1998 and 1982: Bleeding to Death from Safe, Legal Abortion

Kendra McLeod, single mother of two, underwent an abortion at a clinic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on June 12, 1998. She bled heavily after the abortion. The day after her abortion, she sought help at an emergency room. She had fainted three times by the time she got into the emergency room at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Doctors at the hospital transfused Kendra with nine units of blood and performed surgery to try to save her life, to no avail. She died on June 30, at the age of 22. Her family lost a lawsuit against the hospital. Documents do not note if the family sued the abortion provider.

Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Suddeth underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Frank Robinson on June 30, 1982. On the drive home, Jennifer bled heavily, alarming her boyfriend, John Fredzess. Fredzess called the clinic repeatedly over the four hours after their return home, but staff would not put the call through to Robinson. One nurse admonished Fredzess to "be realistic" about how severely Jennifer was bleeding. By that time, Jennifer had bled through two pairs of sweat pants, two blankets, and a towel. At last the hysterical husband was able to contact Robinson, who insisted that the bleeding was normal and instructed Fredzess to stop calling. When Jennifer went into convulsions, Fredzess called an ambulance. Paramedics arrived at the home to find Jennifer already dead. Police interviewed the weeping and hysterical Fredzess, then pressed charges against Robinson for involuntary manslaughter in Jennifer's death. Although Robinson beat the rap, the state of California nevertheless counted Jennifer's death as due to illegal abortion.

Abortion advocates would assert that while Kendra's and Jennifer's deaths were tragic, more women would die if abortion were recriminalized. That claim doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Abortion deaths fell dramatically during the 20th century, not due to legalization of the practice but due to improved overall health and improved health-care practices.

We can see that starting in the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. And as you can see from the graph below, the fall in abortion deaths was in place long before legalization. Legalization did nothing to change the number of deaths each year; the trend had been in place for decades. Learn more here.

Since the Centers for Disease Control indicated that no woman should bleed to death from abortion, given the current state of medicine, Kendra's death must have begun with some screw-up.  Jennifer's death was due to unadulterated quackery. If abortion-rights advocates are serious about protecting women's lives, they'd worry more about deadly quacks like Robinson and less about prolife pregnancy centers that keep women out of the hands of quacks like Robinson.

1906: German Immigrant Dies After Abortion by Midwife

Mrs. Johanna Faulner, a 40-year-old German immigrant, died June 29, 1906, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Chicago, from complications of an abortion performed on June 24. Midwife Emily Redeniske was arrested in the death.

Note, please, that with general 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. 

In fact, as you can see below, maternal mortality fell the fastest long before legalization due to improvements in health and medical practice. To claim that legalizing abortion reduced mortality is to claim credit that is due to other people.

 

For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.

1988: Failed to Call Ambulance, Woman Dies

Dawn Mendoza underwent a safe, legal abortion at the hands of Edward Rubin at Women's Medical Pavilion in Dobbs Ferry, New York, on June 29, 1988.

Dawn was 22 weeks pregnant. Her brother, who accompanied her, was instructed to wait in a grassy park across the street, and to come back for her at 4 p.m. He returned, as instructed, and was told that Dawn wasn't ready to leave yet, to return in half an hour. When he came back at 5:30, staff told him that his sister was dead.

Rubin had done a D&C abortion on Dawn, a 28-year-old mother of two. Afterward Dawn started screaming and gasping for breath. Her blood pressure fell and she stopped breathing. Staff tried unsuccessfully to revive her, but did not call an ambulance. Dawn died without ever being transferred to a hospital.

The medical examiner determined that she had died from amniotic fluid embolism, as evidenced by particles of placenta and amniotic fluid in her lungs. This foreign matter in her bloodstream also caused disseminated intravacsular coaglopathy, a blood clotting problem. The autopsy found "about 1/2 liter of a yellowish fluid ... present in the abdominal cavity" and "about 10cc of an amber colored fluid" in heart sac.

Decieved or lying?

Abortion advocates argue that although legal abortion deaths like Dawn's are indeed sad, they're only a pale shadow of the carnage that would ensue were legal protection restored to unborn children. They use these claims to garner support among those otherwise reluctant to support legal abortion as well as to slander life advocates.

There are two approaches Big Abortion takes when trying to scare people into supporting legal abortion as a means of protecting women's lives:

Outright lying. They will trot out the long-disproven claim that 5,000 to 10,000 women were dying every year from abortion before legalization.

Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL,* admitted that he and his associates knew that the claims of 5,000 to 10,000 criminal abortion deaths were false. They bandied them about anyway, Nathanson confessed, because they were useful. This, too, is old news -- Nathanson came clean in 1979 when he published //Aborting America//.

Lying by omission. They will use numbers that are accurate, but will totally remove them from context in order to draw a conclusion that is demonstrably false. which typically involves taking fairly reliable abortion mortality numbers from before and after legalization then crediting legalization for the drop. No less prestigious organization than the Alan Guttmacher Institute uses this statistical legerdemain: "As the availability of legally induced abortion increased, mortality due to abortion dropped sharply: The number of abortion-related deaths per million live births fell from nearly 40 in 1970 to eight in 1976."

The truth is that you can take virtually any time period from when public health officials first started collecting the data and you'll find that abortion mortality fell.The only exception is a strange leveling-off in the 1950s that I've been unable to account for:

Milan Vuitch

What caused abortion mortality to fall precipitously wasn't legalization. Legalization didn't even make a blip in the trends, likely because for every non-physician whose business fell away, a physician abortionist became sloppy once the risk of a prison sentence for botching an abortion was gone. I know of three erstwhile criminal abortionists -- Jesse Ketchum, Milan Vuitch, and Benjamin Munson -- who kept their noses clean prior to legalization but each went on to practice appallingly sloppy abortions that killed two patients after legalization.

1900: A Typical Chicago Abortion Death

On June 28, 1900, a woman only identified as "Mrs. Andre Jorgenson" died on the scene from an illegal abortion.

Mrs. Anna Pihlgren, whose occupation is listed as nurse or midwife, was arrested and held by the Coroner's Jury. A man identified as Andre Pihlgren in the source, but who was probably the dead woman's husband, was held as an accessory.

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, seeAbortion Deaths 1900-1909.

Two Safe and Illegal Deaths

Dr. Guy Brewer

Hermione Fowler, a 20-year-old coed at the Oklahoma A&M University, died at her Red Oak, Oklahoma home on June 27, 1934, nine days after an abortion perpetrated by noted local philanthropist Dr. Guy E. Brewer (pictured).  Hermoine was one of six women whose abortion deaths were blamed on Brewer. He entered guilty pleas and served six concurrent four-year sentences.

On June 24, 1929, 19-year-old homemaker Winifred Garver underwent an abortion at the office of Dr. Anna Schultz, aka Rollins. Schultz was assisted by Dr. James White. For Winifred, however, the combined efforts of two doctors where not enough. She died on June 27 at Woodlawn Hospital. On June 27, both physicians were held by the coroner. Schultz was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury on October 6, 1930.

Deadly, Before and After Legalization

Pamela Colson, age 31, was 12 weeks pregnant when friends drive her to Women's Medical Services in Pensacola, Florida, for a safe and legal abortion June 26, 1994. Pamela bled heavily during the drive home. According to her friends, Pamela became unresponsive, so they stopped at a motel. Two passers-by did CPR while Pamela's friends called for an ambulance. Pamela was taken to a hospital where she died after an emergency hysterectomy. The cause of death was given as "irreversible shock from blood loss due to a perforated uterus occurring at the time of an elective abortion." William Keene was tentatively identified as having performed the abortion.


On June 26, 1888, 16-year-old Annie Dorris died at Dr. Lucy Hagenow's "maternity hospital" in San Francisco. She was buried the following day based on a death certificate filed by Dr. Xavier Dodel, who claimed that he'd been called to tend to her at her home for chills and fever and had transferred her to Hagenow's care about two days before her death, when his treatment was not successful. “A autopsy held on the remains which were disinterred for the purpose, showed that death was the result of an abortion.”

Augusta had read in a German newspaper that “Mrs. Hagenow's hospital on Twelfth street was a good place,” so she took Annie there. “Mrs. Hagenow said that she would cure the girl for $30 and took her into a private room to examine her.” After Annie emerged, Hagenow charged her mother an additional $10, saying that she had damaged an instrument due to Anna's inability to lie still.

Three days later, Annie took to her bed, complaining of pains in her legs and back. According to Annie's father, Frederick, Hagenow came to the house to check on Annie. Hagenow took the girl into a side room, from which Frederick heard Annie cry out. Hagenow emerged and said that a "man doctor" had to be called in due to inflammation of the bowels and high fever. Hagenow left and returned with Dr. Xavier Dodel. The two of them went into the room with Annie, and again Frederick heard his daughter cry out. Dodel emerged from the room with bloody hands.

Upon his recommendation, Annie was removed to the "Maternity Home," where she died on the third day.

Augusta said that Hagenow's sister, Mrs. Seibert, told her that she'd taken her daughter to a “hell hole” and that “other persons had been murdered there.” Anna Hickert, who operated a bakery, said that she relayed to Hagenow that Seibert had told her that Hagenow ran “a murderous den,” but Hagenow had told Hickert not to relay this because her sister would deny having ever said any such thing.

As Augusta testified about her daughter's death, she “cried pitifully.” After being given time to regain her composure, Augusta, with her husband by her side, was asked about her encounter with Hagenow at the coroner's office. Augusta said that Hagenow told her to denied ever meeting her, or she (Hagenow) would end up doing 25 or 30 years at San Quentin. The coroner had chased Hagenow from the room.

Hagenow eventually made bail, but the San Francisco Chronicle noted, “The bond itself is a queer one. Although the signers qualify in the aggregate for $20,000 there is more than the faint suspicion afloat that it is a bond of straw.” Pretty fishy – perhaps in one case even fictitious – characters were putting their signatures on it. “When Mrs. Hagenow was released she ran to Dr. Dodel's cell and held a short conversation with him. It is quite probable that he will soon be out on bond if [Judge] Hornblower can be persuaded to accept the same kind of sureties for him as he did for his female companion." Hagenow stuck to her story that Annie had been deathly ill before she'd even been called in.

Three trials in the case led to three hung juries.

Hagenow was also implicated in the San Francisco abortion deaths of Louise Derchow and Abbia Richards, as well as for the suspicious death of Emma Dep at Hagenow's maternity home.

Hagenow relocated to Chicago and began piling up dead bodies there as well. She was implicated in numerous abortion deaths, including:

• 1892: Sophia Kuhn and Emily Anderson
• 1896: Hannah Carlson
• 1899: Marie Hecht
• 1905: May Putnam
• 1906: Lola Madison
• 1907: Annie Horvatich
• 1925: Lottie Lowy, Nina H. Pierce, Jean Cohen, Bridget Masterson, and Elizabeth Welter
• 1926: Mary Moorehead

Both Illegal, One "Safe," One "Unsafe."

On June 25, 1911, 20-year-old Mrs. Anna Mueller died from a criminal abortion performed by Dr. George Lotz. Lotz was arrested July 5. He was indicted for felony murder. Leslie Reagan indicates that he was expelled from the Chicago Medical Society after admitting guilt in Anna's death, but there is no record that he served time for the crime. In fact, he was free and in Danville, Illinois in 1917, when he perpetrated a fatal attempted abortion on Matilda Tidrick in 1917. Clearly, when legal protection is returned to unborn children, we will have to close up the loopholes that allowed butchers like Lotz to kill women and babies.

Although Anna's abortion was illegal, it was performed by somebody who had the tools and training to perform it up to the medical standards of the time. The same can't be said of the other woman whose death we commemorate today. 

On June 13, 1882, Ruth Phillips delivered stillborn twins. She was near death herself. A few days later she made a shocking deathbed statement to her sisters: she said that their father was the father of the twins, and that he had used instruments on her to cause the abortion that killed the twins and was soon to take her own life. Ruth died on June 25, and was buried on the 26th. An autopsy was performed, which evidently corroborated the girl's deathbed statement, since her father, James T. Phillips, was arrested. There was such outrage in the community that Phillips was in danger of being lynched.

Let's Keep the "ExposeCPC" Tweetfest Going!

The thing that drives  me most crazy about the abortion-rights obsession with bashing CPCs is that they ignore quackery that kills women and rend their garments over prolifers who annoy them.

At the end of this post will be a boatload of tweets to post and remind them that their priorities are way off:  Of course, you can always go to my Twitter page, scroll down, and retweet!

Their responses will be:

1. "So? Lots of people die from malpractice!" Respond w/ "What excuse is that for #prochoice movement tolerating deadly #abortion quackery?"
2. "CPC does, X, Y, or Z!" Ask for source. On the off chance they actually provide one (They usually just block you if you keep insisting.), check it out and critique accordingly.
3. "How does giving out diapers prevent abortion injury?" Respond with:  By preventing #abortion! Keep her away from quack, safe from quackery! 

If you challenge them often enough, they'll block your responses so they can tweet their lies unmolested. You can copy and cut down the tweet & give short response, as in this example:

awrongturnfirst sez " #ExposeCPC curious if secular argument against abortion." "Pick on someone Ur own size." http://secularprolife.org

 I think we need to start a #ProchoicePriorities or #ExposeQuackery fest!

I'll start you out with this one I found on FaceBook that's too good not to share:

No woman or child has ever died inside a crisis pregnancy center. #ExposeCPC

A few variations that can be tweeted with that graphic:

#Abortion quackery kills women, #prochoice are all "#ExposeCPC" Priorities?
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

"Safe & legal" is a lie. It's not safe when women die. #ExposeCPC? Expose #abortion quackery!
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

Even if every claim by #ExposeCPC was true, who gets hurt? #Abortion KILLS women! #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

Here's women killed by #abortion. How many killed by CPCs? #ExposeCPC? Expose QUACKERY!
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

#Prochoice fight efforts 2 stop #abortion quackery, obsess w/#ExposeCPC. Priorities?
http://realchoice.blogspot.kr/2013/04/call-it-compton-carr-effect.html

Here's another I've made free with:

CPC's provide free pregnancy tests. Many also provide ultrasound services free #exposeCPC because #PP doesn't want you to see an ultrasound!

I took a pro-abortion one and flipped it:

#ExposeCPC? #Prochoice want #abortion w/No Medical Oversight, Accountability, or Regulation of Procedures! http://realchoice.blogspot.kr/2013/04/call-it-compton-carr-effect.htm

And here are mine:

#PlannedParenthood starts abortion on ambivalent patient, refused help when changed her mind, baby died. #ExposeCPC?!
http://t.co/ItDUxI11vo

#abortion clinic multiple serious patient injuries, Y no concern in #prochoice lobby? 2Busy w/#ExposeCPC!
http://t.co/TtXGEuztpP

Women sent home after #abortion w/rotting fetus in her womb. #Prochoice call 4 #ExpoaseCPC, ignore quackery!
http://t.co/3Ux9bDTdiy

Inappropriate sexual behavior toward #abortion patients; #prochoice do #ExposeCPC, ignore REAL abuse. 
http://t.co/e2R5l9vlTu

Dangerous conditions at #abortion clinic, patient death. Prochoice #ExposeCPC ploy 2divert attention from quackery. 
http://t.co/iUiqiz06yL

Dangerous conditions at #PlannedParenthood #abortion clinic, #prochoice too busy w/#ExposeCPC to care.
http://t.co/JFXdbLYXDk

#PlannedParenthood #abortion clinic no informed consent, no ACLS. #Prochoice "#ExposeCPC"!?? Expose deadly quacks! 
http://t.co/J6oQWwjEIh

 Multiple violations at #PlannedParenthood #abortion clinic, #prochoice "#ExposeCPC?" Y not "ExposeQuackery?"
http://t.co/1Is2WaYg7N

#ExposeCPC Fetal remains bubble up from #abortion clinic sewer line. #Prochoice too busy bashing CPCs to care. 
http://t.co/mgqNQKmKym

Multiple violations inc. failure 2do health exam before #abortions. #Prochoice "#ExposeCPC"? Y not "ExposeQuackery"? 
 http://t.co/mgqNQKmKym

 #ExposeCPC #Prochoice excuse for tolerating #abortion quackery? "Other doctors do it too!" Is that an excuse for killing patients?

#ExposeCPC #PlannedParenthood rips up patient's uterus, she bleeds to death. #prochoice 2busy bashing CPCs to care. 
http://t.co/FPelJkg9Ug

#ExposeCPC #Prochoice continue to evade issue of their tolerance of deadly #abortion quackery, make excuses. Care about women?

#ExposeCPC #Prochoice can't produce a single ad in which CPCs falsely claim to be medical clinics.

 Horrible #abortion quackery kills patient. #Prochoice ignore, go after CPCs instead. #ExposeCPC? Priorities?

 http://t.co/unqDqvZ3bl

 #NAF inspector sees #Gosnell filth,doesn't report.He starts #abortions @ NAF clinic. But NAF is all over #ExposeCPC! 

http://t.co/iZAN4TLOJR

 #Prochoice don't call 2expose deadly #abortion quackery. #ExposeCPC? Priorities, people!
 http://t.co/NB5GGwPQZA

#abortion nurse: " I gauge, and sometimes lie a little, weaseling around..." No #prochoice outrage. #ExposeCPC? 
http://t.co/YKtTYV9gVu

PP duz #abortions on abuse victims, returns them 4 more abuse. Y is this OK w/#prochoice?

 #Abortion pt. shoved out door 2bleed2death. No #prochoice call, "ExposeQuacks." Y #ExposeCPC?
http://t.co/1OPvCCMgvQ

Untrained duz anesthesia, dead #abortion pt. Y no #prochoice call "Expose quackery"?#ExposeCPC
http://t.co/IR0TtxVHsN 

#PlannedParenthood quackery kills #abortion patient. Y "#exposeCPC," not "Expose quackery"?
http://t.co/P839QjSmMZ

National #Abortion Fed. only expelled clinic that employed #Gosnell AFTER story broke. Kept silent4years! #ExposeCPC? 
http://t.co/eIOdLLqBs7

 National #Abortion Federation knew Brigham's clinics dangerous. No call for "Expose quackery." 2Busy w/#ExposeCPC
http://t.co/LJJf3WmA4i

 I'll believe #abortion rights is about women's safety when they stop making excuses 4 fatal quackery. #ExposeCPC?

Extensive #prochoice hx of blocking attempts 2 clean up dangerous #abortion mills where women die. #ExposeCPC? 
http://t.co/lQj21JHXTP

Hemorrhaging #abortion pt. abandoned, literally shoved out door2die. #Prochoice start defense fund4killer.#ExposeCPC? 
http://t.co/1OPvCCMgvQ

National #Abortion Federation fatally injures 2 teens in 1 hour. #Prochoice busy attacking CPCs. #ExposeCPC 
http://t.co/0nD7ds8Hkw

National #Abortion Federation clinic kills 3 women. Multiple safety violations. #Prochoice 2Busy w/#ExposeCPC 3Care.
http://t.co/BKt6hULAo1

National #Abortion Federation chain kills at least 16 pts.,no preventability studies. #Prochoice response #ExposeCPC! 
http://t.co/aRDeZ6wZGM

Women deserve better than referral 2National #Abortion Federation dens of death! No #prochoice outrage! #ExposeCPC?
http://t.co/9ONx2Pk9Yo

 National #Abortion Federation member lets receptionist give anesthesia; pt. dies. #prochoice busy w/#ExposeCPC! 
 http://t.co/lgM77FttKf

 "The Butcher of Avenue A" wus National #Abortion Federation member. #Prochoice demand #Expose CPC? Priorities? 
http://t.co/xMkC2SH62C

 National #Abortion Federation promises safety, delivers quackery, death. #Prochoice call 2 #ExposeCPC! Priorities? 
http://t.co/9ONx2Pk9Yo

#Abortion doc sez he has "license to lie." #Prochoice med students call him "hero," "role model." #ExposeCPC?  
http://t.co/t8k27wH0HP

Happy tweeting!

A Beneficiary of New York's Pre-Roe Abortion Legalization

"Annie" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion.

Annie traveled from New Jersey to New York to avail herself of the new law, for a first-trimester abortion on June 24, 1971.

Shortly after she was given anesthesia, Annie went into cardiac arrest, and attempts to revive her failed. She left behind three children.

There is such a dearth of information about Annie's death that it's impossible to determine if it was due to quackery or was just an ordinary complication of surgery or anesthesia, which was riskier at the time than it is now. Still, her children would have been better off with a new sibling than with a dead mother.

We can see that starting in the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. And as you can see from the graph below, the fall in abortion deaths was in place long before legalization. Legalization did nothing to change the number of deaths each year; the trend had been in place for decades. Learn more here.

Anti-CPC Tweetfest. Let's get TRUTH out there!

My Drop in the Ocean has posted #ExposeCPC Tweetfest – You Can Do It!

 MDitO has plenty of suggestions, and I added scads in the comments. Visit that page in case others have posted more. In the mean time, their suggestions:

#ExposeCPC for giving FREE ultrasounds

#ExposeCPC who empower women to choose life by giving them pre and post natal resources

#ExposeCPC for giving out more free pregnancy tests than @PPact

#ExposeCPC They mentor women through pregnancy, take them to Dr apts, and give them clothes & diapers 4 free. @PPact charges u 4 everything

#ExposeCPC They tell women the truth about abortion and @PPact

#exposeCPC Warning: Unlike Federally Funded Planned Parenthood, Crisis Pregnancy Centers were not founded by KKK member Margaret Sanger.

My suggestions:

#ExposeCPC Unlike #abortion clinics, CPC never let #Gosnell start abortions in their clinic & finish in his filthy mill.
http://kermitgosnellcrimes.wikispaces.com/Baby+Boy+A

#ExposeCP  Unlike #prochoice,
they didn’t invent assembly-line #abortion and treat women like cattle #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/18/edward-c-fast-eddie-allred/

#ExposeCP  Unlike #prochoice, they don’t run string of places that have killed at least 16 women. #abortion
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/18/edward-c-fast-eddie-allred/

#ExposeCP  Unlike #abortion clinics,  they don’t send women 2doctors w/extensive history of malpractice #prochoice http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ali-Azima-License-Suspension-Jan-15-1985.pdf

#ExposeCP  Unlike #abortion clinics,  they don’t refer women to doctors who get their licenses suspended. #prochoice http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Christopher-Dotson-License-Revocation-and-Probation-CA-2000.pdf

#ExposeCP  Unlike #abortion clinics,
 they don’t refer women to quacks who injure them. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Epstein-5-year-License-Suspension-NY.pdf

#ExposeCP  Unlike #abortion clinics,
they don’t abandon patients to die  #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/220/william-g-fitzhugh/ 

#ExposeCP  Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t have docs who get license suspended 4drug trafficking #prochoice
 http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Gluck-David-Alan-NY-Office-of-Professional-Discipline-11-06-1992.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t injure patients and cause them to need a hysterectomy. #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/276/thomas-h-gresinger/

#ExposeCPC
They don’t proudly teach #abortion docs how to stab ¾ born babies in the base of the skull. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/NAFpaper091392.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They totally fail to sexually abuse patients #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/344/vikram-kaji/

#ExposeCPC
They don’t browbeat teen 2continuing #abortion after changing mind, cause baby 2die of prematurity
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Nicholette.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t load hemorrhaging patient into staff car, cause her to bleed to death #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Davis-Death.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t perform illegal 3rd-tri #abortion on teen, causing her death. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Davis-Death.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinic, they don’t discharge injured patient 2look after herself & end up hospitalized.
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Kim-VA-1218198.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t injure patients then cause their deaths by failure to resuscitate. #prochoice #abortion
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Kim-VA-Board-Charges-01112005.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t promise safety, then fail 2resuscitate teen, cause vegetative state. #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/383/ronald-edward-kuseski/

#ExposeCPC
They don’t perform medical procedures (especially not #abortion) w/o patient consent. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Legal-Liability-for-Abortion-Jan-Feb-1996.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t employ doctors who tie their wife down and force an #abortion. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bond-Set-for-Doctor-Accused-of-Wifes-Forced-Abortion.jpg

#ExposeCPC
They don’t massively overdose 13-year-old girl and let her die from lack of proper resuscitation
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Adams-v.-FPAMG-Abortion-Death-Lichtenberg.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t kill patients by causing dangerous injury, trying 2treat complications in outpatient setting
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maria-Rodriguez-v.-FPA20120118142933.pdf

#ExposeCPC  They don’t kill their clients. #prochoice #abortion http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Nakia-Jorden-v.-FPA20120118143120.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t commit Medicaid fraud. #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Joseph-Marmet-License-Suspension-1987.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t let non-physicians practice medicine, causing severe injury 2baby and trauma 2mother
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Complaint-CH-v-Pendergraft-36.7-Million-Judgement.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t cause critical injures to women then take them to the hospital in a private car. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/RileySuspension-MD.pdf 

#ExposeCPC
They don’t work with doctors who have appalling history of malpractice. #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/562/nicola-i-riley/

#ExposeCPC
 They don’t misdiagnose patients, perform the wrong procedure, then send them home to die #prochoice
 http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Alan-Ross-License-Suspension-Dec-28-1993.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t run interstate networks of appalling quackery. #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/clinic/abortionist/759/steven-chase-brigham/ 

#ExposeCPC
 They don’t let clients go into shock from blood loss. #abortion #prochoice
 http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/newyorkrevocation-brigham.pdf

#ExposeCPC
They don’t leave clients with torn bowels and needing a colostomy #abortion #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/newyorkrevocation-brigham.pdf 

#ExposeCPC
They don’t commit life-threatening quackery on patients, load them into cars 4transport 2hospital
 http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Brigham.-complaint-and-exhibit-list-.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they totally fail to kill women. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t tear up women’s internal organs & let them bleed 2death.#prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Mickey+Apodaca

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t allow untrained people 2administer general anesthesia. #prochoice
http://realchoice.0catch.com/docs/Rotem.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t dope up 13-year-old girls,let them die. #prochoice
http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/appellatecourt/2000/1stdistrict/june/html/1982583.htm

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t give women contraindicated drugs and let them die. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Diane+Boyd

#ExposeCPC   Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t hire woman-killing quacks. #prochoice http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/doctors-license-jeopardy-death-abortion-patient-san-gabriel.html

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t dope women to death. #prochoice
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-09-08/health/bs-hs-abortion-doctors-20100908_1_medical-licenses-meperidine-physicians-board

#ExposeCPC
 Unlike #abortion clinics,they don’t shove fetal parts N2 holes in wombs&send them home2die. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Barbaralee+Davis

#ExposeCPC  Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t tear up women’s bowels&wombs&shove them out door 2die. #prochoice http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Sharon+Hamptlon

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinic, they don’t cancel ambulance, let patient bleed out. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Angela+Hall

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics,they don’t dope women up ’til they stop breathing,fail 2resuscitate. #prochoice
http://abortiondocs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Melissa-Heim_Wrongful-Death-lawsuit_03-L-694-Cook-County.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t injure women, fail 2call ambulance in time to save them. #prochoice
http://prolifeaction.org/docs/Leho.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics,CPCsdon’t send women home2die of infection due2fetal parts left in their wombs.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Michelle+Madden

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t injure women,send them home 2bleed 2death in front of their kids.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Sandra+Milton

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t allow amateurs to dope women up and let them die. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Karnamaya+Mongar 

#ExposeCPC
 Unlike #prochoice, they don’t run dens of quackery where multiple women die. #abortion
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Ruth+Montero

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t poke holes in women’s internal organs, shove them out door 2die.
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1987/Officials-Recommend-Criminal-Charges-against-Abortion-Doctor/id-348cc398b5cf31e5886a2cb6500eb722

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t mangle women to death in filthy room. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Guadalupe+Negron

#ExposeCPC  Unlike #abortion clinics, they never do dangerous procedure, injure woman, do zip while she bleeds2death. http://abortionsafety.com/doc/15074_Revocation_of_License_2012.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t hire quacks that kill one woman after the other. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Shirley+Payne

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinic, never left anesthetized teen unattended 2choke on vomit,lapse into fatal coma.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Dawn+Ravenell

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #PlannedParenthood,CPC never left bleeding pt. 2languish 4hours,getting 2hospital 2late2save her.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/07/24/documents-shed-light-on-womans-death-after-abortion/

#ExposeCPC  Unlike #abortion clinics, CPC never lacerate women’s insides,fail 2treat properly, let her bleed 2death.
http://prolifeaction.org/docs/Rodriguez.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinic, CPC never botched resuscitation, let woman die. #prochoice
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Antonesha+Ross

#ExposeCPC
 Unlike #abortion clinic, CPC never  did fatal 3rd tri on underage girl at behest of abuser’s sister.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Tamiia+Russell

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t run dangerous facilities or kill women. #prochoice
http://www.mbp.state.md.us/BPQAPP/orders/d3089005.293.pdf

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t have untrained staff do general anesthesia, causing patient death.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Laura+Hope+Smith

#ExposeCPC

Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t injure women then refuse to treat them, let them bleed to death.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Jennifer+Suddeth

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, CPC don’t misdiagnose, give wrong meds, tell not 2go 2ER4 help, &let them die.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2002/8/14/25209/15-Million-Lawsuit-Filed-In-Case-Of.aspx

#ExposeCPC
Unlike #abortion clinics, they don’t dope women 2death, or run facilities causing at least 16 pt.deaths.
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Ta+Tanisha+Wesson

And my personal favorite:

#ExposeCPC
Because it’s better to be killed by abortionists than annoyed by prolifers. #prochoice #abortion
http://cemeteryofchoice.wikispaces.com/Safe+and+Legal+Abortion+Deaths

Deadly "Safe" Abortions

The first two deaths we commemorate today are of a woman and a teenage girl who died from "safe and legal" abortions. In both of these cases, as well as in a related case, abortion facility staff made appalling screw-ups in medicating patients and in their attempts at resuscitation. And although less is known about the circumstances of the third death, it still falls under the category of "safe abortion" as defined by advocates of legalization.

Abortionist
Dr. Dehli Thweatt

Thirty-two-year-old Kelly Morse of Vermont traveled with her husband to Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for an abortion on June 19, 1996. Because the waiting room of the clinic was so crowded, Kelly's husband, Scott, waited for her outside. No doubt his attention was grabbed by the sound of an approaching ambulance. Just as it was pulling into the clinic driveway, a clinic staffer came out and told Scott that the ambulance was there for his wife He went in with the ambulance crew to find Kelly, naked and blue-black from lack of oxygen, lying on a table that was halfway out of the examination room into the hallway. The paramedics put a breathing tube into Kelly, properly administered medications, and performed CPR as they transported Kelly to nearby Polyclinic Medical Center, where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Her condition continued to deteriorate, and she was pronounced dead on June 22.  An investigation found that even though Kelly had notified Hillcrest staff that she had asthma and was allergic to the "caine" medications, including Lidocaine, Abortionist Dehli Thweatt (pictured) administered Lidocaine to Kelly at about 11 a.m. Kelly immediately had trouble breathing. A licensed practical nurse got Kelly's inhaler from her purse and helped her to use it, but it was not helping. Thweatt continued with the abortion, completing it in about four minutes, and spent some time providing ineffectual care to Kelly before having an ambulance summoned. The lawsuit filed by Kelly's widower noted, "No one started an IV. No respiration rate was recorded, no pulse was checked and no blood pressure was measured. No EKG was applied. No cardiac monitoring was conducted. No pulse oximeter was applied. No intubation or emergency tracheotomy was performed. No oxygen was administered. Kelly continued to agitate in fear, desperately gasping for air, and remained blue in color. Defendant Thweatt just stood there with a stethoscope in hand and listened to Kelly's breathing and wheezing progressively worsen." Court documents in the case indicate that Hillcrest advertised Thweatt as being a Board-certified ob/gyn, yet "Defendant Thweatt failed the Ob/Gyn Board certification examination not once, not twice, but on three consecutive attempts." Dr. Earl McLeod, who operates Hillcrest, also had a patient die after not being properly resuscitated.

Shortly after midnight on June 22, 1985, a hospital staffer checked on 17-year-old Deborah Ann Lozinski. Deborah had been in a coma since the day she had undergone a safe and legal abortion at Medical Care Center in Woodbridge, New Jersey two months earlier.  Deborah's parents filed suit against Dr. Scheininger, Dr. Sinha, and other staff for failing to properly screen and examine Deborah prior to her abortion. They also said that staff failed to properly monitor their daughter's vital signs during the abortion, failing to quickly detect and properly treat respiratory difficulty. As a result, Deborah suffered the brain damage that had caused her coma.

These abortion deaths fall under the classification of "safe abortion" as defined by the international abortion rights lobby. The same can be said of the illegal abortion death we commemorate today.

On June 22, 1928, 31-year-old Rose Hannover died at the office of Dr. Lester I. Ofner from complications of an abortion performed there that day. Ofner was held by the coroner on July 28. On November 28, he was acquitted. The source documents do not indicate why, so we have no way of knowing if he was wrongly identified by the coroner, if the prosecution screwed up, or if the way the law was written made getting a conviction difficult. However, since Offner had the training, and the available tools, to get Rose safely through the abortion, her abortion, although fatal, was "safe."

"And Then You Can Kill the Baby"

I'll start by giving you Josh Brahm's splendiferous response to a listener mail about whether or not incremental absolutism (chipping away until you get all babies protected) is an endorsement of killing the babies a law does not protect.



For those who don't want to listen to the whole thing at the moment, I'll take a juicy chunk from Josh's blog post on the topic:

Here’s the question: do you think it’s more important to make an impact or to make a statement? I’d rather make an impact, and I reject the notion that passing a bill with a rape exception tacked onto it at the last minute sends a message to pro-choice people that we don’t care about the babies conceived in rape that are sometimes killed in abortions. They know we want to make all abortions illegal, and that makes them furious. But passing a bill that bans abortions after 20-weeks because CLEARLY those babies can feel pain would be the most significant legal pro-life victory since the Supreme Court passed the Gonzales vs. Carhart decision, upholding a ban on partial-birth abortions.

When I say I’d rather make an impact than a statement, some absolutists accuse me of following the wisdom of man instead of the heart of God. My response: the midwives in Exodus 1 made an impact by saving as many babies as they could, and they are praised for it, even though they didn’t make a statement. When the Pharaoh confronted them, they didn’t make a pro-life argument or statement; they lied about it so that they could continue saving some! It could be argued that they were implicitly telling the leader of the land that it’s okay to kill infants. They never to his face say, “You shouldn’t do that.” They lied, and saved as many as they could, and are praised and blessed by God.

 As you can probably tell from my blog, my own approach is neither incrementalism (nickle and diming abortion to death) nor absolutism (just get it banned in one fell swoop). This does not mean that I do not support incrementalists or absolutists. I think that both are necessary. 

Imagine the abortion monolith as a building. Both the incrementalists and the absolutists want that building DOWN. Incrementalists are doing things that undermine the structural integrity of the building. Absolutists are planting demolition charges. It would take ages for the incrementalists to bring that building down. But this building is so solidly built, so heavily reinforced with steel, that the amount of dynamite the absolutists have would only rattle the building and make chunks fall off. The building itself will still be standing. I think that God shows His wisdom in that he set people to both tasks -- undermining the structural integrity and planting the demolition charges. And I think it's not just stupid but sinful for those one one work crew, incrementalist or absolutist, to bear false witness against the other work crew, claiming that they don't really want the building to come down.

Of course, the whole image has to be abandoned as just that -- an image. Abortion is not a building that we can demolish. It is a manifestation of Evil. Capital-E Evil. There is an intelligence behind it, a diabolical intelligence that has been around for a very, very long time and is very, very good at what it does. We are guilty of a hubris that puts White Star Line to shame if we think we can defeat that Evil by passing laws of any sort.

Which is what I'm back to. A Wisdom far greater than ours is directing this effort. We need to work at the tasks that are set before each of us. Some of us are set to directly helping women. Some of us are set to work in the legal arena. Some of us are set to educational tasks. Some of us are set to incrementalist tasks and some to absolutist tasks, because both are necessary.

But not a one of us has the task of attacking others who are set to different tasks.

"Safe" or "Unsafe"?

On June 21, 1929, 25-year-old Fannie Shead, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, died in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day by an unknown perpetrator. Interestingly, the coroner only recommended an arrest for "unintentional manslaughter," not the usual homicide by abortion. I wonder if this might be due to the fact that unlike the other victims of Chicago abortionists whose cases I've documented, Fannie Shead was Black. Oddly, the database lists a date a defendant was arrested -- August 10 -- but does not list a suspect.

Since I don't know who the abortionist was, I can't determine if Fannie's fatal abortion meets the criteria for "safe" abortion -- though it certainly wasn't safe for Fannie and her baby. Addressing whatever issues were convincing her that abortion was her only option, of course, would have prevented her death, regardless of who the neighborhood abortionists were.