May 16, 2014: 17th FPA Death (That I Know Of)

An autopsy report tells the story of the seventeenth young woman I know of now to have died after an abortion at that National Abortion Federation flagship: Family Planning Associates Medical Group.

To preserve her confidentiality, I have given her the pseudonym "Kyla Ellis."

Kyla was 23 years old and about 11 weeks pregnant when she went to Family Planning Associate Medical Group at 601 S. Westmoreland Avenue in Los Angeles for an abortion on May 14, 2014. Like other young Black women, she was at higher risk of death than a white woman would be.

The day after the abortion, Kyla suffered agonizing abdominal pain. Her partner, whom I will call "Benjamin," called an ambulance, which rushed her to Centinela Hospital. She arrived at around 3:30 that afternoon. Kyla rated her pain at 10 on a scale of 10. Bright, fresh blood was flowing from her vagina. She couldn't pass urine at all. Hospital staff used a catheter to drain her bladder of about 200 cc of bloody urine.

Doctors decided that Kyla needed more intensive care than Centinela was able to provide. Kyla rode by ambulance to Kaiser West Los Angeles. She arrived shortly after midnight on May 16. At first she was awake, but at around 1:40 a.m. her gaze turned glassy and she became unresponsive. Staff took her to the lab for a CT scan, but on arrival Kyla went into cardio respiratory arrest. All efforts to revive her failed and she was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m.

The autopsy found her uterus boggy and enlarged. The endometrium (lining) had been scraped away. 

Kyla had bled to death.

The Centers for Disease Control published back in 1983, "Deaths from hemorrhage associated with legal induced abortion should not occur." In every hemorrhage death they investigated, "Lack of adequate postoperative monitoring or treatment of hemorrhagic shock" was a factor. Kyla had been sent home with undiagnosed bleeding. That shouldn't happen. But it does happen, and not just to Kyla. It happened to other women, such as Eurice Agbagaa, Mickey Apodaca, Leigh Ann Alford, Gloria Aponte, Jacqueline Bailey, Junette Barnes, Myrtha Baptist, Cassandra Bleavens, Belinda Byrd, Dorothy Brown, Teresa Causey, Patricia Chacon, "Susanna Chisolm," Pamela Colson, Twila Coulter, Liliana Cortez, Mary Ann Dancy, Barbaralee Davis, Glenda Davis, Synthia Dennard, Anjelica Duarte, Evelyn Dudley, Gladyss Estanislao, Linda Fondren, Kathleen Gilbert, Maria Gomez, Shary Graham, Doris Grant, Sharon Hamplton, Lou Ann Herron, Louchrisser Jackson, Sandra Milton, Ruth Montero, Denise Montoya, Sylvia Moore, Dorothy Muzorewa, Guadalupe Negron, Mary Paredez, Shirley Payne, Mary Pena, Katrina Poole,  Tonya Reaves, Magdalena Rodriguez, Carole Schaner, Margaret Smith, Jennifer Suddeth, Cheryl Tubbs, and Latachie Veal.

To top it off, Kyla is the seventeenth woman I'm aware of to have died after abortions at FPA. The others are: 

• 1970: Denise Holmes
• 1984: Patricia Chacon and Mary Pena
• 1985: Josefina Garcia
• 1986: Laniece Dorsey
• 1988: Joyce Ortenzio and Tami Suematsu
• 1992: Deanna Bell and Susan Levy
• 1994: Christina Mora
• 1995: TaTanisha Wesson
• 1998: Nakia Jorden
• 1999: Maria Leho
• 2000: Kimberly Neil and Maria Rodriguez
• 2004: Chanelle Bryant

Watch 17th Known Abortion Death at YouTube.

Autopsy pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

May 16, 1916: Was Anna Albers Really Responsible?

On May 16, 1916, 25-year-old Lucile Bersworth died in Chicago's German-American hospital after telling authorities that Dr. Anna Albers had perpetrated an abortion on her.

She also mentioned a man named Fred Krause, so he might have been her baby's father.

Though Albers was held by the coroner and indicted by a Grand Jury, the case never went to trial. She was rather a respectable physician, at least as of 1912, so she seems an unlikely abortionist.

Watch Not a Lot to Go On on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Merely Comment," The [Chicago] Day Book, May 16, 1916
• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

May 13, 1972: Convulsions and Death At Start of Abortion

 "Roxanne" was 17 years old when she decided to take advantage of New York's new abortion law, and traveled there from Michigan to have a first-trimester abortion in a doctor's office. The doctor gave her sedatives and local anesthesia to begin the abortion on May 13, 1972. But before the abortion could be started, Roxanne started to have convulsions and went into cardiac arrest.  Roxanne was taken to an area hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival.  An investigation into the case revealed that the doctor had exceeded the recommended dose of the local anesthetic. This is the same cause of death of Stacy Ruckman in 1988. 

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. In addition to "Roxanne," these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

• Pearl Schwier, July, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• Carmen Rodriguez, July, 1970, salt solution intended to kill the fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• Barbara Riley, July, 1970, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease
• "Amanda" Roe, September, 1970, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus
• Maria Ortega, October, 1970, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there
• "Kimberly" Roe, December, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Amy" Roe, January, 1971, massive pulmonary embolism
• "Andrea" Roe, January, 1971, overwhelming infection
• "Sandra" Roe, April, 1971, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse
• "Anita" Roe, May, 1971, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion
• Margaret Smith, June 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
• "Annie" Roe, June, 1971, cardiac arrest during anesthesia
• "Audrey" Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Vicki" Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
• "April" Roe, August, 1971, injected with saline for outpatient abortion, went into shock and died
• "Barbara" Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
• "Tammy" Roe, October, 1971, massive post-abortion infection
• Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
• "Beth" Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• "Roseann" Roe, February, 1971, vomiting with seizures causing pneumonia after saline abortion
• "Connie" Roe, March, 1972, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Julie" Roe, April, 1972, holes torn in her uterus and bowel
• "Robin" Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
• "Danielle" Roe, May, 1972, air in her bloodstream

Watch Overdose Death in Liberalization Land on YouTube.

May 12, 1971: Journey to Safe, Legal Death

 Anita was a 23-year-old mother of two when she chose safe and legal abortion in 1971.

She traveled from Massachusetts to New York for her abortion. She was 22 weeks pregnant. She had not told her husband that she was planning on the abortion. She used a fictitious name at the facility.

On May 11, the doctor initiated a saline abortion, then sent Anita home to expel the fetus. The next day, Anita was found unresponsive at her home. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. 

A post-mortem examination found the lower half of a 650-gram fetus protruding from Anita's uterus. A quarter off the placenta was still firmly attached to the uterus. The puncture wound from the saline injection was noted.

Anita had bled to death.

Sources: 

• "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972, Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 325
• "Two Deaths From Mid-Trimester Abortion," New England Journal of Medicine, January 4, 1973; 288:47-48

May 12, 1989: Found Collapsed in the Bathroom

On May 12, 1989, Gladyss P. Delanoche Estanislao, 28-year-old mother of one, was found unresponsive on the floor of the rest room near her college classroom. A doctor who was in the vicinity performed CPR while awaiting an ambulance. Gladyss was taken to Greater Laurel Beltsville Hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival from cardiac arrest due to blood loss from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

On December 10, 1991, Human Life International sent a news release about Gladyss's death to the medical board. They identified Gladyss as "Patient A" in documents.

The board noted that Gladyss had gone to Dr. Alan J. Ross at Wisconsin Avenue Women's Health Center in Bethesda, Maryland on April 25 for an abortion. Ross diagnosed Gladyss as being 6 - 8 weeks pregnant and performed a suction abortion under local anesthesia. 

"A review of Patient A's office records indicated that [Ross] found the aspirate from Patient A's uterus to be grossly abnormal, containing mainly blood clots..." He did not send the specimen for a pathological examination. He also did not do an ultrasound to figure out why there was no evident fetal tissue. He also failed to do serial HCG studies to measure pregnancy hormones over time to see if Gladyss was still pregnant.

He merely discharged Gladyss with a prescription for antibiotics.

The fact that the abortion specimen did not contain fetal parts should have indicated that Gladyss had an ectopic pregnancy. This condition is routinely treated by competent doctors, saving the lives of the mothers. But Ross missed his diagnosis and allowed Gladyss to leave his clinic with her life in danger. Because of the sloppiness of abortionists like Ross, women who choose abortion are more likely to die from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy than are women intending to carry to term.

"In this inspection, the reviewers found that [Ross's] office records were grossly inadequate." They were hand-written so illegibly that Ross was often unable to read his own handwriting. They lacked detail. None of them showed an adequate medical history or physical examination. 

Inspectors also noted that Ross disposed of everything -- used needles, used gloves, and fetal remains -- in the regular trash.

Ross did all of his own lab testing for things such as RH factor, chlamydia, etc., even though he was not qualified to do so. He defended this on the grounds that he didn't charge patients for these services.

The board characterized Ross's medical services as "careless and inattentive." They suspended his license for one year and fined him $25,000. His license was also placed on probation under specific requirements that he clean up his act. He seems to still be practicing gynecology in Bethesda, Maryland as of this date.

Gladyss had been born in the Philippines and had come to the United States as a child. She was a 1978 graduate of Oxon Hill High School. Her sister sued on behalf of her motherless child, who was two years old when the fatal abortion was performed. 

Watch Found Dead on the Bathroom Floor on YouTube.

Sources: 

• Alan Ross License Suspension Order
• Matibag vs. Women's Health 

May 11, 1981: Multiple Professionals Let Barbara Down

A lawsuit filed by Frank Dillon, the father of Barbara Dillon, a 22-year-old college student at SUNY New Paltz, alleged that Barbara underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Dr. Mark Silver at Long Island Gynecological Group on April 18, 1981. 

The Pathology Findings

The tissue from Barbara's abortion was delivered to Idant Laboratory on April 21. Dr. Michael J. Klein completed a microscopic analysis. Both he and the histotechnologist, who performed the gross examination (visible without a microscope), found placental tissue but no fetal parts. The lab notified Long Island Gynecological Group on April 22. 

The pathology finding indicates that the fetus was still inside Barbara's body, either left behind in her uterus or implanted in her fallopian tube. It also didn't eliminate the possibility that Barbara had a double pregnancy -- one embedded in the uterus and the other in her fallopian tube.

Nobody from Long Island Gynecological Group contacted Barbara to inform her that she needed to be seen to determine where the fetus was, or specifically that she needed to be seen to rule out a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

Fruitlessly Seeking Care

Barbara suffered pain and bleeding from May 5. On May 10 she finally went to the emergency room at Kingston Hospital and was treated with antibiotics by Dr. Kalyanasundaran Venkataraman and advised to see a gynecologist named Dr. Theodore Jackaway, the on-call gynecologist for the hospital, for follow-up care. 

She was in severe pain later that day and began to vomit, so her roommates called the emergency room again. They were told to give the antibiotics more time. 

At 5:30 on the morning of May 11, Barbara was in so much pain that one of her roommates called Dr. Jackaway's answering service and left a message. Jackaway called back and said that he couldn't take any responsibility for Barbara because he hadn't seen her, so he suggested that she be taken to the emergency room. 

About three hours after talking to Jackaway, Barbara's roommate contacted a neighbor who called the SUNY health center. There, Dr. Johannes D. Weltin requested that somebody take her to the health center so that he could examine her. The neighbor drove Barbara to university health center at around 9:25 a.m. Barbara was unconscious upon arrival, with no respiration, blood pressure, or pulse. 

Dr. Weltin called the hospital and spoke to Dr. Jackaway, and told him that Barbara had blood in her abdomen and needed immediate surgery. Jackaway refused to see her because she wasn't his patient and he didn't want to get involved. Dr. Weltin tried to call Dr. Kirk for a consultation, which he refused to do -- though he did call Dr. Jackaway and try to convince him to treat Barbara.

Too Late

Finally at 11:45 that morning somebody brought in Dr. Venkataraman, who performed emergency surgery. Despite this final doctor's efforts, Barbara went into irreversible shock and died on May 11. 

It turned out that Barbara had an ectopic pregnancy which the clinic had failed to detect. Barbara's father sued Dr. Silver, Dr. Jackaway, Dr. Kline, and the Long Island Gynecological Group.

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. In Barbara's case, it seems that everybody in the medical establishment except the pathologist and the university physician utterly let her down.

Watch "Passing the Buck Leads to Death" on YouTube.

Source: Dillon v. Silver, New York Appellate Court 134 A.D.2nd 159 (1987)

May 11th Criminal Abortion Deaths

On May 11, 1884, a young woman who had given her name as Alice Brown died at the Chicago residence of Mrs. R. A. Hough. She was identified as 20-year-old Lottie Hudson of Austin, Illinois. She had gone to Chicago to live with a man identified as C. O. Owen, "a printer who already had a wife and family." He was boarding with Lottie's mother, Mrs. Hudson, who had visited Lottie twice at Mrs. Hough's home during her illness. It was determined that Lottie had died from blood poisoning due to an abortion, believed to be perpetrated by a doctor whose name neither Lottie nor Mrs. Hough either could or would divulge. On the day of the funeral, Mrs. Hough went to Mrs. Hudson's house and "was decidedly uneasy during the forenoon." At 11 a.m., Hough asked Mrs. Hudson to leave with her because the police would soon come to arrest them since they'd not called in a doctor to attend to Lottie as she was dying.

Homemaker May Johnson, age 36, of Melrose Street in Chicago died on May 11, 1915 from a self-induced abortion "after advice from quack."

Safe and Legal May 11th Deaths

 "Anita" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion. Anita was a 23-year-old mother of two when she traveled from Massachusetts to New York to take advantage of the law legalizing abortion. She was 22 weeks pregnant. On May 11, 1971 the doctor initiated a saline abortion by injecting a strong sterile salt solution into Anita's uterus. The idea was that the fetus would inhale and swallow the fluid, which would cause massive internal hemorrhaging and death. this would then trigger labor. Anita's doctor sent her home to expel the fetus. The next day, Anita was found unresponsive at her home. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She had bled to death.

"Melissa" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion. Melissa was 27 years old and five months pregnant when she checked into Lutheran Medical Center of Brooklyn on May 1, 1992. For some reason, her doctor chose the dangerous and antiquated saline abortion procedure. She died of complications on May 11.

Fifteen-year-old Sara Neibel went to Midtown Hospital in Atlanta for a safe and legal abortion at 17 weeks. She was given a clean bill of health and sent home. The next day, she reported a severe headache, sore neck, neck stiffness, and trouble seeing. Her parents began the drive to take her to the hospital. On the way there, Sara began screaming and behaving strangely. When they got to the hospital, she refused to get out of the car. She was disoriented and stuporous upon admission. Sara went into respiratory arrest, and was admitted to the ICU. She was pronounced dead May 11, 1994. The cause of death was determined to be Group B Streptococci Meningitis caused by infected amniotic fluid in her bloodstream. The autopsy performed on Sara found dead tissue and a fetal bone fragment in her infected uterus. Sources: Georgia Autopsy Report No. A1994-13; Georgia Certificate of Death # 023154

May 10, 1960: Dumped Off the Highway

 At around 6:50 on the morning of Wednesday, May 11, 1960, the body of a young black woman was found in an uncultivated field just off Taylor Road at a spot about 100 yards off Highway 215. Found along with the body were a topcoat, a bundle, and shoes. In the coat pocket was a piece of paper with the dead woman's name. She was 30-year-old Miss Corine Lyles of Jenkinsville, SC. She had worked as a domestic servant in Richland.

Dr. C. K. Lindler, who performed the autopsy and signed the death certificate, concluded that Corine had died the previous day from bleeding and shock due to a criminal abortion. The coroner's jury concluded that the abortion had been perpetrated the day Corine died.

Corine's sister, Mary Estelle Harrison, was arrested as an accessory before the fact. She stated that Corine had been pregnant and had said that she would "kill herself if she couldn't get rid of the baby." Mary told investigators that 54-year-old Daisy Brown Baxley said that she could "do away with" the baby. Mary said that she paid Baxley $45 as a down payment for the $75 abortion.

Baxley, who was also black, was arrested as the principal in the case. She reportedly told Chief Deputy Sheriff J. C. Harrison that she had only referred Corine to Viola Anderson Wheeler, age 44, for the abortion rather than perpetrate it herself. All the parties agreed that regardless of who had wielded the deadly instruments, the abortion had been perpetrated in the Baxter home, 305 Wilkes Road, Columbia. When the case went to court, Baxley again denied performing the abortion but did admit to having been present when Corine succumbed. She said that Corine "started foaming at the mouth and ... laid back on the bed and died." She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Herman Baxley, who was Daisy Baxley's husband, and Viola Wheeler were charged as accessories after the fact.

Wheeler also denied having perpetrated the abortion. Despite her original statement that she had not laid eyes on Corine until after the young woman had died, when her case went to court she admitted that she had been in the room when Corine died. She also admitted that she had helped to dispose of Corine's body and pleaded guilty to her charges.

Herman Baxley, age 53, also pleaded guilty to his charge, saying that his wife had asked him for help and he'd helped put Corine's body in his station wagon to drive to the dump site.

Herman was granted a divorce from Daisy in the spring of 1961. She was paroled on September 21, 1961.

Watch "Dumped by the Highway" on YouTube.

• South Carolina Death Certificate #60 008125
  
• "Woman Is Found Dead On Highway," The Columbia (S.C.) Record, May 12, 1960
• "Sheriff Probing Case of Woman Dead on Highway," The Columbia (S.C.) Record, May 13, 1960
• "Inquests Set In Richland Negro Deaths," The Columbia (S.C.) Record, May 16, 1960
• "3 Being Held For Inquest In Abortion," The Columbia (S.C.) Record, May 16, 1960
• "Four Held for Grand Jury Action in Abortion Death," The (Columbia, S.C.) State, May 18, 1960
• “Two Abortion Indictments Are Slated,” The (Columbia, S.C.) State, June 8, 1960
• "Was Money for Abortion Down Payment on Death?" The (Columbia, S.C.) State, June 30, 1960
• "Divorces Granted," The Columbia Record, April 13, 1961
• "Parole Board Frees Eleven From Prison," The Columbia Record, September 11, 1961

May 4, 1960: Dead After Abortion by Nursing Home Employee

On May 11, 1960, an all-black coroner's jury stated: "Daisy Mae Bates* came to her death as the result of illegal treatment administered by Mozelle Peggy Jean Jordan, causing massive hemorrhage and shock." They recommended that she be held over for grand jury action in the abortion death.  Both Jordan and Bates were also black.

Daisy, age 29, had died from hemorrhage in her home at 4707 Jones Street, Columbia, SC on Wednesday, May 4 after an abortion perpetrated on May 2. I've been unable to determine if her husband, Sidney, had known about the abortion.

Minnie Scott, who lived on Katy Street, said that Daisy had used her phone book to look up the phone number of Jordan, though she didn't say why. Jordan was described by The (Columbia, S.C.) State as "an employee at a local Negro nursing home." Thus she might have had some medical training and/or access to medical equipment or medicines.

Ester Lawrence, who had known Daisy for a short time, said that on May 3 Daisy had told her that she was three months pregnant and that she felt ill. On two occasions, Ester admitted, she had taken Daisy to Mozelle Jordan's home at 5973 Farrow Rd, Columbia, SC. The first time, Jordan had given Daisy a pill and a prescription. On the second visit Jordan had come out to Ester's car and told Daisy to say that if she went to the hospital she should say that she'd had a miscarriage.

Ester said that Daisy had paid Jordan $25 for the abortion.

Jordan, age 41, originally admitted that she had seen Daisy but denied that she had ever laid hands on her. She later pleaded guilty to having performed the abortion on May 2. She was sentenced to five years but it was suspended to 18 months and three years of probation.

*Daisy's middle name is given as Mae in all news coverage but is listed as Lee on her death certificate.

• Death certificate No. 60 008117
• "Doubleheader Inquest Set For Wednesday," The (Columbia, S.C.) State, May 10, 1960
• "Inquest Holds Woman After Abortion Case," The (Columbia, S.C.) State, May 12, 1960
• “Two Abortion Indictments Are Slated,” The (Columbia, S.C.) State, June 8, 1960
• "Woman Pleads Guilty Here in Abortion Death," The (Columbia, S.C.) State, September 2, 1960

May 1, 1992: Happy Birthday, Brandon

 John Roe 263 performed an abortion on "Christine" on December 20, 1991. He eyeballed the tissue himself and concluded that he'd gotten a single entire fetus and sent Christine home. When she came for a follow-up visit on January 2, 1992, Roe did not notice that Christine was still pregnant, possibly with a twin that Roe had missed. It wasn't until Christine went to a different doctor for a kidney check-up on April 6 that she learned that she was still pregnant. She decided to keep her baby. Doctors detected fetal distress on May 1, so infant Brandon was delivered by C-section on May 1 at approximately 29 weeks of gestation. Brandon suffered brain damage and was expected to require around-the-clock hospital care for the rest of his life. (Maryland Health Claims Arbitration Board Claim No. HCA-93-154)

Murder Over an Abortion Ring

Daniel Moriarity, a policeman suspended from the state's attorney's staff, was a "confessed fixer for an abortion ring." On April 29, 1941, he shot 24-year-old Ada Jane "Jennie" Martin dead in her home at 4367 Lake Park Avenue in Chicago. Moriarity admitted to having shot Jennie, indicating that it was a case of mistaken identity. He had intended to shoot her mother, Ada Martin, who was under indictment as head of an abortion ring. Moriarity said he feared that Mrs. Martin would expose his illegal activities.

Source: "Open Hearings on 3 Abortion Slaying Cases," Chicago Daily Tribune, July 10, 1941

April 12, 1989: Lena's Baby Born

 "Lena" had an abortion performed February 28, 1989 by John Roe 57, at what she had been told was two weeks into her pregnancy, which is odd since at that time pregnancy tests could not detect a pregnancy that early -- when the embryo had only just implanted. When Lena returned for her follow-up visit, staff told her that the abortion had been successful. On April 12, Lena went to the hospital due to severe abdominal pain. Doctors told her that she was five months pregnant. She gave birth to a baby boy on July 10. Sadly, the child died two days later due to respiratory problems caused by the abortion attempt. (Ector County Texas District Court Case No. C-88-212)

April 9, 1935: Newlywed Joins Ranks of Dr. Brewer's Dead

Dr. Guy E. Brewer

On June 7, 1935, Dr. Guy E. Brewer pleaded guilty to six counts of manslaughter for the deaths of six women who died from complications of abortions he had perpetrated. He was sentenced to serve six consecutive four-year terms. He spent his incarceration working in the prison hospital. 

One of those young women was Wanda Lee Gray, age 20, who died April 9, 1935 at the home of her parents, Lewis and Effie May Wickline, in Enid, Oklahoma. She left behind her husband, Robert George Gray, two brothers, and two sisters. She was a 1933 graduate of Enid High School. She and Robert were newlyweds, having only married the 30th of the previous July. They had honeymooned in Chicago to visit the World's Fair, traveled in Michigan and Minnesota, then returned to set up house on a farm southwest of Kremlin, Oklahoma.

Wanda wasn't the first death attributed to Brewer's abortion activities. The first was of 21-year-old Myrtle Helen Rose, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, who died on December 23, 1931. Ruby Ford,  a 26-year-old homemaker, died April 1, 1934 after an abortion perpetrated by Brewer. Hermoine Fowler, a 20-year-old coed, died June 27, 1934. 

Wanda had not even been buried yet when an abortion at Brewer's hands ended the life of Doris Jones, a 20-year-old mother of two, who died April 11, 1935. Elizabeth Shaw, 23, of Roxanna also died in 1935. I have yet to determine if Elizabeth died before or after Wanda.

Brewer had graduated from the University of Louisville in 1906 and had been practicing medicine in Garber for 21 of the 29 years he had been a physician. He supported young men during their university studies, maintaining houses for them to live in. Those he had educated over the years rushed immediately to his defense. Though Brewer had spent many long years helping boys and young men, his impact on women's lives was evidently lightning-fast.

Brewer pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on each case, ostensibly to avoid putting those who cared about him through the embarrassment of a public trial on such distasteful charges. One particular statement by Brewer is very telling:

"I could not stand to have my boys brought into this case and I would not betray the trust so many people have placed in me by having them harassed, and in some instances their lives ruined by the notoriety a trial would bring to them."

This implies that a lot of those abortions were done at the behest of Brewer's "boys," who would themselves face serious charges for arranging the fatal abortions on women they had impregnated. 

Those "boys" offered support to Brewer from all corners of the globe, where they had work they attributed to Brewer's support in getting their educations.

The county attorney who arranged the plea, Holbird, didn't seem to think that Brewer had done much harm. "In accepting Dr. Brewer's plea of guilty in these abortion deaths I do so with the feeling that the law has collected its debt. The matter of the penalty assessed is unimportant. The thing that counts is that these crimes have been exposed to the world, and the people can now realize the serious danger and hazard to life in this kind of operation." 

Thus came Brewer's  six four-year sentences, to run concurrently, for all six abortion deaths. The likely reason that he got such a light sentence was his extreme popularity for his benevolence in putting local young men through college. So beloved was Brewer that one victim's husband was fired in retaliation for reporting his wife's death to the police.

Governor E. W. Marland, however, was not exactly delighted with the wrist-slap administered by local officials. "This is the worst case I ever heard of," the governor said, "He was, in my opinion, guilty of mortal turpitude of character almost as serious as that resulting in the death of these women." Noting that Brewer would be eligible for parole after serving only 28 months, the governor urged an investigation which he was certain would uncover more crimes so that additional charges could be brought so that Brewer would end up serving a sentence commensurate with the harm he had done. 

In the end, Brewer's supporters triumphed. The young men prospered, the young women lay dead in their graves.

Watch One of Six Victims on YouTube.

Source:

• "Wickline-Gray Vows Monday," Enid (OK) Morning News, July 31, 1934
• "Graduate of Enid High School Dies," Enid (OK) Daily Eagle, April 10, 1935
• "Murder Charges Multiply On Philanthropic Doctor," Miami (OK) Daily News-Record, May 5, 1935
• "Fourth Murder Charge Filed Against Physician," Muskogee )OK) Daily Phoenix, May 10, 1945
• "Two More Murder Charges Are Filed Against Physician," Bristow (OK) Daily Record, June 6, 1935
• "Two New Deaths Laid to Garber's 'Sweet Grouch'," Muskogee Times-Democrat, June 6, 1935
• "Link Doctor in 2 New Deaths," Oklahoma News, June 6, 1935
• "Dr. Brewer Accused of Death of Logan Woman," (Guthrie, OK) Leader, June 7, 1935
• "Dr. Brewer Calm To New Charges," Miami (OK) News-Record, June 7, 1935
• "Dr. Brewer Gets Four Years on Plea of Guilty," Okmulgee (OK) Daily Times, June 8, 1935
• "Garber Doctor Given Four Year Sentence For Abortion Deaths," Muskogee Daily Phoenix, June 8, 1035
• "Marland Hints More Charges Against Doctor," The Oklahoma News, June 9, 1935
• "Mild-Mannered County Doctor Pleads Guilty To Six Charges of Manslaughter and Gets 4 Years," Nowata (OK) Daily Star, June 9, 1935

April 7, 1896: A Cry in the Night

 On the evening of Monday, April 6, 1896, Tillie Karcher heard moaning in the flat of seamstress Millie Meyers, just upstairs of her at 415 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn. She listened again and heard a young female voice crying out, "Oh, let me go home to my mama!"

Alarmed, Mrs. Karchner sought out a policeman on his rounds, who went to the apartment and found a young woman there, ailing and alone. The girl gave her name as Mrs. Emily Scott and said that her husband, Ollie Scott, was a fireman on a Fulton ferry.

The policeman found prescription bottles in the room, so he copied the information from them and went to the pharmacy that had prepared them. The pharmacist said that the medicines were common ones used in treating fevers.

The policeman considered all these goings-on to be fishy, so he reported the situation to the precinct captain, who began an investigation to identify and round up everybody involved in the young woman's suspicious illness.

Around 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon, April 7, the young woman said that she was going to die soon, told the police that her real name was Emily Binney and gave them her address on Rutledge Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Emily's turn for the worse sent the police rushing for the coroner, leaving the ailing girl in the care of Minnie Meyer. The coroner arrived to find that Miss Meyer had abandoned Emily, leaving her to die alone in the intervening half hour.

Meyer was eventually apprehended and admitted that she'd helped 20-year-old Emily to seek out the abortion services of 33-year-old midwife Mary Schott and had herself been engaged to look after the patient.

A police officer went to the Fulton ferry house and managed to identify "Ollie Scott" as Arthur Robbins, who was arrested when he showed up at Meyer's flat to look for Emily at 10:00 that evening.

While the suspects were being questioned, Minnie said that Emily's baby had been born alive on March 21. Upon hearing that, Robbins burst into tears and told police that about four hours after the child's birth he had wrapped the baby in newspapers weighted down with a piece of iron and thrown it out a porthole in the ferry. He couldn't say if the baby had still been alive when it was tossed into the river.

Arthur Robbins then admitted that he had gone with Emily and Minnie to arrange for Mrs. Schott to perform an abortion.

Minnie Meyer was found guilty of manslaughter. I've been unable to determine the outcome of the case against the midwife.

Watch A Cry in the Night on YouTube.

Sources:

• “Criminal Malpractice,” undated clipping from North Towanda Evening News
• “Criminal Malpractice,” Courtland Standard, Apr.9, 1896
• “Four Arrests,” Bay City Times, Apr. 8, 1896
• “Four Under Arrest,” The New York Herald, Apr. 9, 1896
• "Caused a Rich Girl's Death," Salem (OHO Daily News, April 9, 1896
• “Mrs. Meyer Found Guilty,” New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 16, 1896
• “Died Among Strangers,” New York Herald, Apr. 8, 1896
• “A School Girl’s Fate,” York (PA) Semi-Weekly Gazette, Apr. 11, 1896
• “Robbins Goes Free,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 27, 1896

April 7, 1940: Self-Induced in Wyoming

According to her death certificate, Inez Stella Smead Harpham, wife of George Harphan, lived in Rowlins, Carbon County, Wyoming and worked as a housekeeper. The daughter of Marion and Nancy Driscal Smead, she was born in Lyons, Colorado in 1906.

On April 4, 1940 she was admitted to Carbon County Memorial Hospital. She was treated there by Dr. Myron L. Crandall until her death shortly after midnight the morning of April 7.

Her death was attributed to self-induced abortion with infection. She had been about 6 weeks pregnant. 

April 6, 1906: Malpractice Prompts Midwife's Suicide Attempt

 SUMMARY: On April 6, 1906, 22-year-old homemaker Bessie Braun died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Julia Gibson.

Michael Reese Hospital

The Wards at Michael Reese Hospital

Were there really wards full of women dying from botched septic abortions in the days before legalization? Dr. Julius Lackner of Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago reflected on what he saw there from 1900 to 1914. Five hundred women were treated at this charity hospital for septic abortions — both criminal abortions and miscarriages — during those fifteen years. Of those 500 women, there were only four deaths.

I have verified that two of them were indeed criminal abortion patients: Lizzie Orenstein and Bessie Braun.

Bessie's Death

Bessie, a 22-year-old homemaker, mother of two, and immigrant from Austria, died at Michael Reese on April 6, 1906. Both verbally and in writing, Bessie named midwife Julia Gibson as the person who had perpetrated the abortion, for a $5 fee, on March 20. It was hardly surprising that Bessie’s abortion had been perpetrated by somebody with medical training, since the majority of Chicago abortions in that era were done by either doctors or midwives, who ran thinly veiled advertisements in the newspapers.

Bessie’s husband, Abraham, testified at the inquest. He said that he had not known anything about an abortion until Bessie became seriously ill on Sunday, though she remained at home until Thursday, when she finally was hospitalized.

He also said that prior to her death, Bessie told him that she had written the guilty midwife’s name and address on a piece of paper which was in the bed at their home. Abraham found the paper and turned it over to authorities during the inquest.

Attempted Suicide

Gibson, who had been at Bessie’s bedside during the declaration, was being escorted out of the hospital by police when she asked to go to the women’s dressing room in the hospital basement. She was permitted to go in while a police officer stood guard outside the door.

The officer soon heard a shot, then forced the door and found Gibson lying on the floor suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. She was admitted to the hospital for treatment and was kept both under arrest and under suicide watch. As she lay near death, Gibson confessed her guilt. She later recovered.

Not Her First Dead Patient

Gibson had previously been indicted for the November, 1905 abortion death of 18-year-old Dorothy Spuhr, who had died at County Hospital.

Watch Midwife Attempts Suicide, Admits Guilt on YouTube.

Sources:

• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
• Death certificate
• “Seeks Death to Escape the Law,” Chicago Tribune, Apr. 7, 1906
• “Midwife is Held; Murder Charged,” Chicago Tribune, Apr. 8, 1906
• “Wife Dead; Midwife Dying,” Chicago Inter Ocean, Apr. 8, 1906
• “Attempt at Suicide Fails,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, Apr. 9, 1906

Happy Birthday, Gianna Jessen!

Gianna Jessen

April 5, 2001: Haley's Post-Abortion Journey Ends Tragically

Dear Lord,

I sit here alone with my thoughts wondering if you will ever forgive me. Why do I continue to fail you? I'm failing you because I‘m turning away from the precious gift of having a child. A child. A breathing, living, beautiful life that I created but too selfish to accept from you. Will you still love me as a child of yours? Will I still love me after today?

Haley‘s journal - Oct. 23, 2000

On April 5, 2001, Donetta Robben‘s 22-year-old niece didn't show up for work. Her friend Rosa drove over to check on her, and her car wasn't there. Rosa called the girl‘s father, Edwin. Had she gone home to visit her family?

Edwin later said he just knew that his daughter was dead. He called the Omaha police, and he called his daughter's landlord. They went to the apartment. They found her body.

Though the coroner estimated that the young woman had been dead for several days, all official documents, and the young woman‘s tombstone, use the April 5th date. So will I.

In telling her niece's story, Donetta decided to use the name ‘Haley Mason‘ rather than her niece‘s real name. In respect for the family‘s desire to grieve privately, I‘m using the name Donetta uses. Likewise, I use the pseudonyms Donetta uses for friends and family members.

The official ruling was that Haley‘s death was an accidental overdose. Her family was stunned as the investigators spoke with them, revealing the discoveries made while looking into the young woman‘s death. Isolated words echoed in their minds: death, journals, death, pills, death, drinking, death, hurt, death, abortion...

Abortion?

Abortion.

The answers to how Haley went from happy-go-lucky college student to suicide statistic weren't in the official reports. They were found in Haley‘s journals, where she poured her heart out in the final months of her life.

The story of how Haley died begins when she fell in love with Todd. She found out she was pregnant and told him. He wanted her to get an abortion.

LeRoy Carhart's clinic in Belleview, Nebraska

Haley was a student at the University of Nebraska. She worked two jobs to meet her expenses. Unmarried, without much money, and with a disapproving boyfriend, Haley saw abortion as her only option. She made her appointment at the Bellevue, Nebraska practice of  Dr. Leroy Carhart. It was late October of 2000.

Haley wrote of Todd‘s attitude: "I must let him abandon me. He doesn't care about me. I know he‘s only agreed to pay for it to ease his own guilt."

Haley found the abortion stressful: the wait, the sounds, the crude and uncaring behavior of the doctor. Haley had been told to arrive at the clinic at 7:00 in the morning, but it was ten hours before she was finally on the table, ready for the abortion. Carhart walked into the room, clad in a dirty coat and glasses so smeared that Haley‘s friend, who had accompanied her, wondered how he could even see through the lenses.

Haley, in her fog of medication, tried to make a joke. "Don‘t hurt me down there?" she said. 

"Be still and I won‘t," Carhart replied.

While performing the vacuum abortion, Carhart spouted profanities. He told Haley and her friend that he was tired. He‘d been speaking in California the day before, and had just flown into Omaha that morning.

After the abortion, Haley felt violated, as if she‘d been raped. She also experienced continued spotting into January. She'd not been given a follow-up appointment, and didn't know if the bleeding was normal or not. She didn't want to go to another doctor, because she‘d have to tell him about the abortion, and that was just too painful to talk about. The bleeding was a constant reminder of the death of her unborn baby.

Haley told few people about the abortion: three close friends and two relatives. But she didn't tell them of her struggle to cope with the emotional pain. She kept telling herself that she‘d done the best thing. But she started punishing herself, and pushed away anybody who tried to love her. She didn't feel that she deserved their love.

Haley longed for a knight in shining armor to rescue her from the prison of her grief, but she no longer felt comfortable with men. She had to get drunk to be able to endure sex. And even then, it reminded her of the abortion. Todd came by at early hours, looking for sex. Haley submitted, but her heart wasn't in it. She no longer felt loved. She felt used.

The drinking got worse. Hot baths and quick jogs provided temporary relief from the anguish, but it always returned.

Finally, Haley could stand it no more.

First, she drank plenty of numbing alcohol. Then, she went into her living room and grabbed a precious photo of her late mother and maternal grandfather. Next, a bottle of vodka. A bottle of aspirin. An old prescription bottle of Benadryl. Haley washed the drugs down with the vodka, leaving the three bottles next to the photograph.

She went into the bedroom. She put her rosary around her neck. She set an empty holy water bottle on her dresser. She opened her journal to the day of the abortion. She lay down, head on her pillow, looking for the  rest she couldn't find any more in living, leaving her family to sort out their own pain. 

Other post-abortion suicides include:

• Carol Cunningham, age 21, who shut herself in her garage, ran her car, and died from the exhaust fumes in August of 1986
• Arlin della Cruz, age 19, who hanged herself in the woods near her house in October of 1992
• Laura Grunas, age 30, who shot her baby’s father and then herself in August of 2006
• “Sandra Roe,” age 18, who killed herself using an unidentified means in April of 1971
• Sandra Kaiser, age 15, who threw herself off an overpass into traffic in November of 1984
• Stacy Zallie, age 20, who committed suicide in October of 2002

Watch Haley's Journey From Abortion to Suicide on YouTube.

April 4, 1985: First of Two Deaths at Hands of Gambling Addicted Doctor

Mary Bradley, an Alabama resident, was 41 and a mother of four when she underwent a 20-week abortion at the hands of Dr. George Wayne Patterson in March of 1985.

Soon after, Mary was losing blood. She was admitted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile and her bleeding was described as “abnormal” and “uncontrollable”. Doctors performed a hysterectomy on March 28, 1985 in an attempt to save Mary, but she had developed a blood clotting disorder and respiratory problems as a result of the abortion. She died on April 4, 1985.

Like a disproportionate number of women who die in safe and legal abortions, Mary was black.

Less than a year after he killed Mary and her baby, Patterson perpetrated a fatal abortion on Janyth Caldwell.

George Wayne Patterson

Patterson was shot to death in 1993 near his car outside of an X-rated movie theater. At first, abortion-rights groups treated Patterson's death as martyrdom for one who provided "vital reproductive health care." They never mentioned the two dead women. Police confirmed later that the killer, Winston McCoy, was a violent felon who was on parole after serving time for a violent home robbery and sexual assault. Patterson's killing had been a botched robbery attempt. News coverage revealed that Patterson was a rather unsavory character who had accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in debts to illegal bookies. His name gradually vanished from the Rolls of the Holy Martyrs among the prochoice.

Watch Deadly Doc Dies Deplorably on YouTube.

Sources:

• Alabama Certificate of Death # 85-10613
• Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Autopsy Report # 27(A)-85-31536
• Circuit Court for Monroe County, Alabama Case, CV-85-54

April 3, 1935: The Second of Dr. Justin Mitchell's Known Deaths

Dr. Justin Mitchell

On February 12, 1936, Dr. Justin Mitchell, age 57, of Chicago was convicted of manslaughter in the April 3, 1935 abortion death of 32-year-old Mary Nowalowski.  Eleven days before his conviction, another of Mitchell's patients, Alice Haggin, died from abortion complications. Two years earlier, Mitchell had been implicated in the abortion death of Mary Schwartz.

According to death records, Mary was an assembler at a Western Electric factory.

The prime witness in Mary's case was milk wagon driver Stephen Zakes. He and Mary were planning a wedding for the upcoming May.  On March 27, Stephen brought Mary to the Chicago office of Dr. Victor J. Neale. He then met with the couple together, telling them that Mary was between two and two and a half months pregnant. Mary began to cry and ask Neale, "What will I do?"

Stephen testified that Neale had referred them to Dr. Justin Mitchell; Neale insisted that he had simply told them they could go to some busy corner and find an abortionist.

Stephen and Mary went to Mitchell's office on the evening of Friday, March 29. Mitchell examined Mary and confirmed that she was pregnant. She was at least eight weeks along, Mitchell said, and if she returned the following morning at 8:00 he would perform an abortion. The fee would be $50. He assured them that there was no danger for Mary to undergo the procedure.

Stephen Zakes went to Mitchell's office at around 11:00 the morning of Saturday, March 30 to see how Mary was doing after the abortion. "She will be all right, she is in a little pain right now." Stephen went to see Mary himself and found her to be in excruciating pain, unable to even sit up. Mitchell insisted to him, "They are all weak after an operation of that kind."

Stephen escorted Mary home. She was weak and chilly. They stopped at a drug store for coffee and toast, then walked to a cab stand where Mary became violently ill. After Stephen took Mary home, she immediately took to her bed. Dr. Neale was summoned to examine her. Neale provided morphine for Mary's pain before leaving. Stephen remained with her until about 1:00 in the morning on Sunday, March 31.

Somebody brought Dr. G. M. Redman to Mary's home between 4:00 and 5:00 that morning. He found Mary in such grave shape that he immediately took her to his car and drove her to the hospital.

Mary was given medicine to contract her uterus but she continued to bleed so Redman contacted the coroner's office then performed a curretage of Mary's uterus. Her cervix had already been damaged, showing tearing and pus. During the curretage, Redman retrieved the head of Mary's fetus along with retained portions of the placenta.

Redman's care notwithstanding, Mary died on Wednesday, April 3. A postmortem examination concluded that Mary's uterus had developed gangrene due to the abortion, and that she had died of hemorrhage and septic shock.

Watch Abortion Doctor's Second Dead Patient on YouTube.

Sources: 

• People v. Mitchell, Supreme Court of Illinois, 368Ill.399 (Ill. 1938)
• “Vote to Indict Physician in 2d Abortion Death,” Chicago Tribune, March 11, 1936