomb in an inner room. Mrs. Merrill said that she herself only briefly been in the inner room herself, at which time she saw Dr. McCoomb performing an abortion on Elvira.
A man named Joseph Ferrin testified that he'd lent Elvira a shawl on March 29. She told him that she was going to Lowell. When she returned the shawl, Ferrin testfied, she said that she'd gone to have an operation performed.
Dr. Ferguson testified that all he knew of oil of savin is what he'd elarned from reading, and that it was supposed to be capable of causing abortion. He thought that oil of savin might be responsible for Elvira's condition when he saw her.
Dr. Webb of Boston testified that at the request of an attorny, he'd examined Elvira on March 20, 1871. He said her uterus was enlarged and he could feel movement in the womb and he heard a fetal heartbeat. He estimated that she was four or five months pregnant.
Dr. Buck testified that he performed a post-mortem examination of Elvira's body at North Troy, Vermont, on May 2. He said that there was no fetus, but that there was evidence that she'd been "delivered by artificial means." Dr. Buck said that he saw no signs that Elvira's kidneys or stomach had been damaged by any kind of poison, and that any drug that would cause an abortion that far advanced into a pregnancy would also damage the mother's organs. A Dr. Gilman Kimball concurred in his testimony.
A Mr. Ober testified that he'd heard reports prior to the trial that Dr. Wood had once had an office or lying-in hospital in Hollis, and that it was reported that Dr. Wood performed abortions there.
Dr. Wood was convicted of performing the fatal abortion on Elvira. It is unclear how the prosecutor or the jury identified him, from among all the doctors who had attended Elvira, as the guilty party. Still, Elvira's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Dr. Wood said that on the morning of the 27th, Elvira had told him that she had a sense of impending death. A Daniel K. White testified on Wood's behalf, saying, "I knew Elvira Woodward; saw her at Dr. Wood's house the morning of the day she died; found very large gash in her throat; Dr. Wood stepped to the bed and removed a towel from her throat. I saw Dr. Ferguson there; Dr. Wood went for him about ten minutes after I got there; she looked pale, quite so; apparently recognized me by a nod of the head; I observed nothing else, except that her throat was cut, and there was a good deal of blood upon her bed-clothes; she said she did not expect to live till noon; that she was sorry she didn't do the deed at once, and go where her mother was; that she would be glad to die; that she didn't expect to live till noon, and probably shouldn't."
White said that only he was present when Elvira made that statement, because Dr. Wood had gone to fetch Dr. Ferguson.
Elvira's sister, Florence Woodward, testified in a deposition that she'd seen Elvira at Dr. Wood's house twice on the day she died. She made the first visit at around 10 or 11 in the morning. Dr. Wood and his wife were there, and a Mrs. Eaton had accompanied Florence. They stayed with Elvira about an hour, but Elvira didn't speak to them, but seemed to recognize her visitors. A man who Florence believed to be Dr. Ferguson passed through Elvira's room briefly.
Florence visited her sister again between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, at which time her Elvira was unconscious and clearly dying. Florence said that she'd never seen Elvira at Dr. Wood's house before that day. Florence also indicated that it wasn't until after Elvira's death that she knew her sister died from any cause other than fever.
Dr. Ferguson was called in Dr. Wood's defense. He testified that Dr. Wood had summoned him and he found Elvira looking "very pale, worn, emaciated, and desponding." He removed a cloth from her throat and found it wounded. "I asked her why she had attempted to hasten death by suicide. Told her that her condition was so low already that a few hours would extinguish life. I said to others in her presence and hearing that she would possibly die in the morning, or in the early part of the afternoon. She said she did not much care; that she had no desire to live."
On cross-examination, Dr. Ferguson said that the cut on Elvira's throat was superficial. Nevertheless, he didn't expect her to survive the day. He sutured Elvira's throat at Dr. Wood's request. He aslo noted that Elvira was frequently vomiting.
One of Dr. Wood's defense witnesses said that on the morning of her death, Elvira said that she'd been operated on previously by a Dr. McCooms for an abortion. Dr. McCooms had operated on her three times at a place in Manchester and once at Suncook. She also reportedly told the witness that Dr. McCoombs had prescribed oil of savin for her, which she ingested. She said that she'd expelled a fetus on April 3.
Mrs. Merrill, Elvira's landlady, testified that she'd accompanied Elvira to Dr. McCoomb's rooms at the Manchester House on February 8. Elvira spent about an hour with Dr. McCoomb in an inner room. Mrs. Merrill said that she herself only briefly been in the inner room herself, at which time she saw Dr. McCoomb performing an abortion on Elvira.
A man named Joseph Ferrin testified that he'd lent Elvira a shawl on March 29. She told him that she was going to Lowell. When she returned the shawl, Ferrin testfied, she said that she'd gone to have an operation performed.
Dr. Ferguson testified that all he knew of oil of savin is what he'd elarned from reading, and that it was supposed to be capable of causing abortion. He thought that oil of savin might be responsible for Elvira's condition when he saw her.
Dr. Webb of Boston testified that at the request of an attorny, he'd examined Elvira on March 20, 1871. He said her uterus was enlarged and he could feel movement in the womb and he heard a fetal heartbeat. He estimated that she was four or five months pregnant.
Dr. Buck testified that he performed a post-mortem examination of Elvira's body at North Troy, Vermont, on May 2. He said that there was no fetus, but that there was evidence that she'd been "delivered by artificial means." Dr. Buck said that he saw no signs that Elvira's kidneys or stomach had been damaged by any kind of poison, and that any drug that would cause an abortion that far advanced into a pregnancy would also damage the mother's organs. A Dr. Gilman Kimball concurred in his testimony.
A Mr. Ober testified that he'd heard reports prior to the trial that Dr. Wood had once had an office or lying-in hospital in Hollis, and that it was reported that Dr. Wood performed abortions there.
Dr. Wood was convicted of performing the fatal abortion on Elvira. It is unclear how the prosecutor or the jury identified him, from among all the doctors who had attended Elvira, as the guilty party. Still, Elvira's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
1908: Fatal abortion in Chicago
On April 26, 1908, 32-year-old Mrs. Cora Johnson died in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Dietrich, whose profession was only given as "abortion provider", was arrested, but acquitted for reasons not given in the source document.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1914: Chicago doc performs fatal abortion
On April 26, 1914, eighteen-year-old Florence S. Lindquist died in a Chicago home where an abortion had been performed on her. Dr. Arthur Schulz, who lived at the home in question, was arrested for her death.
Florence's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Florence's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1926: Criminal abortion death
On April 26, 1926, Mrs. Fern Strecker, age 26, died at West Suburban Hospital from an abortion performed that day. The coroner fingered Elizabeth Schade, who was operating an illegal abortion business at a Chicago location. Aside from her abortion work, Schade's profession is not given.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
1997: Third victim of NAF member Robert Crist
Twenty-two-year-old Nicole Williams was the third patient known to have died of safe and legal abortion complications under the dubious care of Dr. Robert Crist. The others were Latachie Veal and Diane Boyd.
Nichole submitted to a first-trimester abortion at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 25, 1997.
Reproductive Health Services, a National Abortion Federation member facility, is operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. Crist serves as medical director.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Nichole submitted to a first-trimester abortion at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 25, 1997.
Reproductive Health Services, a National Abortion Federation member facility, is operated by Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. Crist serves as medical director.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1932: Fatal abortion reveals secret marriage
Dr. Richard E. Thacker, an osteopath, maintained an office and operating rooms in the Terminal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Thacker testified that he met Frank Lee, a University of Oklahoma football player, some time about noon Saturday, April 23, 1932. Frank, Thacker said, reported that his wife, Nancy Joe, had chronic appendicitis, and had had it for a long time; he brought his wife to the office about 2 o'clock that afternoon.
Frank and Nancy were keeping the marriage secret, which might have been at least part of why they sought an abortion.
But 17-year-old Nancy was taken to Oklahoma City General Hospital, near death. Before dying, Nancy said that Thacker had performed an abortion on her.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Thacker testified that he met Frank Lee, a University of Oklahoma football player, some time about noon Saturday, April 23, 1932. Frank, Thacker said, reported that his wife, Nancy Joe, had chronic appendicitis, and had had it for a long time; he brought his wife to the office about 2 o'clock that afternoon.
Frank and Nancy were keeping the marriage secret, which might have been at least part of why they sought an abortion.
I treated her by putting a sedative into the vagina and had her take a laxative; I directed him to take her some place for observation, a hospital or a nurse; the purpose of this suppository or sedative tampon was intended to relieve the pain, and I followed it up with gauze, as it was literally necessary for something to retain it in the vagina; I did not examine her uterus; I never saw her after that time; I gave him the number of a place he could take her where the expense would be reasonable. I did not perform an abortion on Mrs. Lee.
But 17-year-old Nancy was taken to Oklahoma City General Hospital, near death. Before dying, Nancy said that Thacker had performed an abortion on her.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1902: Renege on marriage, fatal abortion
In January of 1902, Abraham Conheim promised marriage to 19-year-old Harriet Larocque. According to her father, Harriet was "previously chaste and of good reputation." With the promise of marriage, Harriet became sexually involved with Conheim.
In April of 1902, Harriet discovered that she was pregnant. Conheim reneged on his promise of marriage, and instead arranged a criminal abortion for her.
Harriet took ill after the abortion, dying on April 25.
Harriet's father sued Conheim for seducing and debauching his daughter, impregnanting her, and causing her death.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
In April of 1902, Harriet discovered that she was pregnant. Conheim reneged on his promise of marriage, and instead arranged a criminal abortion for her.
Harriet took ill after the abortion, dying on April 25.
Harriet's father sued Conheim for seducing and debauching his daughter, impregnanting her, and causing her death.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1899: Fatal abortion in Chicago
On April 25, 1899, Sarah Messinger died in St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed by Marie Kampfer. Sarah died at the crime scene on the day the abortion was performed. Kampfer was held for $5,000 bond by Coroner's Jury. Kampfer's profession is not listed.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Prayer warfare: Baby Faith
Clearly God is doing something amazing through this little girl with anencephaly, because Satan is pulling no punches.
Faith's mother, Myah, has had to close down her email and her FaceBook account because trolls from reddit.com have attacked her viciously.
More on the issue of exactly who the enemy is, here.
Join me in prayer:
Heavenly Father, we stand in awe that so many wonders pour forth from your hand that we take them for granted. That two haploid cells should join and result in a new human being, made in your image, to love and to be loved, is a marvel too great to comprehend. Yet it is commonplace and everyday.
We confess that we fail to see the marvels of your handiwork as we ought. We lose sight of the wonders that surround us daily. We lose sight of the loving touch of your hand in everything around us.
Lord, we thank you for Myah and Faith. We thank you for the love you have made manifest in them. We thank you that we have learned of them, that we have been blessed by them. We thank you for the joy and peace and love that shines forth from them into our lives.
We ask protection for Myah and Faith from the attacks of the Father of Lies. We ask that you make your presence known to Myah in a very real way, that she will so bask in the radiance of your love that the attacks of the evil one can not reach her heart. We ask that you allow her to feel only the love and gratitude of those of us you have blessed with open eyes to see the wonder and joy you make manifest in them.
We ask that you re-open the doors of communication between us and Myah, that we may share fellowship with her, uplift her, and be uplifted by her.
We ask that you show us how to pray for those who are walking in such darkness that they can not see your hand at work in Myah and Faith. We ask that you give each of them an awakening, as you awakened each of us. We ask that the blessing you have given us -- of the ability to see your love and joy and blessing in Myah and Faith and in our own lives -- be bestowed upon them as well. Just as each of us has had that moment when we grasped, in our own feeble way, the reality of you and your love and the love of your Son, we beg of you that each person who has attacked or criticized Myah will have that moment as well, that they will be open to you, that they will become your instruments of peace and love and joy.
We ask, Father God, that the spirits that are at work in their lives be bound and frustrated, unable to use them to spread lies and hatred. We ask that your blessed Son cast out those spirits, in his holy Name, and send them to a place where they have no power to hurt or torment Myah, Faith, or anybody else.
We ask that the trolls repent, confess, and begin to walk in the light of your perfect love.
In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Faith's mother, Myah, has had to close down her email and her FaceBook account because trolls from reddit.com have attacked her viciously.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 NAS
More on the issue of exactly who the enemy is, here.
Join me in prayer:
Heavenly Father, we stand in awe that so many wonders pour forth from your hand that we take them for granted. That two haploid cells should join and result in a new human being, made in your image, to love and to be loved, is a marvel too great to comprehend. Yet it is commonplace and everyday.
We confess that we fail to see the marvels of your handiwork as we ought. We lose sight of the wonders that surround us daily. We lose sight of the loving touch of your hand in everything around us.
Lord, we thank you for Myah and Faith. We thank you for the love you have made manifest in them. We thank you that we have learned of them, that we have been blessed by them. We thank you for the joy and peace and love that shines forth from them into our lives.
We ask protection for Myah and Faith from the attacks of the Father of Lies. We ask that you make your presence known to Myah in a very real way, that she will so bask in the radiance of your love that the attacks of the evil one can not reach her heart. We ask that you allow her to feel only the love and gratitude of those of us you have blessed with open eyes to see the wonder and joy you make manifest in them.
We ask that you re-open the doors of communication between us and Myah, that we may share fellowship with her, uplift her, and be uplifted by her.
We ask that you show us how to pray for those who are walking in such darkness that they can not see your hand at work in Myah and Faith. We ask that you give each of them an awakening, as you awakened each of us. We ask that the blessing you have given us -- of the ability to see your love and joy and blessing in Myah and Faith and in our own lives -- be bestowed upon them as well. Just as each of us has had that moment when we grasped, in our own feeble way, the reality of you and your love and the love of your Son, we beg of you that each person who has attacked or criticized Myah will have that moment as well, that they will be open to you, that they will become your instruments of peace and love and joy.
We ask, Father God, that the spirits that are at work in their lives be bound and frustrated, unable to use them to spread lies and hatred. We ask that your blessed Son cast out those spirits, in his holy Name, and send them to a place where they have no power to hurt or torment Myah, Faith, or anybody else.
We ask that the trolls repent, confess, and begin to walk in the light of your perfect love.
In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Friday, April 24, 2009
1939: Abortion by Oklahoma midwife proves fatal
On April 24, 1937, Miss Merl Williams of Watonga, Oklahoma, died of peritonitis. She was 21 years old. Her death was attributed to a botched abortion.
A midwife, Mrs. Cordelia Moore, was charged with abortion murder. An investigation found evidence that Moore had performed hundreds of abortions. W. C. Mouse, a railroad engineer, testified that he had taken Merl to Moore's home on April 11, not knowing the reason for the visit. He had heard Merl ask Moore, "Will it be dangerous?"
After her arrest, Moore "unworriedly set her glasses on the end of her nose and continued her quilting in the county jail." She was tried for the crime; her husband, John, was arrested but released.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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A midwife, Mrs. Cordelia Moore, was charged with abortion murder. An investigation found evidence that Moore had performed hundreds of abortions. W. C. Mouse, a railroad engineer, testified that he had taken Merl to Moore's home on April 11, not knowing the reason for the visit. He had heard Merl ask Moore, "Will it be dangerous?"
After her arrest, Moore "unworriedly set her glasses on the end of her nose and continued her quilting in the county jail." She was tried for the crime; her husband, John, was arrested but released.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Two of a string of victims of criminal abortion deaths
Dr. Richard E. Thacker maintained an office and operating rooms in the Terminal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His trial for the abortion death of Ruth Hall brough out testimony concerning the deaths of other patients, including Robbie Lou Thompson, Nancy Lee, and Lennis May Roach, who died April 24, 1932.
Mrs. Roach had come to Thacker's office several times, he admitted. Thacker said that Mrs. Roach was in poor health and emaciated, and had a white discharge, indicative of infection, from her vagina. She also, Thacker said, had pains in her abdomen.
Thacker said that he treated her with a tonic and with antiseptic tampons.
He adamently denied that he had performed an abortion on her. However, other witnessed testified during Thacker's trial for the abortion/murder of Ruth Hall, that Thacker had indeed performed an abortion on Mrs. Roach, causing her death. More specifically, Lennis May's husband, F.S. Roach, told the county attorney that Thacker had performed an abortion on her.
The same day that Lennis May died under Thacker's care, Virginia Wyckoff, a University of Oklahoma student, age 21, died from complications of an abortion under the care of Dr. J.W. Eisiminger.
Eisiminger, an osteopath, was tried and convicted of murder in Virginia's death. He admitted to having treated her in his office on April 3, but said that he didn't believe she was pregnant. Nevertheless, Virginia spent several days in a privat home where Eisiminger kept recovering aboriton patients under the care of Mrs. Luther Bryant Price. Dr. Thacker also used Mrs. Price's home as a recovery center for his abortion patients.
Virginia was transferred from Mrs. Prices's home to a hospital, where she died, first having told doctors there taht Eisiminger had performed the fatal abortion.. A deathbed statement absolving Eisiminger was proven to be a forgery.
Eisiminger was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in her abortion death. The sentence was later reduced to 15 years.
Eisiminger also got in trouble when allegations arose that his wife, Marie, paid a bribe to try to secure his release.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Mrs. Roach had come to Thacker's office several times, he admitted. Thacker said that Mrs. Roach was in poor health and emaciated, and had a white discharge, indicative of infection, from her vagina. She also, Thacker said, had pains in her abdomen.
Thacker said that he treated her with a tonic and with antiseptic tampons.
He adamently denied that he had performed an abortion on her. However, other witnessed testified during Thacker's trial for the abortion/murder of Ruth Hall, that Thacker had indeed performed an abortion on Mrs. Roach, causing her death. More specifically, Lennis May's husband, F.S. Roach, told the county attorney that Thacker had performed an abortion on her.
The same day that Lennis May died under Thacker's care, Virginia Wyckoff, a University of Oklahoma student, age 21, died from complications of an abortion under the care of Dr. J.W. Eisiminger.
Eisiminger, an osteopath, was tried and convicted of murder in Virginia's death. He admitted to having treated her in his office on April 3, but said that he didn't believe she was pregnant. Nevertheless, Virginia spent several days in a privat home where Eisiminger kept recovering aboriton patients under the care of Mrs. Luther Bryant Price. Dr. Thacker also used Mrs. Price's home as a recovery center for his abortion patients.
Virginia was transferred from Mrs. Prices's home to a hospital, where she died, first having told doctors there taht Eisiminger had performed the fatal abortion.. A deathbed statement absolving Eisiminger was proven to be a forgery.
Eisiminger was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in her abortion death. The sentence was later reduced to 15 years.
Eisiminger also got in trouble when allegations arose that his wife, Marie, paid a bribe to try to secure his release.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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19th century abortion death
An article on the death of 19-year-old Emma Hub underscores the racism of the time. It begins, "Uncle Billy Nickens, a well-known colored character of Hannibal, was arrested there yesterday charged with causing the death of Emmy Hub by a criminal operation."
Emma was the daughter of Jacob Hub, a German shoemaker living just south of the Hannibal city limits. Jacob had expelled his daughter from the house due to "her wild habits", so she had moved in with a painter named Mathew Seoville.
Around April 15 of 1893, Emma took ill, and was tended by a Dr. Ebbits. Ebbits suspected an abortion and refused to treat Emma until she admitted to it. "She continued to grow worse until death relieved her suffering at 1 a.m. yesterday" -- that being April 24.
Emma had told Mathew Seoville and his wife that she had gone to Nickens' house, where he had used instruments on her to cause an abortion. She said that a girl from Illinois was also there for an abortion. Mathew had pressed Emma to write up a declaration.
The fatal abortion was reportedly Emma's second; the first had been performed the previous October. She also had given birth to a child about two years earlier.
The article notes that Nickens was arrested, adding, "The negro has been brought up on similar charges before, but always managed to clear himself."
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Emma was the daughter of Jacob Hub, a German shoemaker living just south of the Hannibal city limits. Jacob had expelled his daughter from the house due to "her wild habits", so she had moved in with a painter named Mathew Seoville.
Around April 15 of 1893, Emma took ill, and was tended by a Dr. Ebbits. Ebbits suspected an abortion and refused to treat Emma until she admitted to it. "She continued to grow worse until death relieved her suffering at 1 a.m. yesterday" -- that being April 24.
Emma had told Mathew Seoville and his wife that she had gone to Nickens' house, where he had used instruments on her to cause an abortion. She said that a girl from Illinois was also there for an abortion. Mathew had pressed Emma to write up a declaration.
The fatal abortion was reportedly Emma's second; the first had been performed the previous October. She also had given birth to a child about two years earlier.
The article notes that Nickens was arrested, adding, "The negro has been brought up on similar charges before, but always managed to clear himself."
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
5 Days in May: Bringing safe water to children
5 Days in May is asking people to pledge to drink nothing but tap water May 1 - May 5, and to donate the money they save to Water Missions International, a charity that provides clean, sustainable drinking water where it's desperately needed. (Water Missions International is a Charity Navigator 4-star charity.)
This is one of my favorite bandwagons to jump on. Who's with me?
This is one of my favorite bandwagons to jump on. Who's with me?
PP coaches teen to lie to judge
Lila Rose went to a Tennessee Planned Parenthood, posing as a 14-year-old girl pregnant by a 31-year-old "boyfriend".
First she coached the girl on how to answer the judge's question. Not to tell the judge the truth and allow the judge to make a judgment. No. She's to just answer "Yes."
And if the question of the "boyfriend" comes up?
"Just say you have a boyfriend, and he's 17."
HT: World Net Daily
First she coached the girl on how to answer the judge's question. Not to tell the judge the truth and allow the judge to make a judgment. No. She's to just answer "Yes."
And if the question of the "boyfriend" comes up?
"Just say you have a boyfriend, and he's 17."
HT: World Net Daily
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
1923: Doc's abortion skills kill Chicago woman
On April 22, 1923, 30-year-old Daisy Singerland died at Chicago's Robert Burns hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed earlier that day.
On June 1, Dr. J.W. Lipscomb was indicted for felony murder in Daisy's death.
Daisy's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
On June 1, Dr. J.W. Lipscomb was indicted for felony murder in Daisy's death.
Daisy's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Anniversary: Harvey Karman's first step of endearment with the abortion lobby
During April of 1955, prochoice icon Harvey Karman was working at the Clinical School of the Psychology Department of the University of California at Los Angeles, seeking a doctorate in psychology. He was not licensed to practice medicine.
Around early February of 1955, 26-year-old Joyce Johnson told her husband, Ben, that she was pregnant. They discussed an abortion. Joyce had a friend named Patricia who she saw shortly before she met Karman. Prior to the abortion, according to both Patricia and Joyce's husband, Joyce was in good health.
On April 6, 1955, Karman met Joyce in a motel room and, using a speculum, inserted a nutcracker into Joyce in order to perform an abortion.
On April 8, Joyce's husband took her to St. Joseph's Hospital. She was examined by a Dr. Moss who diagnosed her as suffering from "an infected criminal abortion." The dead fetus was still in her uterus. She expelled it while at St. Joseph's.
On April 13, Joyce was transferred to General Hospital for specialized treatment. She died there on April 21. An autopsy was performed, and Joyce's death blamed on bronchial pneumonia brought on by the septic abortion.
During the trial, a photograph of the autopsy was available, but the district attorney didn't display it. He instead told the jury, "you can look at it up in the jury room if you are so inclined--it's an autopsy picture--I'm not going to show it to you because some people don't like to see things like that--she was 26 years old April 6th. She was a girl in good health. She was pregnant. She wanted to do something about having an abortion for this pregnancy."
The district attorney also told the jury, "Frankly, I don't know how you feel about this matter of abortion--it is a matter of difference of opinion. Some people say well, people can't afford it, it's all right to have an abortion. Some people say if the woman's health won't stand it it's all right to have an abortion. Our law says it's all right to have an abortion if her health is of such nature she can't have a baby. Some people think abortions are all right. Some people are absolutely against all of them. If you want to know the truth, I'm pretty much against all abortions myself, I think it's a terrible thing for a girl to be talked into this."
The appeals court found it "improper for the district attorney to express his personal belief as to all abortion," but noted that since the jury was admonished to ignore the comment Karman had no grounds for appeal in the fact that the DA made the comment.
Karman's defense called a Dr. Gilbert as an expert. He reviewed the autopsy report and medical records, an opined that Joyce did not die from a septic abortion. He was paid $150 for his testimony, ironically the same amount Joyce paid for the abortion.
The defense also appealed on the grounds that the the DA unduly prejudiced the jury by bringing out in cross-examining Karman that he'd been conviced previously of a felony. The appeals court ruled that this was proper impeachment of a witness.
Karman's defense also argued that Joyce's husband and friend were improperly granted immunity after they originally refused to testify.
Karman's defense also claimed that the prosecution failed to prove that the abortion wasn't necessary to save Joyce's life. But the appeals court found that the testimony of Joyce's husband and friend that Joyce had been in good health, settled that matter. Of course, pure logic would prove that matter, since Joyce was seeking an illegal abortion from an amateur in a motel room. Had her life been in danger, an ob/gyn would have been able to admit her to a hospital and perform the abortion there.
An appeals court found that the district attorney's statement that what defendant did was "absolute butchery" was fair argument on the facts, and not an unduly prejudicious statement. It came out in the case that Joyce's husband was dating another woman and therefore had an interest in Joyce securing an abortion.
Karman was convicted of the abortion by a jury.
Joyce's abortion was unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Around early February of 1955, 26-year-old Joyce Johnson told her husband, Ben, that she was pregnant. They discussed an abortion. Joyce had a friend named Patricia who she saw shortly before she met Karman. Prior to the abortion, according to both Patricia and Joyce's husband, Joyce was in good health.
On April 6, 1955, Karman met Joyce in a motel room and, using a speculum, inserted a nutcracker into Joyce in order to perform an abortion.
On April 8, Joyce's husband took her to St. Joseph's Hospital. She was examined by a Dr. Moss who diagnosed her as suffering from "an infected criminal abortion." The dead fetus was still in her uterus. She expelled it while at St. Joseph's.
On April 13, Joyce was transferred to General Hospital for specialized treatment. She died there on April 21. An autopsy was performed, and Joyce's death blamed on bronchial pneumonia brought on by the septic abortion.
During the trial, a photograph of the autopsy was available, but the district attorney didn't display it. He instead told the jury, "you can look at it up in the jury room if you are so inclined--it's an autopsy picture--I'm not going to show it to you because some people don't like to see things like that--she was 26 years old April 6th. She was a girl in good health. She was pregnant. She wanted to do something about having an abortion for this pregnancy."
The district attorney also told the jury, "Frankly, I don't know how you feel about this matter of abortion--it is a matter of difference of opinion. Some people say well, people can't afford it, it's all right to have an abortion. Some people say if the woman's health won't stand it it's all right to have an abortion. Our law says it's all right to have an abortion if her health is of such nature she can't have a baby. Some people think abortions are all right. Some people are absolutely against all of them. If you want to know the truth, I'm pretty much against all abortions myself, I think it's a terrible thing for a girl to be talked into this."
The appeals court found it "improper for the district attorney to express his personal belief as to all abortion," but noted that since the jury was admonished to ignore the comment Karman had no grounds for appeal in the fact that the DA made the comment.
Karman's defense called a Dr. Gilbert as an expert. He reviewed the autopsy report and medical records, an opined that Joyce did not die from a septic abortion. He was paid $150 for his testimony, ironically the same amount Joyce paid for the abortion.
The defense also appealed on the grounds that the the DA unduly prejudiced the jury by bringing out in cross-examining Karman that he'd been conviced previously of a felony. The appeals court ruled that this was proper impeachment of a witness.
Karman's defense also argued that Joyce's husband and friend were improperly granted immunity after they originally refused to testify.
Karman's defense also claimed that the prosecution failed to prove that the abortion wasn't necessary to save Joyce's life. But the appeals court found that the testimony of Joyce's husband and friend that Joyce had been in good health, settled that matter. Of course, pure logic would prove that matter, since Joyce was seeking an illegal abortion from an amateur in a motel room. Had her life been in danger, an ob/gyn would have been able to admit her to a hospital and perform the abortion there.
An appeals court found that the district attorney's statement that what defendant did was "absolute butchery" was fair argument on the facts, and not an unduly prejudicious statement. It came out in the case that Joyce's husband was dating another woman and therefore had an interest in Joyce securing an abortion.
Karman was convicted of the abortion by a jury.
Joyce's abortion was unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Who would hate a mother and child?
Myah has had to take down her email address at her blog about her baby, Faith, because of hate mail. It seems that just as Sarah Palin's love for little Trig unleashed a torrent of "How dare a mother lover her child unconditionally! Mother love is a disease! Abortion cures it!", Myah has been subject to the same sort of abuse.
I want to hunt these people down, one by one, and publicly expose them for the hateful scum that they are.
It seems that there is one hate crime the hardcore pro-abortion folks love: Attacking mothers who love their children no matter what. And there's one kind of prejudice they're proud to have: Prejudice against people with disabilities. And there's one kind of diversity they can't tolerate: People who make them uncomfortable.
And if you want an idea of the kind of hate Myah encounters, check this out. You have to be in a dark place when love brings out that kind of ugly in you.
I want to hunt these people down, one by one, and publicly expose them for the hateful scum that they are.
It seems that there is one hate crime the hardcore pro-abortion folks love: Attacking mothers who love their children no matter what. And there's one kind of prejudice they're proud to have: Prejudice against people with disabilities. And there's one kind of diversity they can't tolerate: People who make them uncomfortable.
And if you want an idea of the kind of hate Myah encounters, check this out. You have to be in a dark place when love brings out that kind of ugly in you.
Monday, April 20, 2009
1987: A safe, legal abortion and a lingering death
Brenda Benton's survivors sued Chicago's notorious Biogenetics abortion mill after her death, claiming that Dusan Zivkovic and/or V. Perez had performed a safe and legal abortion on her on March 13, 1987. She was placed under general anesthesia for the abortion.
After she was discharged, Brenda developed fever, chills, and back pain.
The suit says that 35-year-old Brenda returned to Biogenetics to report these symptoms on March 27, and that Zivkovic examined Brenda and performed a D&C before transferring her to Martha Washington Hospital.
There, Brenda's survivors say, Zivkovic called in other doctors for a consult. They then transferred Brenda to Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's hospital on April 6. She died there on April 20.
Her death was due to infection and "overwhelming septicemia." Brenda's family said that Zivkovic failed to failed to determine that Brenda had had an adverse reaction to drugs he'd given her, and failed to detect and respond to her medical emergency. An expert opinion on the case attributes Brenda's death to inappropriate follow-up, and septicemia leading to fatal complications. Brenda's death certificate attributed death to hepatic necrosis due to toxicity reaction to abortion anesthesia.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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After she was discharged, Brenda developed fever, chills, and back pain.
The suit says that 35-year-old Brenda returned to Biogenetics to report these symptoms on March 27, and that Zivkovic examined Brenda and performed a D&C before transferring her to Martha Washington Hospital.
There, Brenda's survivors say, Zivkovic called in other doctors for a consult. They then transferred Brenda to Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's hospital on April 6. She died there on April 20.
Her death was due to infection and "overwhelming septicemia." Brenda's family said that Zivkovic failed to failed to determine that Brenda had had an adverse reaction to drugs he'd given her, and failed to detect and respond to her medical emergency. An expert opinion on the case attributes Brenda's death to inappropriate follow-up, and septicemia leading to fatal complications. Brenda's death certificate attributed death to hepatic necrosis due to toxicity reaction to abortion anesthesia.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Sunday, April 19, 2009
1933: Fatal abortion
In February of 1933, a 22-year-old unmarried store clerk discovered that she was pregnant. I've been unable to determine her name, so I'll call her "Nina" Roe.
Nina informed her boyfriend of the pregnancy, and he got her some pills supposed to cause an abortion, but they didn't work. In March, the boyfriend got a drug called duray. Nina took some in March and the rest on April 3 or 4, but this still didn't produce the desired abortion.
Nina's co-workers and friends didn't know that she was pregnant, and they later testified that she'd been in good health except for a headache and indigestion some time between April 7 and 10.
On April 8, Nina went to a nursing home operated by a nurse to ask about an abortion. The nurse informed the woman and her lover that Dr. E. T. Martin or another doctor would be able to perform an abortion.
On April 11, Nina's boyfriend went to Dr. Martin's office and consulted with him. On Dr. Martin's instructions, Nina's boyfriend brought her back the next morning, a Wednseday, for an examination. Nina was in Dr. Martin's office for about half an hour.
Dr. Martin then told Nina's boyfriend that the total fee, including a stay at the nursing home until Saturday night, would be $75. He then instructed the boyfriend to take Nina to the nursing home, which he did that afternoon.
On Friday the 14th, Dr. Martin performed a curettage on Nina to remove the fetus. The nurse claimed that she had no idea what Dr. Martin was planning to do. She testified, "I understood he was going to use a hot antiseptic wash. I didn't understand he was going to remove the fetus of a child. I would not have permitted Dr. Martin to remove the fetus of a child without calling in another physician to certify or find the necessity of it. Dr. Martin did not tell me what he was doing. If I knew that the girl had been pregnant and there was a fetus in the uterus, and there was to have been a curettement, I would have insisted on calling another doctor before I allowed a curettement to be done in my place."
After the D&C, Nina became alarmingly ill. Dr. Martin said that he himself was not in proper physical condition to care for the patient, so he summoned a Dr. Templeton.
Dr. Templeton evidently cared for Nina at the nursing home until April 19, a Wednesday, when he advised staff to transfer Nina to Virginia Mason hospital. She died the following morning.
It was alleged that Dr. Martin and the nurse told Nina's boyfriend to say that Nina had been suffering from cramps, had fallen, and had begun to hemorrhage.
Dr. Martin, with some corroboration from the nurse, said that Nina already had a rapid pulse and fever when she first consulted with him. He also said that she was bleeding vaginally already. Dr. Martin said that Nina had told him she'd missed three periods, taken abortifacients, had fallen, and had a chronic bowel condition.
Dr. Martin testified that he'd recommended hospitalization, but that Nina wanted to avoid the possible publicity surrounding a hospitalization. It was then that he'd decided to send her to the nursing home instead.
He also testified that she'd been bleeding from the 12th until the 14th, when he'd performed a curretage. He said that this curretage was necessary to treat her fever and bleeding.
Dr. Martin was convicted of manslaughter in Nina's death, but the nurse was acquitted.
Nina's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Nina informed her boyfriend of the pregnancy, and he got her some pills supposed to cause an abortion, but they didn't work. In March, the boyfriend got a drug called duray. Nina took some in March and the rest on April 3 or 4, but this still didn't produce the desired abortion.
Nina's co-workers and friends didn't know that she was pregnant, and they later testified that she'd been in good health except for a headache and indigestion some time between April 7 and 10.
On April 8, Nina went to a nursing home operated by a nurse to ask about an abortion. The nurse informed the woman and her lover that Dr. E. T. Martin or another doctor would be able to perform an abortion.
On April 11, Nina's boyfriend went to Dr. Martin's office and consulted with him. On Dr. Martin's instructions, Nina's boyfriend brought her back the next morning, a Wednseday, for an examination. Nina was in Dr. Martin's office for about half an hour.
Dr. Martin then told Nina's boyfriend that the total fee, including a stay at the nursing home until Saturday night, would be $75. He then instructed the boyfriend to take Nina to the nursing home, which he did that afternoon.
On Friday the 14th, Dr. Martin performed a curettage on Nina to remove the fetus. The nurse claimed that she had no idea what Dr. Martin was planning to do. She testified, "I understood he was going to use a hot antiseptic wash. I didn't understand he was going to remove the fetus of a child. I would not have permitted Dr. Martin to remove the fetus of a child without calling in another physician to certify or find the necessity of it. Dr. Martin did not tell me what he was doing. If I knew that the girl had been pregnant and there was a fetus in the uterus, and there was to have been a curettement, I would have insisted on calling another doctor before I allowed a curettement to be done in my place."
After the D&C, Nina became alarmingly ill. Dr. Martin said that he himself was not in proper physical condition to care for the patient, so he summoned a Dr. Templeton.
Dr. Templeton evidently cared for Nina at the nursing home until April 19, a Wednesday, when he advised staff to transfer Nina to Virginia Mason hospital. She died the following morning.
It was alleged that Dr. Martin and the nurse told Nina's boyfriend to say that Nina had been suffering from cramps, had fallen, and had begun to hemorrhage.
Dr. Martin, with some corroboration from the nurse, said that Nina already had a rapid pulse and fever when she first consulted with him. He also said that she was bleeding vaginally already. Dr. Martin said that Nina had told him she'd missed three periods, taken abortifacients, had fallen, and had a chronic bowel condition.
Dr. Martin testified that he'd recommended hospitalization, but that Nina wanted to avoid the possible publicity surrounding a hospitalization. It was then that he'd decided to send her to the nursing home instead.
He also testified that she'd been bleeding from the 12th until the 14th, when he'd performed a curretage. He said that this curretage was necessary to treat her fever and bleeding.
Dr. Martin was convicted of manslaughter in Nina's death, but the nurse was acquitted.
Nina's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Anniversary: Criminal abortion kills Long Beach woman
On April 17, 1940, Mrs. Josephine Williams and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Adele H. Sassen, were sentenced to prison for an illegal abortion resulting in the death of a Long Beach woman. The abortion had been performed on April 16, 1939, and the woman died three days later.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1977: Safe, legal, fatal
Mary Paredez was 26 years old when she underwent an abortion at San Jose Hospital on April 19, 1977. During the procedure, Mary's uterus was perforated. She began to hemorrhage. Less than seven hours later, she was dead. The autopsy found 2500 cc of blood in Mary's abdomen.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Anniversary: 19th Century abortion death
Hughretta "Etta" Binkley was an unmarried woman about 34 years old. She worked as a stenographer and typist at Patee Bicycle Company in Peoria. She lived in a boardinghouse owned by George H. Lilly, where she shared a room with Lilly's daughter.
At lunchtime on April 1, 1898, she went to the residence/office of Dr.Belle Howard, aka Belle Shotwell, about four blocks from the boarding house. After work the following day, at about 6:30 PM, she returned to Dr. Howard's house and was sent to a room on the second floor. Etta had a bag packed with a nightgown, robe, fountain syringe, and a bottle containing about two ounces of ergot.
According to Ida Kennedy, Dr. Howard's nurse, at about 10:00 the next morning, Etta went into the doctor's office where she remained about 20 to 30 minutes. She then went upstairs to her room, in Ida's care.
Etta was in pain, and bleeding heavily vaginally. At around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, Dr. Howard visited her in her room, then had her come back downstairs to his office where she again remained alone with her for between 20 and 30 minutes. Again, Ida took Etta to her room.
Soon after returning to her room, Etta suffered from rapid pulse and a copious discharge of blood and clear fluid. Etta remained at Dr. Howard's house, attended by the doctor and nurse, until the evening of Saturday, April 9. At that time, Dr. Howard drove Etta in her buggy back to the boarding house, where she left her alone on the porch. Mr. Lilly found her there as he was locking up for the night. He described her as being in "a very helpless and distressed condition."
Mr. Lilly brought her into the house, where she went to her room and retired to her usual bed with Lilly's daughter. (It was not uncommon at that time for adults to share a bed in a boarding house, purely as roommates.)
The following morning, at about 9:00, Etta went to the nearby Cottage Hospital, where she was immediately admitted. Staff physician Otho B. Will was immediately summoned to care for her.
Dr. Will found Etta to be trembling, breathing rapidly, suffering a pulse of 140 and a fever of just over 102 degrees. She was frequently vomiting. Dr. Will examined her and performed surgery to remove decaying and fetid retained portions of placenta.
Etta remained hospitalized under Dr. Will's care until April 19, when she died of septicemia. Her body was sent to her parents in Dublin, Indiana, for burial, but then exhumed on the 23rd for an autopsy. It was then confirmed that the septicemia had been caused by an abortion. Experts estimated that Etta had been four to five months pregnant.
Immediately after Etta's death, Dr. Howard fled the state and had to be captured and returned for face trial. Dr. Howard maintained her innocence and insisted that she was merely treating Etta for complications of an abortion performed either by Etta herself or by some other party. The prosecution said that up until her arrival at Dr. Howard's house, Etta had been in good health and had performed her duties at work. However, Miss Lilly reported that Etta had not seemed to be in her usual health just prior to the 2nd of April, and that she had observed bleeding that she took to be Etta's period. Ida Kennedy, the nurse, also testified that on her way to her room on the 2nd, Etta left drops of blood on the floor.
Dr. Howard was convicted of manslaughter in Etta's death. A Fred Patee was also charged in the death, but my documents do not make it clear what his role was.
Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
At lunchtime on April 1, 1898, she went to the residence/office of Dr.Belle Howard, aka Belle Shotwell, about four blocks from the boarding house. After work the following day, at about 6:30 PM, she returned to Dr. Howard's house and was sent to a room on the second floor. Etta had a bag packed with a nightgown, robe, fountain syringe, and a bottle containing about two ounces of ergot.
According to Ida Kennedy, Dr. Howard's nurse, at about 10:00 the next morning, Etta went into the doctor's office where she remained about 20 to 30 minutes. She then went upstairs to her room, in Ida's care.
Etta was in pain, and bleeding heavily vaginally. At around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, Dr. Howard visited her in her room, then had her come back downstairs to his office where she again remained alone with her for between 20 and 30 minutes. Again, Ida took Etta to her room.
Soon after returning to her room, Etta suffered from rapid pulse and a copious discharge of blood and clear fluid. Etta remained at Dr. Howard's house, attended by the doctor and nurse, until the evening of Saturday, April 9. At that time, Dr. Howard drove Etta in her buggy back to the boarding house, where she left her alone on the porch. Mr. Lilly found her there as he was locking up for the night. He described her as being in "a very helpless and distressed condition."
Mr. Lilly brought her into the house, where she went to her room and retired to her usual bed with Lilly's daughter. (It was not uncommon at that time for adults to share a bed in a boarding house, purely as roommates.)
The following morning, at about 9:00, Etta went to the nearby Cottage Hospital, where she was immediately admitted. Staff physician Otho B. Will was immediately summoned to care for her.
Dr. Will found Etta to be trembling, breathing rapidly, suffering a pulse of 140 and a fever of just over 102 degrees. She was frequently vomiting. Dr. Will examined her and performed surgery to remove decaying and fetid retained portions of placenta.
Etta remained hospitalized under Dr. Will's care until April 19, when she died of septicemia. Her body was sent to her parents in Dublin, Indiana, for burial, but then exhumed on the 23rd for an autopsy. It was then confirmed that the septicemia had been caused by an abortion. Experts estimated that Etta had been four to five months pregnant.
Immediately after Etta's death, Dr. Howard fled the state and had to be captured and returned for face trial. Dr. Howard maintained her innocence and insisted that she was merely treating Etta for complications of an abortion performed either by Etta herself or by some other party. The prosecution said that up until her arrival at Dr. Howard's house, Etta had been in good health and had performed her duties at work. However, Miss Lilly reported that Etta had not seemed to be in her usual health just prior to the 2nd of April, and that she had observed bleeding that she took to be Etta's period. Ida Kennedy, the nurse, also testified that on her way to her room on the 2nd, Etta left drops of blood on the floor.
Dr. Howard was convicted of manslaughter in Etta's death. A Fred Patee was also charged in the death, but my documents do not make it clear what his role was.
Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.
I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.
For more on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1986: NAF member kills abortion patient
Twenty-year-old Gloria Aponte went to National Abortion Federation member Hanan Rotem in Stamford, Connecticut, for a safe and legal abortion on April 19, 1986. A few hours after the abortion, Gloria was declared dead from hemorrhage at a nearby hospital.
Rotem claimed that Gloria had died from an amniotic fluid embolism. An investigation by health officials found that Rotem had failed to perform necessary blood tests, and had permitted a receptionist with no medical training to administer anesthesia.
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Rotem claimed that Gloria had died from an amniotic fluid embolism. An investigation by health officials found that Rotem had failed to perform necessary blood tests, and had permitted a receptionist with no medical training to administer anesthesia.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Friday, April 17, 2009
1998: Pushing the limits kills Arizona woman
Those insist that legalization of abortion is necessary to keep our daughters safe might want to speak to Lou Ann Herron's father, Mike Gibb, who silently wept in the courtroom as he listened to witnesses describe how his daughter died from a safe-n-legal abortion.
On April 17, 1998, 33-year-old Lou Ann Herron bled to death after a late abortion at the now defunct A-Z Women's Center (where Lisa Bardsley also underwent her fatal abortion -- to much less fanfare).
The Pregnancy
Medical assistant Sylvia Aragon wept on the witness stand as she said that Lou Ann's pregnancy was "too far along" for an abortion. Aragon said that she thought abortionist John Biskind Biskind kept ordering more and more ultrasound scans to try to get one that would document the pregnancy as being early enough for the abortion to be legal. A total of seven ultrasounds were done before an estimate of 23 weeks was obtained the day prior to the abortion. Although Arizona law allows the abortionist to have final judgment about whether or not the fetus is viable, and therefore past the legal limit for abortion, the standard point for viability is believed to be around 24 weeks. The ultrasound Aragon did on April 9 showed a 26-week fetus.
If the abortion was indeed being done after 24 weeks, Arizona law requires that two physicians be present. Biskind was the only physician attending Lou Ann's abortion. Arizona law also limits abortions after 24 weeks to those that an abortionist can try to justify on the grounds that it was necessary to preserve the health and safety of the mother -- a nonsensical concept, since after 24 weeks a conscientious physician faced with a gravely ill patient will perform an emergency c-section in a hospital operating room; he will not perform a risky late abortion in a freestanding clinic.
There were no health concerns in Lou Ann's case anyway, the prosecution noted. She sought the abortion because she already had two children and was separated from her husband.
The Abortion
Prosecutors said that Biskind had ordered a total of seven ultrasounds performed, with estimates ranging from 23 weeks 3 days to 26 weeks. However, only the ultrasound that showed the pregnancy as 23 weeks 3 days was forwarded to the medical examiner; the others were lost or destroyed by the facility. Biskind's defense held that no attempts were made to fudge ultrasounds, nor were records tampered with or destroyed.
The abortion was performed at 1:30 p.m. Biskind, his lawyer said, noted a small amount of blood on the sheets when he checked on Lou Ann after the abortion, but that he was not concerned because bleeding is normal after an abortion.
The Aftermath
Two medical assistants testified that Lou Ann was very frightened about her condition as she lay in recovery. She begged, they said, to know what was wrong with her. She cried out in pain as she lay in a puddle of blood for three hours. Biskind fixed her IV (complaining that there was no qualified nurse on staff to do this), reassured her, and left the building at around 3:45 p.m., according to testimony.
Clinic administrator Carole Stuart-Schadoff had a staffer page Biskind 25 minutes later when Lou Ann's condition worsened. Biskind did not return to the clinic, but told staff to call 911.
Prosecutors estimate that by the time paramedics were summoned, Lou Ann had lost 2 to 3 litres of blood.
When the rescue crew arrived, Phoenix fire captain Biran Tobin Tobin testified, Lou Ann was wearing an oxygen mask, but had not been intubated. There was also no IV in place. "I very quickly felt that there wasn't a lot of competent medical care going on at the time," he said.
Tobin testified that Lou Ann appeared to be dead. Nobody at the clinic seemed aware of how grave her condition was, he said, and nobody seemed to be helping her in any way. Staff told Tobin that Lou Ann's vitals were pulse 100, blood pressure 90/50. "It was very difficult for me to believe that they could get the vital signs of a woman who, even as we walked in the door, looked really dead," he said.
On cross-examination, Tobin indicated that during the 11 minutes the rescue crew was at the facility, he personally never touched the patient. He could not say if her skin was so cold because it was cold at the facility, or because she was dead.
Biskind surrendered his license to practice medicine in Arizona after Lou Ann's death in order to stop an ongoing medical board investigation of the circumstances and his handling of the case.
The Trial
A former Maricopa County medical examiner testified that the tear in LouAnne's uterus was caused by medical instruments, and not by a fetal body part as the defense suggested. However, even had the injury been caused by a fetal body part, this is an expected complication and would not have excused Biskind from his duty to notice and treat the injury.
Emergency room physician John Gallagher testified that, based on his assessment of Lou Ann's condition, she could have been saved had she been brought into surgery promptly. This assessment is in keeping with a CDC study concluding that given the training and resources available to physicians, no woman need bleed to death from a legal abortion.
Gallagher trains paramedics for the Phoenix Fire Department. He said that the records he reviewed clearly indicated that Lou Ann's condition was life threatening as she lay bleeding after her abortion, and that Biskind should have recognized the severity of her injuries. Gallagher testified that the records clearly indicated serious trouble at 1:25 p.m., 16 minutes after Lou Ann had been taken to the recovery room. He said that had he been treating her, he would have ordered more IV fluids and blood immediately, and summoned an ambulance to take her to a hospital where she could be treated in a properly equipped operating room.
Gallagher noted that during her last hours in the recovery room, Lou Ann became combative, anxious and frightened, and that she reported her legs were going numb. These, he noted, are all clear signs of severe blood loss. Instead of recognizing the danger she was in, Gallagher noted, Biskind instead tried to calm Lou Ann and reassure her that she would be "just fine."
Dr. Sidney Wecsler, an abortion expert testifying for the prosecution, said that the letter Biskind wrote to the medical board describing Lou Ann's death misrepresented both her condition and his treatment of her. The letter, dated June 1, 1998, said that Boskind checked on Lou Ann at 1:25 p.m., and that "pulse and blood pressure were satisfactory." The medical records, however, show that Lou Ann's blood pressue was low at that time, a symptom of severe blood loss. Biskind also said in the letter that Lou Ann was alert and talking when he left the clinic at 4:05, which Wecsler said would have been impossible for the moribund patient who was certainly dead by the time paramedics arrived twenty minutes later.
Wechsler said that Biskind surely knew as early as 3:15 p.m. that Lou Ann was not alert, because he ordered a drug to arouse her, which did not work. Biskind's letter makes no mention of administering this drug.
Biskind's defense has been claiming that the assistants at the clinic failed to keep Biskind informed of Lou Ann's deteriorating condition. But Biskind's letter to the medical board claims that he himself checked on her every 30 to 45 minutes.
Wechsler was cross-examined by Biskind's lawyer. The lawyer contends that the assistants could have misjudged how much blood Lou Ann was losing, and that Lou Ann's low blood pressure may have been due to medication and not hemorrhage. Wechsler didn't budge from his initial assessment, that Biskind had plenty of evidence and had no legitimate reason to claim ignorance of Lou Ann's life-threatening condition.
Wechsler said that Biskind should have done a pelvic exam and other tests to determine exactly what was wrong with Lou Ann as she lay, frantic and bleeding, in the recovery room. If nothing else, Wechsler said, the fact that Lou Ann was still in recovery three hours after her abortion, long after other patients were up and about and discharged from the facility, should have alerted Biskind to the fact that something was seriously wrong.
A doctor who specializes in obstetric ultrasounds testified that the quality of the scan used to justify Lou Ann's abortion was so poor that it appeared the machine was defective and improperly used. The judge ordered struck from the record the expert's comment that reading an ultrasound properly is "a matter of life and death" for an unborn baby.
Biskind's defense was largely based on the idea that no physician would have rationally have left the facility had he realized that Lou Ann was in danger of bleeding to death from the hole in her uterus. The defense also holds that Biskind did not order multiple ultrasounds, but that the fetus was truly 23 weeks.
The prosecution noted that the clinic charged $1,250 for an abortion between 20 and 24 weeks, and indicated that it was this fee, and not any medical concern for Lou Ann, that led Biskind to proceed with an abortion.
Biskind's attorney also indicated that Biskind informed Lou Ann of the risks of a late abortion before she signed the consent form.
Biskind's co-defendant, Carole Stuart-Schanoff, had a defense based on the idea that as administrator of the facility, she had no medical training, took no role in patients' medical care, and therefore was not responsible for what happened in the clinic she was running. Prosecutors point out that Stuart-Schadoff scheduled the abortion, and that she scheduled it despite knowing that there would be no registered nurse attending the recovery room that day. The prosection also noted that Stuart-Schadoff delayed calling 911, choosing to call Biskind first.
Lois Montagno, an RN from the now closed A-Z Women's Center, testified that she told Stuart-Schadoff a week in advance that she would not be able to work past noon on August 17, 1998, the day Stuart-Schadoff scheduled Lou Ann Herron for her fatal abortion. This supports the prosecution's contention that Stuart-Schadoff was responsible for leaving Lou Ann in the care of medical assistants, who would not be qualified to supervise the recovery room.
Montagno also testified that she left a note to remind the supervisor, and told her as she was leaving on the 17th, reminding Stuart-Schadoff to tell Biskind that there would be no RN in the recovery room. Montagno did not tell Biskind she was leaving; she testified that he was in the procedure room at the time and she did not want to interrupt him.
Upon retiring to deliberate at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the jury of seven women and one man immediately agreed that the defendants were guilty. It was simply a matter of deciding which charges they were guilty of: the manslaughter charge, or the lesser charge of negligent homicide. It took them 4 1/2 hours to conclude that Biskind was guilty of manslaughter, Stuart-Schadoff of negligent homicide.
Lou Ann's family, which occupied two rows of the courtroom during the trial, wept as the verdicts were read. They met with members of the jury afterward.
Jury foreman Russell Craig, 56, spoke for the jury in the aftermath of the abortion death trial. He reported that he and other jurors were haunted by vivid dreams. He was particularly disturbed by the autopsy photos.
According to Craig, Biskind was his own worst enemy. "At one point when the prosecutor had finished his closing arguments," Craig told a reporter, "he applauded. It certainly didn't make much of an impression."
Only after the trial was over did members of the jury learn of Biskind's history of misconduct, including the previous death of another abortion patient. Craig said that this information "makes me feel better about my decision."
After the verdict, County Attorney Romley called for tougher laws addressing the way the Board of Medical Examiners handles doctors with problems.
The Owner
A-Z owner Moshe Hachamovitch testified, news reports say, "reluctantly and under tight security." When questioned about his knowledge of procedures at the facility, and about Lou Ann's death, he responded, "I don't remember." He did, however, indicate that he called Biskind a few weeks after the death to discuss the case, but did not say what, if any, conclusions he reached about how the situation was handled.
Hachamovitch admitted that the clinic did not have a procedures manual, but said that Biskind was "excellent at doing second-trimester abortions." Hachamovitch indicated that he himself is an expert on late abortions, having performed "hundreds of thousands of them" during his 41 years of practice, going back to pre-Roe days in New York. However, Hachamovitch's license had been suspended in New York for nine months on the grounds of gross negligence, gross incompetence, and innacurate patient records. His license was again suspended in New York for practicing fraugulently and failing to maintain adequate records.
Hachamovitch himself performed the fatal abortions on Tanya Williamson, Luz Rodriguez, and Christina Goesswein. Jammie Garcia died after a safe and legal abortion at Hachamovitch's Texas facility.
On April 17, 1998, 33-year-old Lou Ann Herron bled to death after a late abortion at the now defunct A-Z Women's Center (where Lisa Bardsley also underwent her fatal abortion -- to much less fanfare).
The Pregnancy
Medical assistant Sylvia Aragon wept on the witness stand as she said that Lou Ann's pregnancy was "too far along" for an abortion. Aragon said that she thought abortionist John Biskind Biskind kept ordering more and more ultrasound scans to try to get one that would document the pregnancy as being early enough for the abortion to be legal. A total of seven ultrasounds were done before an estimate of 23 weeks was obtained the day prior to the abortion. Although Arizona law allows the abortionist to have final judgment about whether or not the fetus is viable, and therefore past the legal limit for abortion, the standard point for viability is believed to be around 24 weeks. The ultrasound Aragon did on April 9 showed a 26-week fetus.
If the abortion was indeed being done after 24 weeks, Arizona law requires that two physicians be present. Biskind was the only physician attending Lou Ann's abortion. Arizona law also limits abortions after 24 weeks to those that an abortionist can try to justify on the grounds that it was necessary to preserve the health and safety of the mother -- a nonsensical concept, since after 24 weeks a conscientious physician faced with a gravely ill patient will perform an emergency c-section in a hospital operating room; he will not perform a risky late abortion in a freestanding clinic.
There were no health concerns in Lou Ann's case anyway, the prosecution noted. She sought the abortion because she already had two children and was separated from her husband.
The Abortion
Prosecutors said that Biskind had ordered a total of seven ultrasounds performed, with estimates ranging from 23 weeks 3 days to 26 weeks. However, only the ultrasound that showed the pregnancy as 23 weeks 3 days was forwarded to the medical examiner; the others were lost or destroyed by the facility. Biskind's defense held that no attempts were made to fudge ultrasounds, nor were records tampered with or destroyed.
The abortion was performed at 1:30 p.m. Biskind, his lawyer said, noted a small amount of blood on the sheets when he checked on Lou Ann after the abortion, but that he was not concerned because bleeding is normal after an abortion.
The Aftermath
Two medical assistants testified that Lou Ann was very frightened about her condition as she lay in recovery. She begged, they said, to know what was wrong with her. She cried out in pain as she lay in a puddle of blood for three hours. Biskind fixed her IV (complaining that there was no qualified nurse on staff to do this), reassured her, and left the building at around 3:45 p.m., according to testimony.
Clinic administrator Carole Stuart-Schadoff had a staffer page Biskind 25 minutes later when Lou Ann's condition worsened. Biskind did not return to the clinic, but told staff to call 911.
Prosecutors estimate that by the time paramedics were summoned, Lou Ann had lost 2 to 3 litres of blood.
When the rescue crew arrived, Phoenix fire captain Biran Tobin Tobin testified, Lou Ann was wearing an oxygen mask, but had not been intubated. There was also no IV in place. "I very quickly felt that there wasn't a lot of competent medical care going on at the time," he said.
Tobin testified that Lou Ann appeared to be dead. Nobody at the clinic seemed aware of how grave her condition was, he said, and nobody seemed to be helping her in any way. Staff told Tobin that Lou Ann's vitals were pulse 100, blood pressure 90/50. "It was very difficult for me to believe that they could get the vital signs of a woman who, even as we walked in the door, looked really dead," he said.
On cross-examination, Tobin indicated that during the 11 minutes the rescue crew was at the facility, he personally never touched the patient. He could not say if her skin was so cold because it was cold at the facility, or because she was dead.
Biskind surrendered his license to practice medicine in Arizona after Lou Ann's death in order to stop an ongoing medical board investigation of the circumstances and his handling of the case.
The Trial
A former Maricopa County medical examiner testified that the tear in LouAnne's uterus was caused by medical instruments, and not by a fetal body part as the defense suggested. However, even had the injury been caused by a fetal body part, this is an expected complication and would not have excused Biskind from his duty to notice and treat the injury.
Emergency room physician John Gallagher testified that, based on his assessment of Lou Ann's condition, she could have been saved had she been brought into surgery promptly. This assessment is in keeping with a CDC study concluding that given the training and resources available to physicians, no woman need bleed to death from a legal abortion.
Gallagher trains paramedics for the Phoenix Fire Department. He said that the records he reviewed clearly indicated that Lou Ann's condition was life threatening as she lay bleeding after her abortion, and that Biskind should have recognized the severity of her injuries. Gallagher testified that the records clearly indicated serious trouble at 1:25 p.m., 16 minutes after Lou Ann had been taken to the recovery room. He said that had he been treating her, he would have ordered more IV fluids and blood immediately, and summoned an ambulance to take her to a hospital where she could be treated in a properly equipped operating room.
Gallagher noted that during her last hours in the recovery room, Lou Ann became combative, anxious and frightened, and that she reported her legs were going numb. These, he noted, are all clear signs of severe blood loss. Instead of recognizing the danger she was in, Gallagher noted, Biskind instead tried to calm Lou Ann and reassure her that she would be "just fine."
Dr. Sidney Wecsler, an abortion expert testifying for the prosecution, said that the letter Biskind wrote to the medical board describing Lou Ann's death misrepresented both her condition and his treatment of her. The letter, dated June 1, 1998, said that Boskind checked on Lou Ann at 1:25 p.m., and that "pulse and blood pressure were satisfactory." The medical records, however, show that Lou Ann's blood pressue was low at that time, a symptom of severe blood loss. Biskind also said in the letter that Lou Ann was alert and talking when he left the clinic at 4:05, which Wecsler said would have been impossible for the moribund patient who was certainly dead by the time paramedics arrived twenty minutes later.
Wechsler said that Biskind surely knew as early as 3:15 p.m. that Lou Ann was not alert, because he ordered a drug to arouse her, which did not work. Biskind's letter makes no mention of administering this drug.
Biskind's defense has been claiming that the assistants at the clinic failed to keep Biskind informed of Lou Ann's deteriorating condition. But Biskind's letter to the medical board claims that he himself checked on her every 30 to 45 minutes.
Wechsler was cross-examined by Biskind's lawyer. The lawyer contends that the assistants could have misjudged how much blood Lou Ann was losing, and that Lou Ann's low blood pressure may have been due to medication and not hemorrhage. Wechsler didn't budge from his initial assessment, that Biskind had plenty of evidence and had no legitimate reason to claim ignorance of Lou Ann's life-threatening condition.
Wechsler said that Biskind should have done a pelvic exam and other tests to determine exactly what was wrong with Lou Ann as she lay, frantic and bleeding, in the recovery room. If nothing else, Wechsler said, the fact that Lou Ann was still in recovery three hours after her abortion, long after other patients were up and about and discharged from the facility, should have alerted Biskind to the fact that something was seriously wrong.
A doctor who specializes in obstetric ultrasounds testified that the quality of the scan used to justify Lou Ann's abortion was so poor that it appeared the machine was defective and improperly used. The judge ordered struck from the record the expert's comment that reading an ultrasound properly is "a matter of life and death" for an unborn baby.
Biskind's defense was largely based on the idea that no physician would have rationally have left the facility had he realized that Lou Ann was in danger of bleeding to death from the hole in her uterus. The defense also holds that Biskind did not order multiple ultrasounds, but that the fetus was truly 23 weeks.
The prosecution noted that the clinic charged $1,250 for an abortion between 20 and 24 weeks, and indicated that it was this fee, and not any medical concern for Lou Ann, that led Biskind to proceed with an abortion.
Biskind's attorney also indicated that Biskind informed Lou Ann of the risks of a late abortion before she signed the consent form.
Biskind's co-defendant, Carole Stuart-Schanoff, had a defense based on the idea that as administrator of the facility, she had no medical training, took no role in patients' medical care, and therefore was not responsible for what happened in the clinic she was running. Prosecutors point out that Stuart-Schadoff scheduled the abortion, and that she scheduled it despite knowing that there would be no registered nurse attending the recovery room that day. The prosection also noted that Stuart-Schadoff delayed calling 911, choosing to call Biskind first.
Lois Montagno, an RN from the now closed A-Z Women's Center, testified that she told Stuart-Schadoff a week in advance that she would not be able to work past noon on August 17, 1998, the day Stuart-Schadoff scheduled Lou Ann Herron for her fatal abortion. This supports the prosecution's contention that Stuart-Schadoff was responsible for leaving Lou Ann in the care of medical assistants, who would not be qualified to supervise the recovery room.
Montagno also testified that she left a note to remind the supervisor, and told her as she was leaving on the 17th, reminding Stuart-Schadoff to tell Biskind that there would be no RN in the recovery room. Montagno did not tell Biskind she was leaving; she testified that he was in the procedure room at the time and she did not want to interrupt him.
Upon retiring to deliberate at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the jury of seven women and one man immediately agreed that the defendants were guilty. It was simply a matter of deciding which charges they were guilty of: the manslaughter charge, or the lesser charge of negligent homicide. It took them 4 1/2 hours to conclude that Biskind was guilty of manslaughter, Stuart-Schadoff of negligent homicide.
Lou Ann's family, which occupied two rows of the courtroom during the trial, wept as the verdicts were read. They met with members of the jury afterward.
Jury foreman Russell Craig, 56, spoke for the jury in the aftermath of the abortion death trial. He reported that he and other jurors were haunted by vivid dreams. He was particularly disturbed by the autopsy photos.
According to Craig, Biskind was his own worst enemy. "At one point when the prosecutor had finished his closing arguments," Craig told a reporter, "he applauded. It certainly didn't make much of an impression."
Only after the trial was over did members of the jury learn of Biskind's history of misconduct, including the previous death of another abortion patient. Craig said that this information "makes me feel better about my decision."
After the verdict, County Attorney Romley called for tougher laws addressing the way the Board of Medical Examiners handles doctors with problems.
The Owner
A-Z owner Moshe Hachamovitch testified, news reports say, "reluctantly and under tight security." When questioned about his knowledge of procedures at the facility, and about Lou Ann's death, he responded, "I don't remember." He did, however, indicate that he called Biskind a few weeks after the death to discuss the case, but did not say what, if any, conclusions he reached about how the situation was handled.
Hachamovitch admitted that the clinic did not have a procedures manual, but said that Biskind was "excellent at doing second-trimester abortions." Hachamovitch indicated that he himself is an expert on late abortions, having performed "hundreds of thousands of them" during his 41 years of practice, going back to pre-Roe days in New York. However, Hachamovitch's license had been suspended in New York for nine months on the grounds of gross negligence, gross incompetence, and innacurate patient records. His license was again suspended in New York for practicing fraugulently and failing to maintain adequate records.
Hachamovitch himself performed the fatal abortions on Tanya Williamson, Luz Rodriguez, and Christina Goesswein. Jammie Garcia died after a safe and legal abortion at Hachamovitch's Texas facility.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
CNN reporter argues with Tea Party man she's supposed to be interviewing
HT: Freedom Eden
She clearly went in with her list of points SHE wanted to make, and then looked for an excuse to launch into her party line.
Go ahead, CNN. Hang yourselves. And have a pity party as you tighten the noose.
She clearly went in with her list of points SHE wanted to make, and then looked for an excuse to launch into her party line.
Go ahead, CNN. Hang yourselves. And have a pity party as you tighten the noose.
Four unlicensed PP abortuaries shut down in Texas
Planned Parenthood in Texas Required to Shut Down Four Unlicensed Abortion Businesses
Seems these Banned Parenthoood businesses were playing the "chemical abortion isn't really abortion" game, and dispensing RU-486 without being licensed to perform abortions.
Five additional Texas Planned Barrenhood facilities were found to be in violation of the law. Action is pending regarding those facilities.
It used to be they could get away with absolutely anything. They're finally, if only inchingly, being held accountable for their actions.
Seems these Banned Parenthoood businesses were playing the "chemical abortion isn't really abortion" game, and dispensing RU-486 without being licensed to perform abortions.
Five additional Texas Planned Barrenhood facilities were found to be in violation of the law. Action is pending regarding those facilities.
It used to be they could get away with absolutely anything. They're finally, if only inchingly, being held accountable for their actions.
1972: Septic abortion kills New York teen
On April 16, 1972, 14-year-old "Julie" Roe lost her battle with post-abortion peritonitis and septicemia, dying in a New York hospital.
She had undergone the safe, legal abortion on March 26, but the doctor had failed to remove all of the fetus. Doctors performed a procedure to remove the retained tissue, but during one of these attempts to complete the abortion, a doctor perforated Julie's uterus and bowel. Doctors tried to correct the damage by draining an abscess and performing a partial resection of Julie's bowel, to no avail.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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She had undergone the safe, legal abortion on March 26, but the doctor had failed to remove all of the fetus. Doctors performed a procedure to remove the retained tissue, but during one of these attempts to complete the abortion, a doctor perforated Julie's uterus and bowel. Doctors tried to correct the damage by draining an abscess and performing a partial resection of Julie's bowel, to no avail.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
1930: Fatal abortion in doctor's office
Ethel Crowell, age 20, died on April 14, 1930, in the office of Dr. Hans Paulsen, from an abortion performed on her that day. Two days later, Paulsen was booked for manslaughter by abortion. The father of the baby, Uriah Denniston, was booked as accessory. Paulson was held by the Coroner for murder by abortion. Denniston wasn't mentioned in the verdict. On September 1, the indictment was quashed. The source notes "Circumstances suggesting judicial corruption."
Ethel's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Ethel's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
1932: One of a string of victims of quack abortionists in Oklahoma
On April 14, 1932, Mrs. Isobel F. Ferguson died of suspected abortion complications. Two physicians in the University of Oklahoma area, J. W. Elsiminger and Richard E. Thacker, were suspected in the case, one of a string of abortion deaths in the area.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Monday, April 13, 2009
1968: Safe, legal, deadly
Stella Saenz, age 42, had arranged for a legal abortion in the spring of 1968. On April 11, she was admitted to Los Angeles County General Hospital with sepsis. Doctors administered penicillin. Stella went into anaphylactic shock; neither she nor the doctors had realized that Stella was allergic to penicillin. Doctors tried to treat both the infection and Stella's reaction to the penicillin, to no avail. She died on April 13. The California Department of Public Health classified Stella's death as both a drug reaction death and a legal abortion death.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Affordable adoption? How about FREE?
It's often been said that those of us fortunate enough to have given birth couldn't afford to have adopted our own children. Well, the state of Arkansas wants to match the kids in foster care with loving families.
FREE Adoptions!!?!:
If this works to get Arkansas kids out of foster care and into loving families, maybe, God willing, other states will follow suit. Adoption shouldn't be limited to those families with funds enough to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the process.
FREE Adoptions!!?!:
1. Contact your local CALL office, or DHS office (if the CALL is not yet set up in your county).
2. File a background check and begin filling out the adoption/ foster packet, completing all tasks listed.
3. Attend Foster/ Adopt Pride classes through local CALL (2 weekends) or DHS (1x per week for 10 weeks).
4. Attend CPR/ First Aide training class. (1 Saturday)
5. Let your local CALL or DHS know you are ready for your homestudy.
Now you are ready for DHS to match you with a waiting child!!
There are approximately 500 children in Arkansas foster care (all range of races and ages) right now, ready for adoption.
If this works to get Arkansas kids out of foster care and into loving families, maybe, God willing, other states will follow suit. Adoption shouldn't be limited to those families with funds enough to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the process.
1991: Abortion fatal for New Jersey woman
"Terri" Roe is one of the women Life Dynamics notes on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legalized abortion.
On April 6, 1991, Terri, age 34, had an abortion at a doctor's office in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey. A nurse called the police saying that they needed emergency help for an unconscious patient.
According to the police report, the doctor had already left the facility when the nurse called for help. Terri was taken to the hospital and placed on life support. She was pronounced dead on April 11, 1991.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
On April 6, 1991, Terri, age 34, had an abortion at a doctor's office in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey. A nurse called the police saying that they needed emergency help for an unconscious patient.
According to the police report, the doctor had already left the facility when the nurse called for help. Terri was taken to the hospital and placed on life support. She was pronounced dead on April 11, 1991.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1935: Grocery clerk's wife dies from abortion
Mrs. Doris Jones, a 30-year-old mother of two, died April 11, 1935, from complications of a criminal abortion. Dr. Guy E. Brewer, a 53-year-old bachelor known for his benevolence toward college students, was fingered. Brewer was a quiet, small-town doctor in Garber, Oklahoma. Doris' husband, a grocery clerk, had not known about the abortion until after Doris took ill.
Doris' abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Doris' abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
1984: The Chinese Bandit lets patient bleed to death
Abortionist Raymond E. Showery was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the safe, legal abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca.
Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion April 11, 1984. Showery's defense team said that Mickey was not bleeding excessively immediately after her abortion, but that a nurse discovered the hemorrhage, and Mickey was taken into the operating room for a transfusion. However, Showery would not provide Mickey's records to the Grand Jury on the grounds that they might incriminate him.
It turns out that during the abortion, Showery had torn a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.
The prosecution charged that Showery used inadequately trained staff, failed to properly treat the injuries he'd caused Mickey, delayed treatment, and delayed transfer to a hospital.
Showery performed Mickey's fatal abortion while out on bail pending appeal for his murder conviction. Several of Showery's employees had gone to the police and reported that Showery had drowned a baby girl who had survived a 1979 abortion.
Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial for manslaughter in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local prochoicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion April 11, 1984. Showery's defense team said that Mickey was not bleeding excessively immediately after her abortion, but that a nurse discovered the hemorrhage, and Mickey was taken into the operating room for a transfusion. However, Showery would not provide Mickey's records to the Grand Jury on the grounds that they might incriminate him.
It turns out that during the abortion, Showery had torn a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.
The prosecution charged that Showery used inadequately trained staff, failed to properly treat the injuries he'd caused Mickey, delayed treatment, and delayed transfer to a hospital.
Showery performed Mickey's fatal abortion while out on bail pending appeal for his murder conviction. Several of Showery's employees had gone to the police and reported that Showery had drowned a baby girl who had survived a 1979 abortion.
Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial for manslaughter in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local prochoicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Now we know exactly who to blame for blocking stem cell progress
I had expressed bewilderment before that patients were having to leave the United States and go to other countries to get treatments with adult stem cells. I've learned who the culprit is: It's the Food and Drug Administration:
If I'm understanding this correctly, any time a new use is discovered for using a patient's own stem cells, doctors elsewhere in the world can just treat it like a medical procedure and start treatment, but US doctors have to wait for clinical trials and FDA approval.
On the one hand, I'm all for not jumping the gun and unleashing new and potentially dangerous processes. But adult stem cells have a strong record of success without the risks and side effects of embryonic stem cells.
Paul Harvey blamed prolifers for the fact that Don Ho had to go to Thailand to get stem cell treatment for his heart. Now we know who to blame.
I've signed up at Safe Stem Cells -- I want my nephew to walk again. I want my fellow citizens to be able to get the kind of care right here at home that patients are getting overseas.
The FDA’s stance is that a person’s own stem cells must be tested as a new drug- ie. subject to 7-10 years of clinical trials and testing for each disease/condition it is used for.
If I'm understanding this correctly, any time a new use is discovered for using a patient's own stem cells, doctors elsewhere in the world can just treat it like a medical procedure and start treatment, but US doctors have to wait for clinical trials and FDA approval.
On the one hand, I'm all for not jumping the gun and unleashing new and potentially dangerous processes. But adult stem cells have a strong record of success without the risks and side effects of embryonic stem cells.
Paul Harvey blamed prolifers for the fact that Don Ho had to go to Thailand to get stem cell treatment for his heart. Now we know who to blame.
I've signed up at Safe Stem Cells -- I want my nephew to walk again. I want my fellow citizens to be able to get the kind of care right here at home that patients are getting overseas.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Pray for the release of Captain Phillips
I have a new hero.
U.S. Warship Arrives as Pirates' Options Dwindle
The crew of the USS Bainbridge fought pirates, and their captain, Richard Phillips, offered himself to the pirates as a hostage to save his ship and crew. He and the pirates are floating in a small boat, out of fuel. The shipping company is offering a $10 million ransom for his safe release. (And we can't afford a couple hundred thousand to take care of a sick baby in the NICU, but I digress....)
Prayers for this brave captain, his family, and everybody working (and fighting) to get him safely home again.
U.S. Warship Arrives as Pirates' Options Dwindle
The crew of the USS Bainbridge fought pirates, and their captain, Richard Phillips, offered himself to the pirates as a hostage to save his ship and crew. He and the pirates are floating in a small boat, out of fuel. The shipping company is offering a $10 million ransom for his safe release. (And we can't afford a couple hundred thousand to take care of a sick baby in the NICU, but I digress....)
Prayers for this brave captain, his family, and everybody working (and fighting) to get him safely home again.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A ghoulish scenario unfolds in Canada
Canadian baby doesn't get heart transplant
Kaylee Wallace, 2 months old, has Joubert syndrome, which is a congenital brain malformation.
Kaylee's parents met the parents of a sick child, baby Lillian, who is on the list for a heart transplant because she has truncus arteriosus. Having been told there was no hope for Kaylee, Kaylee's parents decided to withdraw her vent support so Lillian could have her heart.
This is where organ transplantation has taken us -- the the point where a loving father's first reaction on hearing that his child wasn't so sick after all was to be crushed with disappointment.
Is this really a road we want to travel?
Prayers for both these children -- that a better alternative can be found for baby Lillian -- such as surgically correcting the heart defect, and that the doctors who gave Kaylee such a grim prognosis that she was fit for nothing but spare parts will be proved wrong. And let's pray that we turn away from this transplant culture, where we're putting patients and their families onto a ghoulish waiting list where they're disappointed when a child doesn't die.
Read this excellent blog post from Not Dead Yet.
More:
Little Kaylee's fate unclear
Baby Kaylee's parents hope to bring her home
Ill baby shocks parents by breathing without support
Baby Kaylee's parents told she's stable but might still die
Kaylee Wallace, 2 months old, has Joubert syndrome, which is a congenital brain malformation.
Kaylee's parents met the parents of a sick child, baby Lillian, who is on the list for a heart transplant because she has truncus arteriosus. Having been told there was no hope for Kaylee, Kaylee's parents decided to withdraw her vent support so Lillian could have her heart.
But Kaylee only needs breathing support when she's asleep and to everyone's disappointment, she stayed awake during the one-hour window in the operating room and the surgery was called off, [her father, Jason] Wallace said. .... Wallace said he'd fight to give the surgery another chance and hopefully Kaylee would fall asleep on the second try so the transplant could go ahead.
This is where organ transplantation has taken us -- the the point where a loving father's first reaction on hearing that his child wasn't so sick after all was to be crushed with disappointment.
Is this really a road we want to travel?
Prayers for both these children -- that a better alternative can be found for baby Lillian -- such as surgically correcting the heart defect, and that the doctors who gave Kaylee such a grim prognosis that she was fit for nothing but spare parts will be proved wrong. And let's pray that we turn away from this transplant culture, where we're putting patients and their families onto a ghoulish waiting list where they're disappointed when a child doesn't die.
Read this excellent blog post from Not Dead Yet.
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