Four anniversaries

Today we have the anniversaries of four abortion deaths. Click on each woman's name for more information.

Emma Post, "about twenty years of age, daughter of one of our most respectable citizens," was taken from her Brooklyn home to Dover by her lover, to undergo an abortion at the hands of Dr. Lewis Dix. She was spirited off to Newburyport on Wednesday. On Thursday, June 11, 1857, she "paid the forfeit of such acts, dying in excruciating agony." Her lover and Dr. Dix were both arrested. It was typical in the days before widespread legalization for women or the their babies' fathers to find doctors to perpetrate the abortions.

On June 11, 1917, 23-year-old Mrs. Esther Stark died at Chicago's German Hospital from a criminal abortion perpetrated by Mrs. Groh, who was never prosecuted because she died several days later from causes not indicated in the source. Esther's case was unusual in that it appears that a layman performed the fatal abortion. Most criminal abortions were performed by physicians.

Angela Scott, age 19, stopped breathing in the recovery room after her abortion, being performed June 2, 1979 at National Abortion Federation member Atlanta Women's Pavillion. A nurse-anesthetist ran to assist in efforts to revive Angela, leaving 14-year-old Deloris Scott unattended with her anesthesia drip still running. Angela lingered for a week in a coma before dying on June 11. Deloris died several months later in a nursing home.

On June 9, 1999, Maria Leho when she entrusted herself to the staff at Albany Medical Surgical Center of Chicago -- a member of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA) chain of abortion facilities. She was to undergo an abortion at the hands of John Weitzner, MD. Staff administered an anesthetic that was contraindicated in patients who, like Maria, had seizure disorders. She was left inadequately monitored in the recovery room until somebody noticed that she wasn't breathing. Rather than call an ambulance promptly, staff tried to revive her on-site. Finally she was transferred to a hospital, where in spite of all efforts to save her, she died on June 11. FPA, like Atlanta Women's Pavillion, is a National Abortion Federation member.