Friday, July 08, 2011

Two anniversaries: One criminal, one safe and legal

On July 8, 1929, 26-year-old Frances Rogers died from a criminal abortion. The source summary says that the abortion was done in an unknown location, but the description of the offense says that she died at the scene of the crime. The person responsible was never identified.

Junette Barnes, a 27-year-old mother of four, had a tubal ligation on June 16, 1988. One week after this operation, she found out that she had been pregnant at the time of the surgery, and was still pregnant. She saw her family physician, Dr. Ted Shields on July 8, 1988, and he performed a safe, legal abortion on her at Surgicare Outpatient Center in Victoria that day. During the abortion, he perforated her uterus and cut an artery and several veins. Junette was transferred to a hospital, where she died of blood loss during emergency surgery.

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