April 30, 1917: Doctor Implicated on Deathbed

Dr. Lillian Hobbs

On April 30, 1917, Mrs. Ruth Lemaire, age 24, died at West Side Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion. In her deathbed statement she implicated one of Chicago's many physician/abortionists, 50-year-old Dr. Lillian Hobbs. However, the coroner's jury did not place blame on Hobbs, and the case came to naught. Hobbs was later convicted of murder in the abortion deaths of Alda Christopherson and Ellen Matson.

Watch Would Prosecution Have Prevented Two More Deaths? on YouTube.

April 30, 1923: Physician and Repeat Offender

On April 30, 1923, 29-year-old homemaker Emma Herod died in her home from an abortion performed there that day. Another Chicago many physician/abortionists, Dr. Emma J. Warren, age 53, was arrested for the death. On July 15, Warren was indicted for felony murder in Emma's death. Warren had already been implicated in the 1917 abortion death of 27-year-old Annie DeGroote.

Leroy Carhart is DEAD!

While searching for the text of Leroy Carhart's testimony about how he can see the fetal heart beating on the ultrasound even as he's dismembering the baby, I found news that shocked me: Leroy Carhart is dead.

I'm not dancing and singing "Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead!" I want abortionists to repent, not die with no sign that they ever repented. I can't say that Leroy Carhart's position as he stands before his Maker is any worse than mine will be -- all have sinned and fallen short. But the way this man lived his life, the things he devoted himself to, do not bode well for him. Unless the worship he got from abortion supporters enabled him to convince himself that killing babies -- and he, himself, referred to them as babies -- was a good and noble thing.

Life Action did an undercover video of Carhart at his clinic that revealed a lot of how he thought about his life's work killing what he admitted were babies: 

"It's like putting meat in a Crock-Pot, okay?"

Martin Haskell had described the procedure well in his 1992 presentation on D&X (later dubbed "partial birth abortion") to the National Abortion Federation in Dallas, as he put his new and improved abortion method into context:

Two techniques of late second trimester D&E's have been described at previous NAF meetings. The first relies on sterile urea intra-amniotic infusion to cause fetal demise and lysis (or softening) of fetal tissues prior to surgery.

The second technique is to rupture the membranes 24 hours prior to surgery and cut the umbilical cord. Fetal death and ensuing autolysis soften the tissues. ....

In summary, approaches to late second trimester D&Es rely upon some means to induce early fetal demise to soften the fetal tissues making dismemberment easier.

In a nutshell, the abortionist kills the baby on Day One so that it's easier to dismember on Day 2. I had likened this process to putting the baby in a crock pot overnight.

The idea that an abortionist would do such a thing is hardly shocking to me. If you're willing to twist the limbs off a living baby, letting it "cook" overnight in the mother's body heat is a bit of a gross-out bur hardly shocking, especially not when you consider how casually abortionists send patients home with rotting fetal parts inside their bodies. What left me with my jaw on the floor was to hear Carhart himself describe it the same way I would. Okay, he didn't specify a chicken, but my dubbing of the method "crock-pot baby abortion" is creepily vindicated. Where it goes beyond creepy and into the realm of shocking is that Carhart would cavalierly describe the process to a patient this way.

Being so jovial was a bit of a shock, too. Describing his "tool kit" as containing "a pickaxe and a drill bit" is something I'd expect to hear among the staff, not being said to a patient. It was also shocking to hear him refer to the person he was planning to kill not as "the fetus" or "the pregnancy" -- which is typical even when abortionists talk among themselves -- but as "the baby."

Christin Gilbert

The next shock was that he mentioned Christin Gilbert. Abortionists don't tend to bring up patient deaths on their own in any context, much less when meeting with another patient. (Perhaps the woman had mentioned it earlier?) But Carhart slipped me back into my comfort zone when he said that Christin wasn't his patient. Denial of responsibility is par for the course, so one would expect him to blame Christin's death on a dead man. Was Christin Gilbert actually LeRoy Carhart's patient? He was the one performing CPR on her when the medics responded to the 911 call, so that would make her his patient. Though the medics didn't realize that she was Carhart's patient at the time because his attempts at resuscitation were so amateurish that they mistook him for a bystander.

Jennifer
McKenna-Morbelli

We stayed in familiar territory when he denied responsibility for Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli's death. Ditto for his blithe reassurances that he and his staff would be there if the patient called at night from the hotel. Carhart and his staff sure weren't there for Jennifer. But that fact is disgusting, not shocking. Abortionists have been known to shove hemorrhaging women out the door to die, or to abandon moribund patients in the hands of receptionists. Failing to respond to an emergency phone call? That's as surprising as finding out that some frat boy came back from Spring Break with an STD.

I wasn't surprised when Carhart reassured the patient that he saw plenty of other patients as far advanced in pregnancy as she was. It's when he added "Or more-- or more" that surprised me a little. But I guess he wanted to impress upon her that an elective abortion at 26 weeks was no big deal.

It's interesting how he described -- using the simple present tense, which indicates that this is just routine -- the procedure for dealing with delivering the dead baby at the hotel. Why is it okay to use a hotel room as part of your medical practice? Do these hotel managers know that when they rent rooms to Carhart's patients that there's a possibility that she'll go into labor and deliver her dead (or perhaps not dead) baby in one of their rooms? Carhart changes to speaking as if this has only happened once, to one patient, but they'd hardly give every patient a preparation kit for a flukey thing that only ever happened once.

Now we enter the area where I get seriously creeped out, and when it comes to abortion related things, after more than a quarter of a century it's really hard to creep me out.

Carhart makes an abrupt switch from talking about physically collecting the dead baby should it be expelled in the hotel room to telling the patient, "this baby is a part of you forever," and adds "... if you expect it to go away in a week, that's the wrong approach to it, OK?"

What he says next is dogma among some abortion rights supporters, so I don't know why it shocks me to hear him say it, but it does.

I think you'll be affected for the positive. .... I think you can make very difficult, hard decisions that help shape the life -- the rest of your future and make you work harder for the things, you know, that are important. And I think out of respect and love and honor for this baby that you've lost, you will find yourself being a better person.

And again he goes into something that's dogma for many abortion rights supporters but that for some reason the fact that he says it in this context just floors me:

Postpartum depression is really very common, but post abortion depression? I can honestly tell you that I haven't seen one -- one person that way...

Now he shocks me again for a different reason: "We had a 16-year-old girl that was pregnant, and 26 or 7 weeks, that we had -- we did that -- the termination for her. And she tried to kill herself, and she got to the hospital and recovered."

I can't even imagine why he would start talking about this to a patient. It's like when he brought up Christin Gilbert's death. it's inexplicable.

Having broached the topic, though, he explains away the suicide attempt by saying, "she tried to kill herself, not because of the termination, but because of the baby that she had before this. It was already a year old, and she wished she had not had that baby..."

What? I'm too stunned to even try to make sense of that.

And for some reason I'm shocked again at what he says next: "I've not had anybody leave there feeling worse than they came."

I guess it escaped him that one of his  patients killed herself because she couldn't cope with the abortion.

Dr. LeRoy Carhart

This whole cringe-worthy theme of how good his abortions make women feel.... He gave me the impression he was not lying to this woman, but rather that he was lying to himself, building inside his own head a land of happy abortions. Carhart seemed so convinced that his work was a godsend that it's almost surprising that he didn't recommend getting pregnant deliberately in order to have a 26-week elective abortion for the inherent and incomparable enrichment of the experience.

Just when I'd thought Carhart had tapped out his full supply of creeptasticness, suddenly he shocked me again by bringing up Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli. He made up for it, though, when he reassuree the patient (himself?) by saying that Jennifer died "of complications of the pregnancy, but not from the abortion."

Operation Rescue has done a fantastic job pulling together information on Leroy "Meat in the Crock Pot" Carhart. Read it and weep.

And hope for the sake of his soul that he really was as deluded as he seemed in that video.

Watch Carhart Isn't "Killing It" Any More on YouTube.

April 29, 1986: At Least the Receptionist/Anesthetist Isn't Why She Died

Twenty-year-old Gloria Aponte went to National Abortion Federation member Hanan Rotem in Stamford, Connecticut, for a safe and legal abortion on April 29, 1986. She was in the second trimester of her pregnancy. 

A few hours after the abortion, Gloria was declared dead from hemorrhage at St. Joseph's Hospital in Stamford. She had a perforated uterus. 

Gloria, a homemaker and mother of one, was a Colombian national in the US on a work visa. She left her husband, Carlos, to raise their child alone.

Dr. Hanan Rotem

Rotem, who lived in Larchmont, NY and maintained practices in Stamford, New Rochelle, and Poughkeepsie, had no hospital privileges and no emergency patient transfer agreement in place. A graduate of Sackler Medical School at Tel Aviv University, he had completed his residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

An investigation by health officials found that Rotem had failed to perform necessary blood tests, such as hematocrit and Rh factor, failed to properly dilate Gloria's cervix, failed to obtain informed consent, failed to monitor Gloria's vital signs, and had permitted a receptionist with no medical training to administer anesthesia. They also found that he'd failed to perform an ultrasound to properly determine the gestational age prior to the abortion, thus choosing a technique appropriate for a 16-week pregnancy when Gloria was actually 18 or 19 weeks pregnant.

For three of the charges brought before the board, Rotem was fined a total of $2,000. He asserted that Gloria had died from an amniotic fluid embolism and not because of any shortcomings on his part. He also asserted that he had performed more than 15,000 abortions and therefore was more than qualified to practice.

Watch NAF Member's Patient Bleeds to Death on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Larchmont doctor faces charges in abortion case," (Mamoroneck, NY) Daily Times, November 7, 1987
• "Doctor gets rebuke in abortion death," Hartford Courant, November 23, 1989
• "Doctor reprimanded in patient's death," (Port Chester NY) Daily Item, November 23, 1989

April 28, 1990: Successful Career Woman Succumbs to Amateur Abortion

I believe I've identified the young woman previously called "Daisy" at the Cemetery of Choice. To preserve her privacy while making it easier for me to do my annual research, I have given her the pseudonym "Theresa Harper."

Theresa was a 32-year-old systems analyst for a defense contractor in California. She had an appointment scheduled for a safe, legal second-trimester abortion at a local abortion clinic on April 30, 1990.

For some reason Theresa didn't keep her appointment. Instead, she allowed her boyfriend to attempt a home abortion with a piece of aquarium tubing. She died of complications of that abortion on April 28.

Life Dynamics has records on file confirming Theresa's death and the surrounding circumstances.

April 27, 1871: Dead at the Doctor's House

SUMMARY: Elvira Woodward died on April 27, 1871 from an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Charles P. Wood of Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Admission

Dr. Charles P. Wood admitted that Elvira Woodward had come to his house in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 1 and remained there until her death on April 27, 1871. He said that she’d expelled a dead fetus on April 3, and that she suffered from puerperal fever.

Elvira took ill, languishing. On the morning of April 27, Wood said, Elvira told him that she had a sense of impending death. She died that afternoon at about 2:30. 

Daniel White's Testimony

Daniel K. White testified on Wood’s behalf, saying, “I knew Elvira Woodward; saw her at Dr. Wood’s house the morning of the day she died; found a very large gash in her throat; Dr. Wood stepped to the bed and removed a towel from her throat. I saw Dr. Ferguson there; Dr. Wood went for him about ten minutes after I got there; she looked pale, quite so; apparently recognized me by a nod of the head; I observed nothing else, except that her throat was cut, and there was a good deal of blood upon her bed-clothes; she said she did not expect to live till noon; that she was sorry she didn’t do the deed at once, and go where her mother was; that she would be glad to die; that she didn’t expect to live till noon, and probably shouldn’t.”

White said that only he was present when Elvira made that statement, because Dr. Wood had gone to fetch Dr. Ferguson.

Elvira's Sister Speaks

Elvira’s sister, Florence Woodward, testified in a deposition that she’d seen Elvira at Dr. Wood’s house twice on the day she died.

She made the first visit at around 10 or 11 in the morning. Dr. Wood and his wife were there, and a Mrs. Eaton had accompanied Florence. They stayed with Elvira about an hour. Elvira didn’t speak to them, but seemed to recognize her visitors. A man who Florence believed to be Dr. Ferguson passed through Elvira’s room briefly.

Florence visited her sister again between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, at which time Elvira was unconscious and clearly dying. Florence said that she’d never seen Elvira at Dr. Wood’s house before that day. Florence also indicated that it wasn’t until after Elvira’s death that she knew her sister died from any cause other than fever.

Dr. Ferguson's Statement

Dr. Ferguson was called in Dr. Wood’s defense. He testified that Dr. Wood had summoned him and he found Elvira looking “very pale, worn, emaciated, and desponding.” He removed a cloth from her throat and found it wounded. “I asked her why she had attempted to hasten death by suicide. Told her that her condition was so low already that a few hours would extinguish life. I said to others in her presence and hearing that she would possibly die in the morning, or in the early part of the afternoon. She said she did not much care; that she had no desire to live.”

On cross-examination, Dr. Ferguson said that the cut on Elvira’s throat was superficial. Nevertheless, he didn’t expect her to survive the day. He sutured Elvira’s throat at Dr. Wood’s request. He also noted that Elvira was frequently vomiting.

Dr. Ferguson testified that all he knew of oil of savin is what he’d learned from reading, and that it was supposed to be capable of causing abortion. He thought that oil of savin might be responsible for Elvira’s condition when he saw her.

Another Defense Witness

One of Dr. Wood’s defense witnesses said that on the morning of her death, Elvira said that she’d been operated on previously by a Dr. McCooms for an abortion. Dr. McCooms had operated on her three times at a place in Manchester and once at Suncook. She also reportedly told the witness that Dr. McCoombs had prescribed oil of savin for her, which she ingested. She said that she’d expelled a fetus on April 3.

The Landlady's Testimony

Mrs. Merrill, Elvira’s landlady, testified that she’d accompanied Elvira to Dr. McCoomb’s rooms at the Manchester House on February 8. Elvira spent about an hour with Dr. McCoomb in an inner room. Mrs. Merrill said that she herself only briefly been in the inner room herself, at which time she saw Dr. McCoomb performing an abortion on Elvira.

Joseph Ferrin Chimes In

A man named Joseph Ferrin testified that he’d lent Elvira a shawl on March 29. She told him that she was going to Lowell. When she returned the shawl, Ferrin testified, she said that she’d gone to have an operation performed.

Dr. Webb's Perspective

Dr. Webb of Boston testified that at the request of an attorney, he’d examined Elvira on March 20, 1871. He said her uterus was enlarged and he could feel movement in the womb and he heard a fetal heartbeat. He estimated that she was four or five months pregnant.

Dr. Buck's Point of View

Dr. Buck testified that he performed a post-mortem examination of Elvira’s body at North Troy, Vermont, on May 2. He said that there was no fetus, but that there was evidence that she’d been “delivered by artificial means.” Dr. Buck said that he saw no signs that Elvira’s kidneys or stomach had been damaged by any kind of poison, and that any drug that would cause an abortion that far advanced into a pregnancy would also damage the mother’s organs. A Dr. Gilman Kimball concurred in his testimony.

Mr. Ober's Testimony

A Mr. Ober testified that he’d heard reports prior to the trial that Dr. Wood had once had an office or lying-in hospital in Hollis, and that it was reported that Dr. Wood performed abortions there.

The Outcome

Dr. Wood was convicted of performing the fatal abortion on Elvira. It is unclear how the prosecutor or the jury identified him, from among all the doctors who had attended Elvira, as the guilty party. Still, Elvira’s abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Coverage of the trial included a bit of Wood’s history:

Dr. Wood has resided in this city for several years, and, until recently, has been regarded as a good citizen and a respectable man. Some years ago, desiring to make a living more easily, he left a mechanical pursuit, studied dentistry a few months, and opened an office. Meeting with no serious obstacle in this branch of business, he enlarged his sphere of operations, and in a little time became a homeopathic physician and subsequently undertook the allopathic system, and was announced as a Doctor. He opened a hospital in Museum Building and took patients home for treatment, and at first was not suspected of violating the laws of the State. At length it came to be understand that his place was mainly appropriated to the treatment of those unfortunate women who have sought to cover one crime by the commission of another.

---

Sources:

• 53 N.H. 484, 1873 WL 4197 (N.H.); Supreme Judicial Court of New Hampshire. STATE v. WOOD. June, 1873
• “New Hampshire Man Convicted of Causing Abortion“, New York Times, Oct. 4, 1871
• “Abortionist Sentenced,” Reading (PA) Times, Oct. 5, 1871

April 27, 1990: Bled to Death in Front of Her Children

SUMMARY: Sandra Milton, age 28, bled to death in front of her three children on April 27, 1990 after an abortion performed by Carl Armstrong at Toledo Medical Services in Toledo, OH.

Sandra Milton

On April 27, 1990, 28-year-old divorcee Sandra Earle Milton underwent an abortion, performed by Dr. Carl Armstrong at Toledo Medical Services in Ohio. (Armstrong is John Roe 67 in Lime 5.) Neither her ex husband nor her parents had known that she was pregnant.

Sandra’s abortion was performed at 10 a.m., and she was discharged shortly thereafter for the 90-minute drive home to Sandusky.

The babysitter stayed with Sandra and her three children, ages 10, 7, and 5, for three hours as the young mother slipped in and out of consciousness and suffered pain and abdominal swelling. Twice the alarmed babysitter called the clinic, but was told that the symptoms were normal. The third time the babysitter called the clinic, she got no response at all, and summoned an ambulance. Sandra was pronounced dead on arrival at Fremont Memorial Hospital at 6:01 p.m..

Dr. Carl Armstrong

The medical examiner found a one-inch uterine perforation. Her abdomen was full of blood. She had bled to death internally.

Sandra, who came to the US from England with her family when she was a toddler, had graduated from Fremont Ross High School and worked at a factor assembling household appliances.

Sources:

• Ohio death certificate Registrar’s No. 158;
• Fremont News-Messenger 4/29/90;
• Columbia Dispatch 5/23/90
• Ohio Post-Mortem Examination Autopsy No. OA-90-8
• “Abortion debate shifting,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 9, 1990

Why I Can't Attend a Methodist Church

When I first moved to the area where I live now, I went to Yahoo! Local looking for churches near my new home. My choices are Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Catholic, and Mennonite.

That's one of the things I hate about this area -- how thoroughly saturated it is with United Methodist Churches.

What do I have against Methodists? They're proud founding members of the "Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights", an umbrella-group of idolaters. I'd as soon go to a Black Mass as go into a Methodist church. It's a visceral thing, a total revulsion. "Abortion rights" and Christianity are antithetical. Look at the nauseatingly heretical and downright Satanic things people say to justify embracing abortion as a "Christian" thing. It all boils down to ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME with no room for even one's own child, much less room for God.

Abortion is anti-Scriptural, anti-life, anti-love, anti-God.

I can look around at all the wonderful ministries local Methodist congregations have going, but there's always that undercurrent of "But you're cool with KILLING BABIES." Not to mention supporting organizations that lie to women and endanger their lives in order to gain money and political clout by killing babies. That's not something that I can just casually overlook. It's a big honking deal. It's big a deal as if the Catholic Church had responded to the pedophilia scandal with twisted justifications of child molesting and actually promulgated position papers on why the choice to molest children should rest in the conscience of each individual priest and that his choices as a moral agent needed to be respected as holy. At least by covering the abuse up they were showing that they still knew that it's wrong. As inexcusable as the cover-ups were, they were straightforward sin, they were ordinary human sin, ordinary human evil, not an embrace of evil as a right sanctioned by God.

</>soapbox

Watch Why I Can't Worship With the Methodists on YouTube.

April 25, 1931: Fiancé Arranged Deadly Abortion

SUMMARY: On April 25, 1931, 20-year-old Alma Bromps died in Chicago after an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Thomas Ney.

The Couple 

Bob Berry testified that he met Alma Bromps in September, 1930 when she was nineteen years old. The relationship became sexual in November. They became engaged on Christmas day, and the two went out consistently afterwards.

On about the 15th or 16th of April, 1931, Bob had a conversation with Alma and after that conversation telephoned Dr. Thomas J. Ney at his office, 7110 Stony Island avenue, Chicago. That the same night he went to Ney’s office. Bob said that he had talked first with Mabel Boggs, Ney’s nurse. Ney then came in. Bob, giving his own name as Robert Webster, told Ney that sister was pregnant, that he understood Ney took care of abortion cases, and that he would like to have him take care of this case. Ney said he charged $50 for taking care of such cases and told Bob to bring her up any time. That's nearly $1,000 in 2023 dollars.

Was Bob paying any attention to the news? If so, he would have known that the abortionist he'd chosen for his fiancée was out on bail pending his trial for the 1928 abortion death of Eunice McElroy. Evidently nobody was keeping an eye on Ney, and he was left free to ply his deadly trade.

The Abortion 

Dr. Thomas Ney

Bob Berry took Alma to Ney’s office next evening. Ney asked if that was the girl Bob had consulted him about, and Bob replied she was. Ney said, “All right” and asked her to come into his private office. Just before he went in he said, “You can pay me now if you want to.”

Bob paid him in cash and asked for a receipt; Ney said he would give him a receipt after he got finished, but Bob never got that receipt.

Bob remained in the reception room while Ney, Mabel Boggs and Alma were in the private office. In about ten minutes the three came out. Bob and Alma went back to Ney’s office on five consecutive nights after that; and several additional times at Ney’s request.

Alma Takes Ill

After the fifth visit Bob took Alma home and she went to bed. The following morning, April 23, she took sick at work and had to go home. Bob saw her in bed at three o’clock that afternoon and called Ney, telling him that Alma was pretty sick and asked him to come and see her.

Ney did not come but Mabel Boggs did. Bob did not see Mabel do anything. He called Ney the next day and Ney and Mabel arrived together and went into Alma’s room. Bob said that he was not in the room all the time that Ney and Mabel were there. Before Ney and his nurse left, Bob asked if Alma was was all right, and Ney said she would be all right and not to worry.

Bob called Ney the next day and told him that Alma did not seem to be getting any better, so Bob wanted to call in another doctor. Ney said not to do that — that he would come and bring another doctor with him. Ney came that night, bringing Dr. William White. Both doctors went into Alma’s room without Bob. Dr. White said that Alma was pretty sick and that they had “better send her to a hospital right away.” Ney agreed, and said “if anyone should ask us any questions, tell them nothing.” He told Bob absolutely not to mention that any instrument had been used at all.

Hospitalized 

At Dr. White’s suggestion, Bob called Dr. William T. Carlisle at St. Luke’s Hospital and Dr. White talked to him. Ney and Dr. White then left. Dr. Carlisle arrived about five minutes later and remained about ten minutes. An ambulance was called and Bob went along with Alma to the Cook County Hospital.

A Witness to the Goings-On 

Katherine Kolb testified that in April, 1931, she ran a rooming house and rented rooms at 2358 Indiana avenue, Chicago. Alma was living there during that month. On the afternoon of April 24, Katherine saw Ney and another doctor come out of Alma’s room, and that she recognized Bob’s voice in the room.

Katherine also said that while they were in the room she listened through the door and heard Alma screaming. Somebody said that they were recommending a doctor from St. Luke’s Hospital and she had to go there, that this doctor was a “cracker-jack” and would pull her out of her condition. She heard the same voice add that they should not say a word to anybody who sent them over there and who treated her or anything.

Katherine asked Ney who he was, and he identified himself as Dr. Snyder. About twenty minutes after Ney and White left, the doctor from St. Luke’s came. Katherine saw Alma being removed. She added that she looked at Alma’s bed been and the bed clothes were soaked with blood.

The Doctors at the Hospital 

Dr. William T. Carlisle testified that he was an assistant in gynecology on the staff of St. Luke’s Hospital. On April 24, 1931, he received a telephone call with reference to Alma from a party representing himself as her husband. Someone else got on the telephone and asked Carlisle to take Alma to St. Luke’s Hospital. He then understood the name of this latter as Dr. Wright but later ascertained it was White.

Carlisle said that Dr. White told him over the phone that his patient had some serious complication of appendicitis. There were no doctors with Alma when Carlisle arrived at her room. He examined her and found her in a stuporous condition, with a markedly distended and tense abdomen. There were blood-stained cloths around her vulva and vagina and stains on the bed clothes. Her temperature was 102 and pulse rapid. Carlisle said that in his opinion Alma was not then suffering from acute appendicitis but that the distended condition of the abdomen at that time was due to generalized peritonitis. He had her sent immediately to the Cook County Hospital.

Dr. Edwin J. DeCosta, resident physician at the Cook County Hospital attending in obstetrics, testified that he examined Alma there. She was acutely ill — practically “in extremis” at the time. Her abdomen was distended, peristaltics were absent and she had free blood inside her abdominal cavity. Her pulse about 141 and her temperature 107. In short, she presented the findings of a generalized peritonitis. DeCosta he examined the vagina, which had a small amount of blood, and that the opening to the womb was dilated.

All efforts to save Alma were in vain. She died on April 25.

Postmortem 

Dr. Samuel Levinson, the coroner’s physician who performed the autopsy on Alma on April 26, 1931 testified that her abdomen was distended, her pubic hairs had been shaved, and upon opening her abdomen he found an excessive greenish-gray sticky fluid in the lowermost part of the abdomen. Her intestines were greenish-red and their covering matted together by a thick, pus-like fluid. The part of the intestines in the pelvic floor region were greenish in color, showing gangrenous changes. Alma had a marked hyperemia in the lungs -- meaning that they had far more blood in them than normal, with clots in the vessels leading to the lungs. Her heart was soft and flabby and the heart muscle cloudy in appearance, showing it had undergone degenerative processes characteristic of a septic condition. Her liver presented a similar septic change and her spleen was enlarged, soft and purplish-red and when cut open the pulp could be scraped away with ease.

Her uterus was markedly enlarged and the cervix was open and very soft, The upper area of the interior of the uterus had placental tissues that had a very foul odor. When Levinson cut into the uterine muscle and applied pressure to it there was free blood and a dirty-looking exudate came out. He was able to press blood out of the fallopian tubes; and when he cut into the ovary there was a large corpus luteum, with several luteum cells surrounding it. The ovary itself was filled with pus cells, showing infection of the ovary as well as of the uterus and tubes.

Levinson preserved the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries in a jar and noted that the uterus indicated from its enlargement a pregnancy of three to four months. The upper part of the cervix had signs of instrumentation.

Levinson took tissues of the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovary to make microscopic tests. The section from the uterus showed the wall of the uterus was markedly thickened, and distributed throughout the entire surface of the uterus was pus. The inner lining of the uterus, containing evidence of residual cells, fibers and blood, indicated microscopically placental tissues. The section from the fallopian tubes was covered with pus, indicating an infection of the tubes. The section from the ovary showed large groups of luteum and the ovary itself was filled with pus.

He concluded that Alma had been pregnant; that she had a septic condition of the uterus and that she died of a purulent peritonitis, resulting from the pus going out of the uterus through the tubes into the abdominal cavity and the pus infection getting into the blood stream, producing a septic condition which caused the degenerative changes of the heart muscle and liver and produced an acute septic spleen.

On Trial

Ney’s trial took place while he was dragging out three years of continuances pending his trial for the 1928 abortion of Eunice McElroy.

Ney did not take the stand during the trial. The only witnesses called by the defense were Mabel Boggs and Dr. White.

Mabel Boggs testified that she was a practical nurse and had worked for Ney from June, 1930, to the first part of May, 1931. She had seen Alma at the office of Ney. Bob had been with her the first and second times she came. The next time Boggs saw Alma, she said, was when Ney sent her to Alma’s home. Boggs said that she gave Alma an enema; and that while the enema was being given Bob was in the room next door. Boggs said that she talked to Berry after giving it, saying to him that it looked like appendicitis. She said that Bob said that Alma had chronic appendicitis.

Dr. White testified that he visited Alma at the request of Ney, who told him that she was turning yellow and he was not sure of the diagnosis of the case. White examined her at her room and found her to be suffering from peritonitis and in a serious condition Her pulse was racing at about 152 and her temperature 102.8. He recommended that she be taken to a hospital. Bob, who had introduced Alma as his wife, wanted her sent to St. Luke’s Hospital. White recommended Dr. Carlisle.

White said that he made no vaginal examination and saw no blood, but did notice that Alma’s abdomen was greatly distended. Alma was conscious all the time he was there. He also said that when he went outside he found Katherine Kolb going from door to door trying to block the passage of White and Ney. White told her the case was not to be discussed with strangers.

Legal Fallout 

Ney was convicted in Alma’s death after a belated trial that had been delayed by 25 continuances. Though the state had sought the death penalty, Ney was merely sentenced to 15 years.

The first contention of Ney on appeal was that he was inadequately defended. The appellate judge ruled, "Assuming this to be the case, it does not follow that he can for that reason call upon this court to reverse the judgment. His defense was conducted by counsel of his own choosing."

Ney summarized the alleged shortcomings of counsel at the trial by saying that said counsel “did not object to the conduct of the court in examining in chief at great length the witnesses for the prosecution and cross-examining witnesses for the defense; did not object to the repeated and unnecessary repetition by the court of culpatory evidence by the prosecution after it had been brought out by the court; did not object to the court’s taking charge of and conducting the prosecution, and did not object to the court’s lecturing witnesses and counsel for the defense and using the pronoun ‘we’ therein when and where the pronoun ‘we’ could refer only to the prosecution.”

The judgment of the criminal court was affirmed.

---

Sources:

• THE PEOPLE v. NEY, 181 N.E. 595 (Ill. 1932)
• “Refused Bail,” Jacksonville Daily Journal, July 4, 1931
• “Try Doctor For Death,” Decatur (IL) Herald, July 21, 1931
• “Selecting Jury in Alleged Illegal Operation Case,” Bairner (MN) Daily Dispatch, July 21, 1931
• “Doctor on Trial After he Dodges Justice for 3 Years,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1931
• “Doctor On Trial,” Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1931
• “Witness Missing in Manslaughter Case,” Decatur (IL) Herald, July 22, 1931
• “Girl, Main Witness in Murder Case, Lost,” Dixon (IL) Evening Telegraph, July 22, 1931
• “Doctor Gets 15 Years for Fatal Operation,” Alton (IL) Evening Telegraph, July 23, 1931
• “Doctor Given 15 Years for Girl’s Death,” Chicago Tribune, July 23, 1931
• “Doctor Guilty Of Murder In Abortion Case,” Daily Independent, July 23, 1931
• “Doctor Convicted of Manslaughter,” Decatur (IL) Herald, July 23, 1931

April 24, 1937: Deadly Work of Oklahoma Midwife

Merl Williams

On April 24, 1937, Merl Williams of Watonga, Oklahoma, died of peritonitis. She was 21 years old, a worker in a poultry packing plant. Her death was attributed to a botched abortion.

A midwife, 57-year-old. Cordelia "Della" Moore, was charged with abortion murder. An investigation found evidence that Moore, formerly a registered nurse, had perpetrated hundreds of abortions in her home in Longdale, Oklahoma.

Moore was arrested on April 25 and was held without bond until she was released on $6,000 bond on May 14.  After her arrest, she "unworriedly set her glasses on the end of her nose and continued her quilting in the county jail." Her husband, John, actually got up in his cell and jigged when a jaunty tune came on the radio.

Della's trial was delayed so many times that eventually the judge dropped the bail requirement in August of 1939.

W. C. Mouse, a railroad engineer, testified that he had taken Merl to Moore's 3-room farm house on April 11, not knowing the reason for the visit. He said only that he had heard Merl ask Moore, "Will it be dangerous?" 

Cordelia Moore

The state also gathered 14 additional witnesses in the case against Moore, including women swearing under oath that Moore had done abortions on them. The prosecutors were also investigating the possible abortion death of a married woman a few years previously.

In October, Moore took ill, resulting in a continuance of her trial. At the time she was free on a $6,000 bond.

Cordelia Moore was tried for the crime; her husband, John, was arrested but released. I have been unable to determine that outcome of any trial in Merl's death.

Sources:

• “Murder Is Charged In Abortion Death,” Miami (OK) Daily News-Record, April 28, 1937
• “Midwife Nabbed In Abortion Racket In Oklahoma; 500 Case Are Aired,” (Harlingen, TX) Valley Morning Star, April 29, 1937
• “Abortions Admitted By Watonga Midwife,” Pampa (TX) Daily News, April 29, 1937
• “Seek New Evidence of Illegal Operations,” Cleveland Plain Dealer,” April 29, 1937
• “Huge Abortion Racket Found,” Greensboro (NC) Record, April 29, 1937
• “Death of Girl is Basis of Couple’s Arrest for Murder,” Miami (OK) Daily News-Record, April 30, 1937
• “Officer Seeks 11 Patients in Abortion Quiz”, The Oklahoman, May 1, 1937
• “Abortion Death Hearing is Set,” Brownsville (TX) Herald, May 2, 1937
• “Mrs. Moore is Bound Over on Murder Count”, The Oklahoman, May 15, 1937
• “State to Help Push Charge on Abortion”, The Oklahoman, June 1, 1937
• “Watts is Assigned to Aid in Murder Case,” Miami (OK) Daily News-Record, June 1, 1937
• untitled, The Arapaho Bee, October 8, 1937
• "Keen Ends Case Against Midwife," Geary (OK) Star, August 24, 1939

April 24, 1893: Racist Coverage of an Abortion Death

An article on the death of 19-year-old Emma Hub underscores the racism of the time. It begins, "Uncle Billy Nickens, a well-known colored character of Hannibal [Illinois], was arrested there yesterday charged with causing the death of Emmy Hub by a criminal operation."

Emma was the daughter of Jacob Hub, a German shoemaker living just south of the Hannibal city limits. Jacob had expelled his daughter from the house due to "her wild habits", so she had moved in with a painter named Mathew Seoville.  Around April 15 of 1893, Emma took ill, and was tended by a Dr. Ebbits. Ebbits suspected an abortion and refused to treat Emma until she admitted to it. "She continued to grow worse until death relieved her suffering at 1 a.m. yesterday" -- that being April 24.

Emma had told Mathew Seoville and his wife that she had gone to Nickens' house, where he had used instruments on her to cause an abortion. She said that a girl from Illinois was also there for an abortion. Mathew had pressed Emma to write up a declaration.

The fatal abortion was reportedly Emma's second; the previous had been performed the previous October. She also had given birth to a child about two years earlier.  The article notes that Nickens was arrested, adding, "The negro has been brought up on similar charges before, but always managed to clear himself."

Watch Racist Coverage of Abortion Death on YouTube.

Source: “Arrested for Abortion”, The Quincy Daily Journal, April 25, 1893

April 24, 1920: Scanty Info From Homicide in Chicago Database

On April 24, 1920, Emma Shanahan died at Chicago's St. Anthony Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by a person who was not identified. Most abortionists in Chicago in that era were doctors or midwives, which makes it likely that Emma availed herself of one of these trained medical professionals.

April 24, 1932: One Day, Two Doctors, Two Deaths

Dr. J. W. Eisiminger

Virginia Lee Wyckoff, a University of Oklahoma student, age 21, died from complications of an abortion on April 24, 1932 Hers was one of a string of deaths in the city that year. 

Dr. J.W. Eisiminger, an osteopath, was tried and convicted of murder in Virginia's death. He admitted to having treated her in his office on April 3, but said that he didn't believe she was pregnant. Nevertheless, Virginia spent several days in a private home where Eisiminger kept recovering abortion patients under the care of Mrs. Luther Bryant Price. Dr. Richard Thacker, who had an abortion patient of his own die on April 24, 1932, also used Mrs. Price's home as a recovery center for his abortion patients.

Virginia was transferred from Mrs. Prices's home to Oklahoma City General Hospital, where she died of septicemia, first having told doctors there that Eisiminger had performed the fatal abortion.. A deathbed statement absolving Eisiminger was proven to be a forgery.

Eisiminger was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in her abortion death. The sentence was later reduced to 15 years.

Dr. Richard Thacker

Thacker's trial for the April 15, 1932 abortion death of Ruth Hall brought out testimony concerning the death April 24 death of 25-year-old Lennis May Roach and of other patients, including Robbie Lou Thompson, and Nancy Lee.

Mrs. Roach had come to Thacker's office several times, he admitted. Thacker said that she had been in poor health and emaciated, and had a white discharge, indicative of infection, from her vagina. She also, Thacker said, had pains in her abdomen. Thacker said that he treated her with a tonic and with antiseptic tampons.

He adamantly denied that he had performed an abortion on her. However, other witnesses, including Mrs. Roach's husband, testified that Thacker had indeed performed an abortion on Mrs. Roach, causing her death. Thacker was only prosecuted for Ruth Hall's death and was sentenced to life in prison. This is probably why he wasn't prosecuted for any of the other deaths. He died in prison in 1937.

When the Products of Conception Really Are Just Tissue

Two common prochoice euphemisms for the fetus destroyed by abortion -- "products of conception" and "pregnancy tissue" -- really do accurately apply in those unusual circumstances when there is no fetus present in a pregnancy.

The two conditions in which a woman shows all the symptoms of pregnancy but is not sheltering a new human being are gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) and blighted ovum.

In GTD, the conception results in what is called a "hydatidiform mole." This is a cluster of tissue with an appearance somewhat similar to a bunch of grapes. In blighted ovum, a placenta and amniotic sac form, but there is no fetus in the sac. Some researchers seem to believe that a blighted ova is caused by the same abnormal conception process that causes hydatidiform moles. Others say that they are two different kinds of abnormalities.

Actually, the existence of hydatidiform moles underscores the prolife position. One need only compare a fetus with a molar pregnancy of the same gestation age to see very clearly the difference between "pregnancy tissue" and a viable embryonic human being. In fact, even in a partial mole, there is a clear difference between the doomed fetus, which is recognizably a fetus, and the molar tissue (Warning: Very graphic!). For those of you with a strong stomach, here are a removed mole, a blighted ovum opened after it was expelled, and aborted fetuses, for your comparison:

Hydatidiform Mole
Blighted Ovum
First Trimester Abortion Photo (Warning: Very Graphic!)

You can see that the mole really is just a blob of tissue. Ditto for the blighted ovum. Nobody is going to be harvesting lungs, liver, thymus, long bones, or neural tissue from either because there are none. When there is a tiny human being present it's different. No matter how thoroughly shredded the embryo is, you can still see recognizable human body parts, such as arms, legs, hands, feet, and face. Only the degree to which the organs are damaged would stop a procurement company from harvesting a heart or a head.

To reiterate for the benefit of the terminally clueless: Prolifers don't oppose removing tissue. We oppose killing fetuses. Any questions?

Watch the companion video on YouTube.

April 22, 1923: Doctor Indicted for Chicago Death

On April 22, 1923, 30-year-old Daisy Anna Singerland died at Chicago's Robert Burns Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed earlier that day.  On June 1, 54-year-old Dr. James W. Lipscomb was indicted for felony murder in Daisy's death. I have been unable to determine the final outcome of the case.

Watch From the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database on YouTube.

April 22, 1910: Lingering Death at Cook County Hospital

"Phyllis," identified in the source document as "Mrs. M.," was 46 years old when she had an abortion performed by a physician in Chicago on or around April 4, 1910.  The abortion was followed by pain, fever, and hemorrhage. On April 18, about two weeks after the abortion, she was admitted to Cook County Hospital with a pulse of 102, respirations of 24, and fever of 102. She was in a stupor upon admission, with her tongue dry and furred. Her abdomen was distended and tender. Her liver was enlarged. The lower lobe of her right lung had sounds indicating the presence of fluid.  That evening, Phyllis became delirious and had to be restrained to her bed. Staff were unable to record a pulse for her, but her temperature had risen to 102.4 and her respirations were a racing 50 per minute.  Phyllis died on April 22 from peritonitis and septic pneumonia.

April 22, 1920: Chicago Midwife's Fatal Work

On February 19, 1920, 40-year-old midwife Mary Simkus evidently perpetrated an abortion on 28-year-old homemaker Sophia Krawczyk in the Krawczyk home.  After the abortion, Sophie took ill. Eventually she was taken to Cook County Hospital, where she died from sepsis on April 22.  Simka was indicted for Sophie's death, but for reasons I have been unable to determine the case never went to trial.

April 21, 1955: Pro-Choice Icon's Forgotten Victim

Self-styled "Doctor" Harvey Karman

Nearly two decades before the "Mothers Day Massacre" pulled off with Kermit "House of Horrors" Gosnell in Philadelphia, 30-year-old Harvey Karman was working at the University of California at Los Angeles, seeking a doctorate in psychology. At times he claimed that he was an instructor at the university, but his instruction duties were likely limited. 

He was not licensed to practice medicine.

The Abortion

Around early February of 1955, 26-year-old Joyce Yvonne Maynard Johnson told her husband, Ben, that she was pregnant. The couple already had two children, and they discussed an abortion. Ben was friends with Harvey Karman. Karman had a passion for writing, inventing, performing medical experiments on rattlesnakes, and, as we already know, abortion. He agreed to perform an abortion on the young homemaker. His fee was $150, which was a substantial sum for somebody whose only income at the time was $180 a month for tutoring teens in remedial reading. 

On April 6, 1955, Karman met Joyce in a motel room in Westwood, California while Ben waited outside in the car. Using a speculum, Karman inserted a nutcracker into Joyce in order to perform an abortion. Karman walked Joyce out to the car, he said, and told Ben, "Get her to a doctor." He reportedly returned the $150 abortion fee to cover Joyce's inevitable medical bills.

On April 8, Joyce's husband took her to St. Joseph's Hospital. She was examined by a Dr. Moss who diagnosed her as suffering from "an infected criminal abortion." The dead fetus was still in her uterus. She expelled it while at St. Joseph's.

On April 13, Joyce was transferred to General Hospital for specialized treatment. She died there on April 21. An autopsy was performed, and Joyce's death blamed on bronchial pneumonia brought on by the septic abortion.

Karman was arrested. He admitted to perpetrating the abortion but said, "I only did it because she begged me to do it." Then again, Karman clearly needed the money.

The Trial

During the trial, a photograph of the autopsy was available, but the district attorney didn't display it. He instead told the jury, "you can look at it up in the jury room if you are so inclined--it's an autopsy picture--I'm not going to show it to you because some people don't like to see things like that--she was 26 years old April 6th. She was a girl in good health. She was pregnant. She wanted to do something about having an abortion for this pregnancy."

The district attorney also told the jury, "Frankly, I don't know how you feel about this matter of abortion--it is a matter of difference of opinion. Some people say well, people can't afford it, it's all right to have an abortion. Some people say if the woman's health won't stand it it's all right to have an abortion. Our law says it's all right to have an abortion if her health is of such nature she can't have a baby. Some people think abortions are all right. Some people are absolutely against all of them. If you want to know the truth, I'm pretty much against all abortions myself, I think it's a terrible thing for a girl to be talked into this."

Harvey was convicted on the illegal abortion charge but acquitted on the accompanying murder charge for a reason that would only make sense to a jury. He was given a one-to-ten-year prison sentence.

The Appeal

The appeals court found it "improper for the district attorney to express his personal belief as to all abortion," but noted that since the jury was admonished to ignore the comment Karman had no grounds for appeal in the fact that the DA made the comment.

Karman's defense called a Dr. Gilbert as an expert. He reviewed the autopsy report and medical records, an opined that Joyce did not die from a septic abortion. He was paid $150 for his testimony, ironically the same amount Joyce paid for the abortion.

The defense also appealed on the grounds that the the DA unduly prejudiced the jury by bringing out in cross-examining Karman that he'd been convicted previously of a felony. The appeals court ruled that this was proper impeachment of a witness.

Karman's defense further argued that Joyce's husband and friend, Patricia, were improperly granted immunity after they originally refused to testify.

Karman's defense also claimed that the prosecution failed to prove that the abortion wasn't necessary to save Joyce's life. But the appeals court found that the testimony of Ben and Patricia that Joyce had been in good health settled that matter. Of course, pure logic would prove that matter, since Joyce was seeking an illegal abortion from an amateur in a motel room. Had her life been in danger, an ob/gyn would have been able to admit her to a hospital and perform the abortion there.

An appeals court found that the district attorney's statement that what defendant did was "absolute butchery" was fair argument on the facts, and not an unduly prejudicious statement. It came out in the case that Joyce's husband was dating another woman and therefore had an interest in Joyce securing an abortion.

The Pardon

Though Karman had finished serving his sentence before Jerry Brown was sworn in as California Governor in 1975, Brown was enamored enough of Karman's work to issue him a pardon.

Joyce's abortion was unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions. However, it also stands out because Harvey Karman was treated like a real doctor by the abortion establishment. He was invited to train abortionists, and was celebrated by abortion advocates for having invented a suction cannula designed specifically for early abortions. Despite being an amateur, and despite the death of Joyce Johnson and the fiasco in Philadelphia, on his death Karman was eulogized as a champion of safe abortions.

Watch Pro-Choice Icon's Forgotten Victim on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Illegal Operation on Friend's Wife Jails Psychology Student at UCLA," Los Angeles Mirror-News, April 20, 1955
• "Abortion Fatal," (San Pedro, CA) News-Pilot, April 23, 1955
• "UCLA Teacher Held On Murder Charge," Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, June 11, 1955
• "Man found guilty of abortion death of L.A. housewife," (Palo Alto, CA) Peninsula Times Tribune, September 5, 1955
• "New Trial Denied In Operation Case," Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, September 7, 1955
• "Gets Prison in Death Surgery," Los Angeles Mirror, October 13, 1955
• "Man Gets Prison Term for Illegal Operation," Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1955
• People v. Karman, Crim. No. 5583. Second Dist., Div. Three. Nov. 13, 1956

April 21, 1912: Mystery Abortion in Chicago

In the morning of April 21, 1912, 38-year-old Mrs. Grace Peters died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago. She had been taken to the hospital after having taken very ill in her home the previous Thursday.

When asked who had perpetrated the abortion, Grace refused to say. There was some conjecture that she had perpetrated the abortion herself.

Source: "Criminal Operations are Fatal to Two Women," The Inter Ocean, April 22, 1912

April 20, 1987: One of Three Deaths at Chicago Abortion Mill

Dr. Dusan Zivkovic

Brenda Benton's survivors sued Biogenetics after her death, claiming that Dusan Zivkovic and/or V. Perez had performed a safe and legal abortion on her on March 13, 1987. She was placed under general anesthesia for the abortion. After she was discharged, Brenda developed fever, chills, and back pain.

The suit says that 35-year-old Brenda returned to Biogenetics to report these symptoms on March 27, and that Zivkovic examined Brenda and performed a D&C before transferring her to Martha Washington Hospital. There, Brenda's survivors say, Zivkovic called in other doctors for a consult. They then transferred Brenda to Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's hospital on April 6. She died there on April 20.

Her death was due to infection and "overwhelming septicemia." Brenda's family said that Zivkovic failed to failed to determine that Brenda had had an adverse reaction to drugs he'd given her, and failed to detect and respond to her medical emergency. An expert opinion on the case attributes Brenda's death to inappropriate follow-up, and septicemia leading to fatal complications. Brenda's death certificate attributed death to hepatic necrosis due to toxicity reaction to abortion anesthesia.

"Susanna Chisolm" (1975) and Synthia Dennard (1989) also died after abortions at Biogenetics.

Watch He Could Have Saved Her on YouTube.

Sources: Sources: Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 89L 2906, Death Certificate No. 607697a