A Bag to Breath Into and Other Fatal Abortions

Chicago, 1928

On May 8, 1928, 27-year-old Margaret Barnts died from a criminal abortion performed by Pauline Zickerman or Nickelman. (The name is given two different ways in the source, perhaps due to illegible handwriting on their original source documents.) The defendant was indicted for felony murder on May 15, 1928. Her profession is not mentioned, but there is a good chance she was a doctor or a midwife, since many Chicago abortionists of that era were trained medical professionals..

One of Four Dead at Miami Clinic, 1981

Twenty-four-year-old Maura Morales was eight weeks pregnant when she went to Woman's Care Center for a safe and legal abortion on May 8, 1981. When she was in the recovery room, her heart went into spontaneous ventricular fibrillation -- irregular heartbeats not capable of effectively pumping blood. Maura was taken to a hospital, but died that day. Maura was the fourth woman to die at the same facility. The others were Shirley Payne, Myrta Baptiste, and Ruth Montero. 

Misdiagnosis Leads to Death, Los Angeles, 1985

Claudia Caventou, age 33, underwent a safe, legal first-trimester abortion at Mercy Medical Clinic in Los Angeles on May 8, 1986, performed by H. N. Fahmy. Claudia's boyfriend was in the waiting room during the procedure. Staff told him that everything was okay, and suggested that he leave and get something to eat. Since he'd heard Claudia screaming earlier, he decided to stay. Several hours later, he heard the doctor come out and tell his staff to call 911. Claudia was taken to a hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for what doctors thought was a perforated uterus. It turned out that Claudia's pregnancy had been in her fallopian tube, which had ruptured during the abortion. Efforts to save Claudia were futile, and she died later that day.

Even though, in theory, women who choose abortion should be less likely to die of ectopic pregnancy complications, experiences shows that they're actually//more// likely to die, due to sloppy practices by abortion practitioners.

A Bag to Breathe Into, Chicago, 2009

Antonesha Ross

On May 8, 2009,On May 2, 2009, 18-year-old Antonesha Ross went to Women's Aid Clinic of Lincolnwood, Illinois to have an abortion performed at 13 weeks of pregnancy. Dr. Josephine Kamper performed the abortion, while CRNA Lawrence Hill administered anesthesia. During the abortion, Antonesha's blood oxygen saturation fell to between 80% and 90%, and she began to cough up blood through her mouth and nose. An employee gave her a bag to breathe into.

Needless to say, this wasn't any help, and Antonesha went into cardio-respiratory arrest. She was not provided with proper resuscitation and she died, leaving behind a toddler and an infant. 

Antonesha was the third patient I know of to have died after abortions at Women's Aid Clinic. Kathleen Gilbert and Dorothy Musorewa had both been sent home to bleed to death.