RealChoice: February 1, 1977: Happy Birthday, Cecelia's Baby!

Saturday, February 01, 2025

February 1, 1977: Happy Birthday, Cecelia's Baby!

Dr. Joseph Rucker launched straight into abortion practice after Roe vs. Wade was handed down in 1973. He set up an abortion clinic, Snowden Medical Associates, on W. McNichols Street in Detroit. His staff included an ex-convict, Eugene Ralph Marra, who has no medical training but called himself "Dr. Mike Morrison" and allegedly perpetrated abortions at the clinic.

A Busy Year

The malpractice cases started rolling in. In 1974, Rucker performed an abortion on 21-year-old Corrine. He managed to shove the head of her five or six month fetus through a 4-inch hole in her uterus then sent his hemorrhaging patient to Garden City Osteopathic Hospital, 23 miles away, in spite of the presence of properly equipped hospitals less than a mile from the clinic. Corrine required an emergency hysterectomy.

The Detroit Free Press investigated Rucker. He examined a female reporter who had never been pregnant, diagnosed her as 12 weeks pregnant, and tried to sell her an abortion. When asked how he could be so sure about his diagnosis, Rucker told the reporter, "If I said you were 12 weeks pregnant, you were 12 weeks pregnant. My fingers never make a mistake."

Detroit Free Press reporters spoke to some of Rucker's patients. One had paid a referral agency $75 to provide Rucker's name and address. She paid $425 for a saline abortion performed by "Dr. Mike Morrison," actually Ralph Marra, the ex-con who had served prison time for breaking and entering, abortion, and conspiracy to commit abortion. A second woman told reporters that Marra had performed a D&C abortion on her. Rucker insisted that "Dr. Mike" only performed pelvic exams but never abortions, and that the women were too doped up on Valium and Demerol to know who was working on them. The Detroit Free Press also noted that Marra had an outstanding warrant in Texas for practicing medicine without a license by doing abortions at a Dallas clinic in September in 1973.

The Department of Health ordered Rucker to clean up his act. They noted that women undergoing saline abortions performed by "Dr. Mike" stayed overnight at the unlicensed clinic, in violation of state law prohibiting overnight medical stays outside of hospitals. The clinic was also cited for "minor plumbing and linen storage problems, overcrowding, and the absence of written medical policies."

In October, 21-year-old Nancy went to Rucker's clinic after two other Chicago doctors said they could not perform an abortion outside a hospital because she was nearly six months pregnant. Rucker performed the abortion and left the fetal head lodged in a tear in Nancy's uterus. Rucker sent her to Garden City Osteopathic Hospital, 23 miles away, even though there was two large, fully-equipped hospital within a mile of his clinic. Surgeons removed the fetal head and repaired the tear.

The Authorities Take Notice

Marra was charged with practicing medicine without a license on February 5, 1975.

In June of 1976, the medical board charged Rucker with having performed substandard medicine on Nancy, Corrinne, and three other women who were hospitalized after he had performed abortions on them. Later that month Marra was acquitted of practicing medicine without a license because all the prosecution had was the statements of the women; Rucker and his staff insisted that the women were too doped up to realize who had treated them and clinic documentation did not show Marra as the "doctor."

Into This Mess Steps Cecelia

14 vs 28 week fetus size comparison:
14.7 cm vs. 37.6 cm

Rucker reportedly examined 14-year-old Cecelia G., estimated her pregnancy as 14 weeks, and tried to perform a suction abortion on her on January 26, 1977 at Women's Counseling Center in Detroit.

Cecelia began to hemorrhage. Rather than call an ambulance, Rucker, age 54, had her transported to Sinai Hospital by car. There, a doctor examined her, and discovered she was actually 7 months pregnant.

After getting the bleeding under control, the doctor sent Cecelia home, but she returned days later in early labor. On February 1, Cecelia gave birth to a 2 pound, 11 ounce baby girl with a 2-inch piece of her scalp missing.

A spokesperson from the Women's Counseling Center told the Detroit Free Press that Rucker was immediately fired after the incident. Rucker was charged with performing an illegal abortion under a pre-Roe law forbidding elective abortions after three months. Rucker waived his right to a jury trial and had the case held before a judge. Rucker asserted that the law was unconstitutional, since Roe determined that abortion was an unfettered right and could only be regulated after 24 weeks. Rucker's defense also asserted that since he quit the procedure after determining that Cecelia was further advanced in her pregnancy than he'd originally thought, he did not actually perpetrate an abortion. This is an interesting assertion after Rucker had told a reporter that "my fingers never lie" and therefore he can never be wrong in diagnosing a pregnancy or determining gestational age.

The court agreed that the law had been struck down under Roe, and thus there was no need to determine whether or not Rucker had attempted an abortion since it would have been legal for him to have done so as long as he didn't think Cecelia's baby had passed the point of viability. She had certainly been very close, if not past, since she was born alive less than a week later.

Cecelia attended the trial with her baby and told the Detroit Free Press that her little girl, then 9 months old, was still suffering ill effects from the attempted abortion. "She's going blind in one eye," Cecelia said, "and I have to take her for therapy once a week on her leg."

As for Rucker, he was disciplined by the medical board, ordered to take 50 hours of instruction in obstetrics and gynecology. The action related not just to Cecelia's abortion but to substandard care Rucker had provided to five other women in 1973 and 1974, causing infections and injuries. Rucker's attorney challenged the action, but in the mean time Rucker had continued to commit malpractice, leading the board to revoke his license. Rucker and the board went back and forth for years. He filed for bankruptcy in 1984 and vanished from the news.

As for Cecilia's baby, she vanished from the news in 1977. Today is her 48th birthday.

Watch His Fingers That Never Make a Mistake on YouTube.
Watch His Fingers That Never Make a Mistake on Rumble.

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