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.