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Monday, April 11, 2022

April 11: Delayed Transport Leads to Death in Texas, 1984

A slightly overweight middle-aged white man with dark hair, wearing a suit and tie and enormous aviator-style sunglasses
Dr. Raymond Showery
Abortionist Raymond E. Showery was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the safe, legal abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca on April 11, 1984.

Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion on the morning of April 11, 1984. She was about 19 weeks pregnant. She was brought back to the procedure room at 2 p.m. Showery spent 45 minutes to an hour performing the abortion.

During the abortion, Showery tore a 2 1/2 inch hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two yours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.

A grand jury handed down an indictment for involuntary manslaughter in Mickey's death. They determined that Showery had inadequately trained staff assisting him, had not properly repaired the hole he had torn in Mickey's uterus, and delayed transfer to a hospital.  

Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local pro-choicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.

The charges were dropped in 1987, though Showery remained incarcerated for the murder of the baby.

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