Thursday, September 22, 2011

1970: One of the first victims of New York abortion law

"Amanda" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. Amanda was 19 years old when she traveled from Indiana to New York for a legal abortion in 1970. She was 12 weeks pregnant.

The doctor performed the abortion on September 3. He was unable to remove any of the fetus or placenta. For some reason, he did not suspect a problem. He discharged Amanda and she returned home. Upon her return home, she suffered from pain, nausea, and vomiting, so she sought care from a physician in her community. She was admitted to the hospital with a perforated uterus.

Her doctor performed a lapartotomy, and found that the fetus was still inside Amanda's perforated uterus. The abortion was completed and the hole in her uterus was repaired.

After the surgery, she had a series of complications beginning with difficulty breathing. On September 10, doctors performed a hysterectomy. She continued to be treated in the hospital, but despite all their efforts she died on September 22.
I believe that Dr. Paul Jarrett was one of the doctors who tried to save her life. His story is here.

Advocates of legalized abortion will argue that deaths like Amanda's, while still tragic, were significantly reduced by the legalization of abortion. But as you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths had already been falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data. Less abortion-enamored minds credit the drop to improved medical care.

external image Abortion+Deaths+Since+1960.jpg

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