Today's anniversaries are of typical Chicago illegal abortion deaths -- both abortionists were identified as midwives.
On February 9, 1911, 47-year-old homemaker Elizabeth Martin died at German American Hospital in Chicago from sepsis caused by of an abortion perpetrated at 1310 Eddy Street. Mrs. Schutner, identified as a midwife (which means she might have been an obstetrician) was held by the Coroner's Jury and indicted, but the case never went to trial.
On February 9, 1913, 30-year-old milliner Elizabeth Spalding died at Rhodes Avenue Hospital in Chicago of septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated that day by midwife Caroline Sandberg. Sandberg was tried but acquitted on July 9.
Tuesday, February 09, 2016
Monday, February 08, 2016
From Self-Induced to Retroactively Legal: Fatal Abortions, 1919 - 1967
Self-Induced in Pittsburgh, 1919
On February 8, 1919, Ruth Fragale, a 20-year-old clerk, died at her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her mother and her sister said that Ruth had taken ill on Sunday, February 2, but had insisted that she was not sick enough to need a doctor. Because Ruth had gotten much sicker, her mother sent for Dr. Thomas C. VanHorne on February 4. He was caring for her, with her mother and her sister by her side, when she told him that she'd used instruments on herself to try to cause an abortion on February 1 and 2 after an attempt about two weeks earlier had failed. VanHorne continued to attend to Ruth daily until peritonitis finally killed her, leaving her husband, Frank, widowed.
Strangely enough, self-induced abortion attempts like Ruth's were far more common in Pittsburgh records than in Chicago, where the majority of fatal abortions were perpetrated by doctors or midwives, as we shall see from the next case.
A Typical Chicago Abortion, 1934
Dr. Lou E. Davis was tried three times for the February 8, 1934 abortion death of 27-year-old Gertrude Gaesswitz. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, the second in an overturned conviction. Davis was acquitted in the third trial. Davis was implicated in five other Chicago abortion deaths:
In November of 1967, Nancy, a student at the University of Oklahoma, told her boyfriend, Fred Landreth, that she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. Fred contacted his father for help. On January 30, 1968, Fred's father contacted osteopath Dr. Richard Mucie at his ear, nose, and throat clinic in Kansas City and made arrangements for the abortion.
On February 7, Nancy and Fred flew from Oklahoma to Kansas City and visited Mucie at his clinic. Mucie examined Nancy while Fred waited, then told the couple that he would contact them at their hotel. The two had dinner and went to a show, then went to the hotel. At 11 p.m., Mucie called and arranged to pick Nancy and Fred up and drive them to his clinic. He took Nancy back for the back room while Fred waited in the outer office. About 20 to 30 minutes later, Mucie, dressed in a surgeon's gown, returned to the front office and asked Fred for money, $400, before starting the procedure. At about 7:30 on the morning of February 8, Mucie came out and asked Fred if he wanted to come back and see Nancy.
On February 8, 1919, Ruth Fragale, a 20-year-old clerk, died at her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her mother and her sister said that Ruth had taken ill on Sunday, February 2, but had insisted that she was not sick enough to need a doctor. Because Ruth had gotten much sicker, her mother sent for Dr. Thomas C. VanHorne on February 4. He was caring for her, with her mother and her sister by her side, when she told him that she'd used instruments on herself to try to cause an abortion on February 1 and 2 after an attempt about two weeks earlier had failed. VanHorne continued to attend to Ruth daily until peritonitis finally killed her, leaving her husband, Frank, widowed.
Strangely enough, self-induced abortion attempts like Ruth's were far more common in Pittsburgh records than in Chicago, where the majority of fatal abortions were perpetrated by doctors or midwives, as we shall see from the next case.
A Typical Chicago Abortion, 1934
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| Dr, Lou E. Davis |
- September 9, 1913, 27-year-old Anna Adler
- April 2, 1924, 26-year-old Mary Whitney
- November 4, 1928, 22-year-old Anna Borndal
- December 1, 1928, 23-year-old Esther V. Wahlstrom
- May 19, 1932, 24-year-old Irene Kirschner
An Abortion-Rights Group Cites its Sources
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| Raisa Trytiak |
Unlike most abortion-rights sources, the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History project cites sources for its assertions and thus wins my admiration. In the case of Raisa Trytiak, they cite the Seattle Times (February 8 & 9, 1967, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (February 9 & 10, 1967), and the Everett Herald (May 23, 1967). They even include a clipping from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's February 10, 1967 issue, which noted that Black was held after failing to post $10,000 bail on charges of manslaughter for both Raisa and her unborn child. Raisa was a key punch operator in Seattle First National Bank. For some reason she turned to a neighbor and family friend, 61-year-old Jack Blight, when she wanted to arrange an abortion. Blight was a construction worker. He attempted to abort Raisa's six-month unborn baby, causing a fatal bubble of air in Raisa's blood stream. There were mysterious marks on Raisa's neck indicating strangulation as well, but the news coverage, the web site says, never explained them. Blight entered a guilty plea to manslaughter in Raisa's death and admitted to dumping her body, but for some reason was sentenced only to probation rather than to prison.
Raisa's decision to turn to a lay abortionist was unusual. Two independent sources -- Nancy Howell Lee and Planned Parenthood -- concluded that prior to legalization, 90% of women found doctors to do their abortions. Lee further found that even when women resorted to non-physicians, they more often than not went to a nurse, midwife, or other person with medical training. More typical of criminal abortions is the one that took the life of 19-year-old Nancy Ward in Kansas City the very same day Raisa Trytiak died.
A Typical Pre-Roe Abortion
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| Nancy Ward |
On February 7, Nancy and Fred flew from Oklahoma to Kansas City and visited Mucie at his clinic. Mucie examined Nancy while Fred waited, then told the couple that he would contact them at their hotel. The two had dinner and went to a show, then went to the hotel. At 11 p.m., Mucie called and arranged to pick Nancy and Fred up and drive them to his clinic. He took Nancy back for the back room while Fred waited in the outer office. About 20 to 30 minutes later, Mucie, dressed in a surgeon's gown, returned to the front office and asked Fred for money, $400, before starting the procedure. At about 7:30 on the morning of February 8, Mucie came out and asked Fred if he wanted to come back and see Nancy.
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| Dr. Richard Mucie |
Fred went with Mucie into the office and saw Nancy lying on a couch with a cover over her. Fred said, "Hello," to her. She smiled and moved her hand. Mucie told Fred that Nancy was still sedated. Fred went back to the waiting room to nap. He was awakened at about 11:30 that morning by Mucie's porter. Mucie told Fred that Nancy had suffered a heart attack and was in shock and had been taken to the hospital. He told Fred that he would come back for him, then went back into his office. Fred went looking for him and followed the sound of his voice to a back room, where Mucie was lying on a cot, talking on the phone and saying something to the effect of needing to call the coroner and filling out a death certificate.
Stunned, Fred went back to the waiting area. Mucie came out a few minutes later, told him that Nancy had died, and that they needed to stick to the story that the couple had been traveling through Kansas City and had called him because Nancy had started to have chest pains. It was around that time that the ambulance arrived. The driver and attendant found Nancy on a cot. Mucie told them that she still had a pulse, and instructed them to take her to Osteopathic Hospital and administer oxygen en route. The ambulance driver and attendant lifted Nancy and found that she was already stiff. The doctor at the hospital concluded that Nancy been dead about four hours. He called Mucie, who told him that he'd been treating Nancy for about two weeks for a heart condition. Nancy's body was taken to the morgue, where a detective observed the autopsy, noting needle marks on her arms, buttocks, and left breast and taking custody of the uterus and the skull and upper spine of a fetus of roughly 4 1/2 to 5 months gestation still in the uterus. Most of the remainder of the fetus, consisting of a shoulder blade, upper arm and shoulder joint, and part of a collar bone, was found in the trash at Mucie's clinic.
The autopsy found abundant evidence of the abortion, including stains from antiseptic on Nancy's upper thighs and genital area, a 1/2 inch tear in Nancy's uterus. The condition of her uterus, heart, and other organs indicated that she had gone into shock and died at the clinic at about 9 a.m. February 8, in spite of Mucie's attempts to resuscitate her. She had bled to death.
Stunned, Fred went back to the waiting area. Mucie came out a few minutes later, told him that Nancy had died, and that they needed to stick to the story that the couple had been traveling through Kansas City and had called him because Nancy had started to have chest pains. It was around that time that the ambulance arrived. The driver and attendant found Nancy on a cot. Mucie told them that she still had a pulse, and instructed them to take her to Osteopathic Hospital and administer oxygen en route. The ambulance driver and attendant lifted Nancy and found that she was already stiff. The doctor at the hospital concluded that Nancy been dead about four hours. He called Mucie, who told him that he'd been treating Nancy for about two weeks for a heart condition. Nancy's body was taken to the morgue, where a detective observed the autopsy, noting needle marks on her arms, buttocks, and left breast and taking custody of the uterus and the skull and upper spine of a fetus of roughly 4 1/2 to 5 months gestation still in the uterus. Most of the remainder of the fetus, consisting of a shoulder blade, upper arm and shoulder joint, and part of a collar bone, was found in the trash at Mucie's clinic.
The autopsy found abundant evidence of the abortion, including stains from antiseptic on Nancy's upper thighs and genital area, a 1/2 inch tear in Nancy's uterus. The condition of her uterus, heart, and other organs indicated that she had gone into shock and died at the clinic at about 9 a.m. February 8, in spite of Mucie's attempts to resuscitate her. She had bled to death.
Mucie was convicted on June 8, 1968, of performing an abortion "not necessary to preserve the life" of the mother. Illegal abortion at that time carried a penalty of 3-5 years, with the sentence to be increased in cases where the mother died. Mucie served 14 months then was released on parole. Parole was set to expire on July 27, 1977. His medical license was revoked on May 4, 1971. After Roe v. Wade overturned Missouri's abortion law, Mucie successfully appealed his conviction and got his license restored under a ruling that made Roe retroactive in Missouri. He was released from probation and his record expunged of the manslaughter-abortion conviction.
Sunday, February 07, 2016
Criminal in San Francisco, 1971; Safe and Legal in Maryland, 2013
On February 11, 1871, Dr. C. C. O'Donnell was arrested for murder in the death of 20-year-old mother and homemaker Addie Hand of Clemtina Street, San Francisco. Addie had died at her home on February 7. "She was buried on a certificate that she had died of a congestive chill. The publicity given to startling rumors concerning her death led to the body being exhumed, when an examination disclosed the fact that an abortion had been preformed." An inquest found that she had visited O'Donnell twice before her death. Addie's friend Jennie West testified that Addie had told her that O'Donnell had made two attempts to perform an abortion on her. Her sister-in-law also said that Addie had named O'Donnell as the abortionist. O'Donnell was arrested. However, there was insufficient evidence to hold him, and O'Donnell was released.
Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli, age 29, and her husband, TJ, had eagerly anticipated the birth of their baby, named Madison Leigh. However, because of a prenatal diagnosis, Jennifer, accompanied by her parents, husband, and sister traveled from New Rochelle, New York to a late-term abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland on Sunday, February 3, 2013. Madison was 33 weeks gestational age. Germantown Reproductive Health Services is a National Abortion Federation member facility, which means that it supposedly provides only the best and safest care. However, it is operated by Dr. Leroy Carhart, who had already had a less than savory history.
The prolifers who gather outside when Carhart is perpetrating abortions report seeing Jennifer arriving for her appointments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, appearing "pale and weak." Jennifer spent over nine hours at the facility on Wednesday. After she was discharged, Carhart and his wife left the state to work at another abortion facility.
According to Operation Rescue'sanonymous source, Jennifer started suffering chest pain early on Thursday morning. She was unsuccessful in her attempts to reach Carhart. Finally, at about 5:00 a.m. her family took her from the hotel to the emergency room. Hospital staff were unable to get in touch with Carhart either, though he eventually did return their calls. Jennifer was suffering from massive internal bleeding and coded six times as staff struggled to stabilize her. She finally died at around 9:30 a.m.
The medical examiner indicated that Jennifer died from disseminated intravascular coagulopathy caused by an amniotic fluid embolism -- in other words, amniotic fluid and /or fetal tissue got into her blood stream and caused a cascading series of catastrophic problems including the inability of her blood to clot. Jennifer was the second third-trimester abortion patient to die under Carhart's care. The first was Christin Gilbert, who was being treated by Carhart at George Tiller's Wichita abortion facility in 2004.
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| Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli |
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| LeRoy Carhart |
According to Operation Rescue'sanonymous source, Jennifer started suffering chest pain early on Thursday morning. She was unsuccessful in her attempts to reach Carhart. Finally, at about 5:00 a.m. her family took her from the hotel to the emergency room. Hospital staff were unable to get in touch with Carhart either, though he eventually did return their calls. Jennifer was suffering from massive internal bleeding and coded six times as staff struggled to stabilize her. She finally died at around 9:30 a.m.
The medical examiner indicated that Jennifer died from disseminated intravascular coagulopathy caused by an amniotic fluid embolism -- in other words, amniotic fluid and /or fetal tissue got into her blood stream and caused a cascading series of catastrophic problems including the inability of her blood to clot. Jennifer was the second third-trimester abortion patient to die under Carhart's care. The first was Christin Gilbert, who was being treated by Carhart at George Tiller's Wichita abortion facility in 2004.
Saturday, February 06, 2016
The Full Spectrum of Abortion Deaths, 1870 - 1987
1870: A Fatal Abortifacient from an Unknown Source
A Coroner's Inquest was held regarding the February 6, 1870 death of 22-year-old Mary Donigan. Mary died at the Brooklyn home of Mrs. Bridget Dillon, who testified that she'd known Mary for about 18 years. Mary had come to her home on a Monday afternoon about three weeks before her death, looking very sickly but not complaining of illness. By the time Friday came around, Mary was reporting being sick with diarrhea.
Mary slept until noon the next day. Mrs. Dillon checked on her and found her appearing very ill. Mrs. Dillon offered to empty the slop pail in the room, but Mary said, "No, I've had a baby and it is in there; my mother sent me down to Margaret Farrell's, but she wouldn't keep me, so I thought I would come to you."
Mrs. Dillon looked in the pail and saw the baby, which she described as large -- in keeping with Mary's report of having been pregnant for about eight months. Mary reported that she had paid a doctor $5 for a bottle of medicine -- she refused to name this doctor -- and that she had thrown the bottle "in the water closet." Mrs. Dillon testified that Mary reported having taken the medicine about two or three weeks earlier, and that afterward she'd not felt her baby moving any more.
Mrs. Dillon consulted with some other women, as well as a pharmacist, about caring for Mary. The druggist provided some powders that she was to give to Mary every hour, but Mary didn't want to take more after the first dose, reporting that they only made her feel worse and blistered her mouth. Mary refused the services of either a doctor or a priest. In early February, Mary had taken such a turn for the worse that Mrs. Dillon sent for both a doctor and a priest. The doctor, Matthew F. Regan, testified that he'd been summoned to a garret room where he found Mary in bed, "suffering from inflammation of the womb and the covering of the bowels." Mary reported being married and having suffered a miscarriage the preceding Friday. Dr. Regan prescribed some medication and returned on Saturday.
At that time, Mary admitted that she wasn't married, and that she'd not seen a doctor or had any sort of abortion performed. He told her that her condition was very grave, "that I had seen women die who were not so low as she was." Mary identified a Mr. Burdie or McBurdie, who worked in the brick yards in Haverstraw, where Mary lived, as the father of the baby. When Dr. Regan returned at noon on Sunday to check on Mary, he found her dead. Dr. A. W. Shepard performed a post mortem examination on Mary and found no signs of instrumentation, but plenty of signs of infection in and around the uterus. He determined that she had died from an abortion.
1895: A Doctor at a Lying-In Hospital
In April of 1895, a reporter who was at the Detroit business of undertaker Frank Gibbs kicked a coffin that was in a corner of the room. Gibbs scolded, "Here, don't kick that coffin. There's a body in it, and I've got $100 for keeping it." The reporter went to the health department. When the undertaker got wind of this, he hastily had the body buried at Potter's Field.
An investigator went to Gibbs' establishment and found a death certificate for a woman named Myrtle Cook. The cause of death was given as pneumonia, and it was signed by Dr. J. D. Seaman. The health department ordered the just-buried body to be immediately exhumed and brought to another undertaking establishment for an autopsy. The cause of death was determined to be abortion. After an intensive investigation -- including a second disinterment for verification -- the woman was identified as Emily Hall, a young woman who had been brought to the area from her home in Birmingham, England, by Jonathan Bell, a Church of England clergyman who had gotten her pregnant. Shortly after Christmas Emily had told her parents that she had been hired as a lady's traveling companion and that they probably wouldn't hear from her until spring.
Emily had instead traveled directly to Detroit and checked into the Alice B. Lane Lying-in Hospital on January 23 for an abortion. All of the arrangements, including paying the $50 fee, had been made prior to her arrival, and on January 27 Dr. D. J. Seaman performed the abortion that eventually took Emily's life. Women who were at the hospital to give birth had been instructed to say that "Myrtle" had given birth to a live baby that had been placed with a foster family. The police recovered the baby's body, which had been buried in the back yard.
When arrested, the defendants -- Seaman and Lane -- refused to even enter a plea. Seaman's first trial ended in a hung jury, a second trial produced a conviction which Seaman had overturned, and a third trial ended with Seaman convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years.
1919: An Unknown Perpetrator
On February 6, 1919, 22-year-old homemaker Edna Griffith died at Chicago's Passavant Hospital from septic pneumonia initiating from complications of an abortion perpetrated by a person who was never identified.
1952: A Professional Lay Abortionist
Elizabeth "Betty" Hellman was the 35-year-old wife of an Air Force major who had been stationed in Tokyo for over a year. Evidently Betty found the separation lonely, for she became pregnant while her husband was away. On January 28, 1952, Betty was admitted to the Tinker Air Force Base hospital in critical condition. She admitted to having undergone an abortion on January 25. When questioned by investigators on January 31, Betty said that friends had referred her to a woman named Jane. She was shown a photo and identified the woman in it, 43-year-old Mrs. Jane McDaniel White, as her abortionist. She gave White's address as the place she had gone for the abortion. She promised White $100, but only paid her $50. White initiated the abortion with some kind of packing and sent Betty home. Betty became very ill, and called White, who with her daughter came to Betty's home and "scraped her out".
After Betty gave her statement, police raided White's home. White and her daughter, Mrs. S. B. Anderson, Jr., were nowhere to be found. Police eventually tracked the pair down and arrested them for murder and procuring an abortion. White, who had been arrested twice in the past several years for abortion charges, insisted that she'd told Betty she "was not in the business" but did treat her for ptomaine poisoning, which she believed was what was causing Betty's vomiting. White admitted to having no medical training, and said that she "had no right" to diagnoses whether or not Betty was pregnant, but she was qualified to diagnose the ptomaine poisoning because she'd had a bout of it herself.
Betty died on February 6, from peritonitis. Her husband had managed to rush home from Tokyo in time to see his wife before she died. An autopsy verified that an abortion had been performed and had caused Betty's death.
The criminal case against White went well until the defense managed to have the Betty's deathbed statement declared inadmissible because it couldn't be proved satisfactorily that Betty believed herself to be near death. With the deathbed statement thrown out, the case was dropped. White was, however, clearly operating as an abortionist, since an operating table, fashioned from an old restaurant table, and surgical instruments had been sized from her home at the time of her arrest -- "enough instruments and medicine to stock a small hospital."
1986: A Prestigious Chain of Abortion Facilities
Seventeen-year-old Laniece Dorsey underwent a safe and legal abortion at a Family Planning Associates Medical Group facility in Orange County, California, on February 6, 1986. Laniece lapsed into a coma, was transferred to a nearby hospital, and died later that day. The Orange County Sheriff's Department medical examiner blamed the death on cardiorespiratory arrest due to the anesthesia. Laniece wasn't the first or last young woman to die from abortion at a facility owned by FPA head honcho Edward Campbell Allred. Other patients known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Deanna Bell, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant. The FPA facilities remain members of the National Abortion Federation despite these deaths.
1987: Safe and Legal in Cleveland
Life Dynamics lists 26-year-old Kathy Davis on their "Blackmun Wall of deaths caused by safe and legal abortions. Citing Kathy's death certificate, Life Dynamics says that Kathy died at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital of heart failure and hypertension following a legal abortion on February 6, 1987.
A Coroner's Inquest was held regarding the February 6, 1870 death of 22-year-old Mary Donigan. Mary died at the Brooklyn home of Mrs. Bridget Dillon, who testified that she'd known Mary for about 18 years. Mary had come to her home on a Monday afternoon about three weeks before her death, looking very sickly but not complaining of illness. By the time Friday came around, Mary was reporting being sick with diarrhea.
Mary slept until noon the next day. Mrs. Dillon checked on her and found her appearing very ill. Mrs. Dillon offered to empty the slop pail in the room, but Mary said, "No, I've had a baby and it is in there; my mother sent me down to Margaret Farrell's, but she wouldn't keep me, so I thought I would come to you."
Mrs. Dillon looked in the pail and saw the baby, which she described as large -- in keeping with Mary's report of having been pregnant for about eight months. Mary reported that she had paid a doctor $5 for a bottle of medicine -- she refused to name this doctor -- and that she had thrown the bottle "in the water closet." Mrs. Dillon testified that Mary reported having taken the medicine about two or three weeks earlier, and that afterward she'd not felt her baby moving any more.
Mrs. Dillon consulted with some other women, as well as a pharmacist, about caring for Mary. The druggist provided some powders that she was to give to Mary every hour, but Mary didn't want to take more after the first dose, reporting that they only made her feel worse and blistered her mouth. Mary refused the services of either a doctor or a priest. In early February, Mary had taken such a turn for the worse that Mrs. Dillon sent for both a doctor and a priest. The doctor, Matthew F. Regan, testified that he'd been summoned to a garret room where he found Mary in bed, "suffering from inflammation of the womb and the covering of the bowels." Mary reported being married and having suffered a miscarriage the preceding Friday. Dr. Regan prescribed some medication and returned on Saturday.
At that time, Mary admitted that she wasn't married, and that she'd not seen a doctor or had any sort of abortion performed. He told her that her condition was very grave, "that I had seen women die who were not so low as she was." Mary identified a Mr. Burdie or McBurdie, who worked in the brick yards in Haverstraw, where Mary lived, as the father of the baby. When Dr. Regan returned at noon on Sunday to check on Mary, he found her dead. Dr. A. W. Shepard performed a post mortem examination on Mary and found no signs of instrumentation, but plenty of signs of infection in and around the uterus. He determined that she had died from an abortion.
1895: A Doctor at a Lying-In Hospital
In April of 1895, a reporter who was at the Detroit business of undertaker Frank Gibbs kicked a coffin that was in a corner of the room. Gibbs scolded, "Here, don't kick that coffin. There's a body in it, and I've got $100 for keeping it." The reporter went to the health department. When the undertaker got wind of this, he hastily had the body buried at Potter's Field.
An investigator went to Gibbs' establishment and found a death certificate for a woman named Myrtle Cook. The cause of death was given as pneumonia, and it was signed by Dr. J. D. Seaman. The health department ordered the just-buried body to be immediately exhumed and brought to another undertaking establishment for an autopsy. The cause of death was determined to be abortion. After an intensive investigation -- including a second disinterment for verification -- the woman was identified as Emily Hall, a young woman who had been brought to the area from her home in Birmingham, England, by Jonathan Bell, a Church of England clergyman who had gotten her pregnant. Shortly after Christmas Emily had told her parents that she had been hired as a lady's traveling companion and that they probably wouldn't hear from her until spring.
Emily had instead traveled directly to Detroit and checked into the Alice B. Lane Lying-in Hospital on January 23 for an abortion. All of the arrangements, including paying the $50 fee, had been made prior to her arrival, and on January 27 Dr. D. J. Seaman performed the abortion that eventually took Emily's life. Women who were at the hospital to give birth had been instructed to say that "Myrtle" had given birth to a live baby that had been placed with a foster family. The police recovered the baby's body, which had been buried in the back yard.
When arrested, the defendants -- Seaman and Lane -- refused to even enter a plea. Seaman's first trial ended in a hung jury, a second trial produced a conviction which Seaman had overturned, and a third trial ended with Seaman convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years.
1919: An Unknown Perpetrator
On February 6, 1919, 22-year-old homemaker Edna Griffith died at Chicago's Passavant Hospital from septic pneumonia initiating from complications of an abortion perpetrated by a person who was never identified.
1952: A Professional Lay Abortionist
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| Jane McDaniel Wite |
Betty died on February 6, from peritonitis. Her husband had managed to rush home from Tokyo in time to see his wife before she died. An autopsy verified that an abortion had been performed and had caused Betty's death.
The criminal case against White went well until the defense managed to have the Betty's deathbed statement declared inadmissible because it couldn't be proved satisfactorily that Betty believed herself to be near death. With the deathbed statement thrown out, the case was dropped. White was, however, clearly operating as an abortionist, since an operating table, fashioned from an old restaurant table, and surgical instruments had been sized from her home at the time of her arrest -- "enough instruments and medicine to stock a small hospital."
Seventeen-year-old Laniece Dorsey underwent a safe and legal abortion at a Family Planning Associates Medical Group facility in Orange County, California, on February 6, 1986. Laniece lapsed into a coma, was transferred to a nearby hospital, and died later that day. The Orange County Sheriff's Department medical examiner blamed the death on cardiorespiratory arrest due to the anesthesia. Laniece wasn't the first or last young woman to die from abortion at a facility owned by FPA head honcho Edward Campbell Allred. Other patients known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Deanna Bell, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant. The FPA facilities remain members of the National Abortion Federation despite these deaths.
1987: Safe and Legal in Cleveland
Life Dynamics lists 26-year-old Kathy Davis on their "Blackmun Wall of deaths caused by safe and legal abortions. Citing Kathy's death certificate, Life Dynamics says that Kathy died at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital of heart failure and hypertension following a legal abortion on February 6, 1987.
Wednesday, February 03, 2016
Illegal Work by Chicago Doctors and a Phony Clinic in Maryland
On February 3, 1912, 37-year-old homemaker Helen Imhoff died on the scene from blood poisoning caused by an abortion perpetrated by Dr. W. A. Beringer and midwife Margaret Meyer. They were indicted by a Grand Jury on March 1, but the case never went to trial. The involvement of a doctor and a midwife was typical for Chicago abortions of the time.
Another Chicago abortion death was at the hands of Dr. Joseph A. Harter. When Mary Strugnall was just 15, 22-year-old Vernon Keyser, who worked at a machine shop near the Strugnall home, began paying attention to Mary, despite her family's disapproval and attempts to discourage the relationship. On January 29, Mary's parents went to the hospital to visit their 9-year-old son, who was being treated after being hit by a car. When they got home, Mary, who had since turned 16, was gone. Keyser admitted that he had taken her to Harter's home/practice for an abortion he had arranged for $150. Keyser told police, "She was frightened ad began to struggle, but the doctor's brother [Irving Harter] and I held her on a table while the operation was performed. Five hours later I took her to the home of a Mrs. Irma McMullen, 7037 Clarmont avenue."
Mary's condition deteriorated, so to avert any suspicion Keyser continued to stop at the Strugnell home daily asking after Mary. On Friday, February 1, Harter told Keyser that he couldn't do anything more for Mary and suggested that he consult with Dr. J. A. Goodhart of South Kedqie Avenue. Goodhart immediately ordered that Mary be admitted to the county hospital. Per Harter's instructions as to "the simplest way out of it," Keyser persuaded Mary to lie and say that she had done the abortion herself. She died on February 3.
Dr. Harter was captured and tried for homicide, but acquitted for reasons I have been unable to determine. His brother Irving was charged as an accessory. Keyner was charged with rape and accessory to murder.
Now let us move ahead to she safe and legal days. Like many abortion "clinics", Dr. Romeo Ferrer's private practice, Gynecare Center, would look to the untrained eye like an outpatient clinic. Their website, in fact, described the facility as "a modern, clean clinic.
Denise Crowe was 21 years old, mother of a 3-year-old son, when she went to Gynecare in Severna Park, MD for an abortion on February 3, 2006. She was 16 weeks pregnant. She was accompanied to her appointment by a friend, who was helping to keep the abortion a secret from Denise's family. Ferrer started the abortion, a D&E abortion, at about 1:00 p.m. It took him 45 minutes to complete the abortion, and he kept administering more and more medication in quick doses to keep Denise sedated.
Once Denise was removed to the recovery room, and assistant noticed that her fingernail beds were turning blue and she had no measurable pulse or blood pressure. Ferrer gave a verbal order for 0.4 mg Narcan, a drug to counteract narcotics. It wasn't until three minutes until after Denise was found pulseless that Ferrer finally started CPR, using the chin-lift method taught to laypersons rather than using a device to keep her airway open, as a professional would be trained to do. Medics arrived to find Denise still unresponsive and without a pulse. They continued resuscitation attempts and turned Denise over to ER staff, but all of their attempts were in vain. She was pronounced dead at 2:57 p.m.
The autopsy found that Denise had been overdosed on Demerol during the abortion. The medical board suspended Ferrer's license because of the reckless way he doped up Denise, failed to monitor her properly both during the abortion and in recovery, and failed to provide adequate oxygen during CPR.
Another Chicago abortion death was at the hands of Dr. Joseph A. Harter. When Mary Strugnall was just 15, 22-year-old Vernon Keyser, who worked at a machine shop near the Strugnall home, began paying attention to Mary, despite her family's disapproval and attempts to discourage the relationship. On January 29, Mary's parents went to the hospital to visit their 9-year-old son, who was being treated after being hit by a car. When they got home, Mary, who had since turned 16, was gone. Keyser admitted that he had taken her to Harter's home/practice for an abortion he had arranged for $150. Keyser told police, "She was frightened ad began to struggle, but the doctor's brother [Irving Harter] and I held her on a table while the operation was performed. Five hours later I took her to the home of a Mrs. Irma McMullen, 7037 Clarmont avenue."
Mary's condition deteriorated, so to avert any suspicion Keyser continued to stop at the Strugnell home daily asking after Mary. On Friday, February 1, Harter told Keyser that he couldn't do anything more for Mary and suggested that he consult with Dr. J. A. Goodhart of South Kedqie Avenue. Goodhart immediately ordered that Mary be admitted to the county hospital. Per Harter's instructions as to "the simplest way out of it," Keyser persuaded Mary to lie and say that she had done the abortion herself. She died on February 3.
Dr. Harter was captured and tried for homicide, but acquitted for reasons I have been unable to determine. His brother Irving was charged as an accessory. Keyner was charged with rape and accessory to murder.
Denise Crowe was 21 years old, mother of a 3-year-old son, when she went to Gynecare in Severna Park, MD for an abortion on February 3, 2006. She was 16 weeks pregnant. She was accompanied to her appointment by a friend, who was helping to keep the abortion a secret from Denise's family. Ferrer started the abortion, a D&E abortion, at about 1:00 p.m. It took him 45 minutes to complete the abortion, and he kept administering more and more medication in quick doses to keep Denise sedated.
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| Dr. Romeo Ferrer |
The autopsy found that Denise had been overdosed on Demerol during the abortion. The medical board suspended Ferrer's license because of the reckless way he doped up Denise, failed to monitor her properly both during the abortion and in recovery, and failed to provide adequate oxygen during CPR.
Tuesday, February 02, 2016
Different Circumstances, Same Outcome
Contrary to the popular coathanger image, abortion-minded women have the capacity to look out for their own well being. In the days before legalization, they had sense enough to look for somebody with some sort of experience -- typically a physician.
But then, just as today, the fact that an abortion is being done by a physician doesn't mean that it won't cost the woman her life.
In early 1916, two women lay dying at Mercy Hospital in Denver. Police and doctors concluded that both women were suffering from abortions perpetrated by Dr. Bennett Graff at his offices at the Panama rooming house there in Denver, where he had his offices. Ruth Camp, whose abortion had been perpetrated on January 27, died on February 2. The second woman, 24-year-old Beulah Hatch, lingered until February 18. Ruth had come to Denver from Medicine Bow, Wyoming, on a visit. Her husband, a rancher, had wanted the baby. A friend of the family found out about Ruth's plans and sent him a telegraph. Mr. Camp had to drive 45 miles just to catch a train to Denver, arriving too late.
Graff insisted during the trial that a woman named Mrs. Fitch had called him to the boarding house, where he'd found Ruth ailing. He said Mrs. Fitch had accompanied him and Ruth to his office for an examination and "found that it was necessary to operate upon her, which he did." Had the jury believed his story they would have acquitted him. Graff was found guilty of murder in Ruth's death, and sentenced to 11 - 13 years in prison.
Though many women, as they lay dying, would protect other women by naming the abortionists who had fatally injured them, some took the secret to their graves. On February 2, 1926, Alberta Handy, a 38-year-old Black woman, died of a botched abortion in Chicago. The perpetrator was never caught.
Even after legalization, abortions still can go wrong.
Elizabeth Tsuji, a 21-year-old Cal State student, underwent a safe and legal 8-week abortion at a local Planned Parenthood on November 11, 1977. She called the clinic in December to report that she was still not menstruating, but staff assured her that the abortion had been successful. On February 1, 1978, Elizabeth confirmed that she was indeed still pregnant, five months along. The Planned Parenthood clinic referred her to Inglewood General Hospitalnear Los Angeles for a saline abortion. That evening, she packed a nightgown and told her family she was going to spend the night at a friend's house. That was the last time they saw her alive.
Elizabeth underwent the abortion on February 2, and died that day. Two autopsies were performed, neither of which could find a definitive cause of the young woman's death. Abortionist Morton Barke was somehow involved, although documents aren't clear what his role was in her death. Barke also worked at the unsavory San Vicente Hospital. He is known to have been a partner at Inglewood and to have been involved in the deaths of Yvonne Tanner and Lynette Wallace. His involvement might have been that he served in a supervisory role. The other women who met their deaths at Inglewood include Kathy Murphy, Cora Lewis, and Belinda Byrd.
But then, just as today, the fact that an abortion is being done by a physician doesn't mean that it won't cost the woman her life.
In early 1916, two women lay dying at Mercy Hospital in Denver. Police and doctors concluded that both women were suffering from abortions perpetrated by Dr. Bennett Graff at his offices at the Panama rooming house there in Denver, where he had his offices. Ruth Camp, whose abortion had been perpetrated on January 27, died on February 2. The second woman, 24-year-old Beulah Hatch, lingered until February 18. Ruth had come to Denver from Medicine Bow, Wyoming, on a visit. Her husband, a rancher, had wanted the baby. A friend of the family found out about Ruth's plans and sent him a telegraph. Mr. Camp had to drive 45 miles just to catch a train to Denver, arriving too late.
Graff insisted during the trial that a woman named Mrs. Fitch had called him to the boarding house, where he'd found Ruth ailing. He said Mrs. Fitch had accompanied him and Ruth to his office for an examination and "found that it was necessary to operate upon her, which he did." Had the jury believed his story they would have acquitted him. Graff was found guilty of murder in Ruth's death, and sentenced to 11 - 13 years in prison.
Though many women, as they lay dying, would protect other women by naming the abortionists who had fatally injured them, some took the secret to their graves. On February 2, 1926, Alberta Handy, a 38-year-old Black woman, died of a botched abortion in Chicago. The perpetrator was never caught.
Even after legalization, abortions still can go wrong.
Elizabeth Tsuji, a 21-year-old Cal State student, underwent a safe and legal 8-week abortion at a local Planned Parenthood on November 11, 1977. She called the clinic in December to report that she was still not menstruating, but staff assured her that the abortion had been successful. On February 1, 1978, Elizabeth confirmed that she was indeed still pregnant, five months along. The Planned Parenthood clinic referred her to Inglewood General Hospitalnear Los Angeles for a saline abortion. That evening, she packed a nightgown and told her family she was going to spend the night at a friend's house. That was the last time they saw her alive.
Elizabeth underwent the abortion on February 2, and died that day. Two autopsies were performed, neither of which could find a definitive cause of the young woman's death. Abortionist Morton Barke was somehow involved, although documents aren't clear what his role was in her death. Barke also worked at the unsavory San Vicente Hospital. He is known to have been a partner at Inglewood and to have been involved in the deaths of Yvonne Tanner and Lynette Wallace. His involvement might have been that he served in a supervisory role. The other women who met their deaths at Inglewood include Kathy Murphy, Cora Lewis, and Belinda Byrd.
Monday, February 01, 2016
Unknown Perp, a Lay Abortionist, and a Top-of-the-Line Abortion Provider
On February 1, 1943, 26-year-old Anna Roche, wife of Marine Sgt. William Roche, died in Syracuse, New York, of peritonitis caused by an abortion. Several people were questioned the next day but no perpetrator identified.
"When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle's Maternal Death Toll," by the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, is unusual among abortion-rights publications in that it provides sources for its assertions about illegal abortion deaths. They note that 20-year-old Sharon Hoag was living with her parents in Ballard. She evidently heard about criminal abortionist and former night club owner Lee Blue through a network of people who arranged abortions. Lee, who had already served five years on an abortion conviction, was awaiting sentencing on a second conviction when he and live-in companion Helen Olson operated on Sharon in their Capitol Hill home. Complications set in the next day and by the time family members drove her to Ballard Hospital it was too late to save her. Blue was charged with manslaughter as well as abortion. After a hung jury on the manslaughter charge, he eventually pled guilty. He received a life sentence with the provision that he must serve at least thirteen years.
When 24-year-old Ta Tanisha Wesson went to Family Planning Associates Medical Group on January 26, 1995 for a safe, legal abortion, she brought a friend with her, Mickey Gaton. Mickey had been sitting in the waiting room for several hours when she saw an ambulance approach. Somehow Mickey found out that it was her friend being loaded into the ambulance. She called Ta Tanisha's parents, Lin and Nicole Wesson, who rushed to the facility. There, Ta Tanisha's father said, they were unable to get any information about their daughter from the staff. "Everything was done in secrecy," he said. Ta Tanisha was taken to the hospital, never regaining consciousness. She died on February 1, leaving behind a five-year-old son. Her parents sued, saying that Ta Tanisha was given too much anesthetic. Their attorney said, "We are claiming negligence by the clinic staff who were not present when she began vomiting and ultimately delayed 20-25 minutes before calling for emergency help." Ta Tanisha isn't the only FPA patient to die from abortion complication. Others who have died after abortions performed at this National Abortion Federation member chain include Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Lanice Dorsey, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Deanna Bell, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Nakia Jorden, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant.
"When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle's Maternal Death Toll," by the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, is unusual among abortion-rights publications in that it provides sources for its assertions about illegal abortion deaths. They note that 20-year-old Sharon Hoag was living with her parents in Ballard. She evidently heard about criminal abortionist and former night club owner Lee Blue through a network of people who arranged abortions. Lee, who had already served five years on an abortion conviction, was awaiting sentencing on a second conviction when he and live-in companion Helen Olson operated on Sharon in their Capitol Hill home. Complications set in the next day and by the time family members drove her to Ballard Hospital it was too late to save her. Blue was charged with manslaughter as well as abortion. After a hung jury on the manslaughter charge, he eventually pled guilty. He received a life sentence with the provision that he must serve at least thirteen years.
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