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Friday, October 24, 2025

October 24, 1981: Mentally Disabled Teen Dies from Abortion

SUMMARY: Diane Boyd, age 19, died on October 24, 1981 after a drug error made during an abortion performed by Robert Crist at Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, MO.

naflogo.jpgAbortionist_Robert_Crist_small.jpgNineteen-year-old Dianne Alicia had the mental capacity of a 14-month-old child. She was cared for by her mother, Barbara Bates, until she was ten years old, then was placed in various facilities until finally being moved into St. Louis State Hospital's Developmental Disabilities training Center when she was around 18 years old. There she lived on an all-female ward. There, she was beaten and raped in July of 1981, and was later discovered to be pregnant. Diane's mother was notified of the rape and pregnancy on September 25.

The rapist was never identified, and it was not determined where the assault occurred. Staff were questioned and polygraphed. Other patients couldn't be interviewed because, like Diane, they were severely intellectually disabled. Walter Sloan, president of a patient advocacy group, said, "I doubt if anyone on that hall has the mental capacity of even a 5-year-old."

Diane did not spend all of her time in the facility. She had attended two movies, four dances, three picnics, three swimming outings, one bowling outing, and two other unspecified field trips during the period in question.

Diane's mother and a court-appointed guardian went before a judge to get permission for an abortion, which they held would be in Diane's "best health interests." The judge gave approval on October 13.

Diane was 16 weeks pregnant when she was taken to Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri. Diane's mother signed the consent form and the abortion was performed October 22, 1981 by Dr. Robert Crist. 

Diane stopped breathing, went into shock and was taken to the intensive Care Unit at Barnes Hospital. She was placed on a respirator. Her EEG showed flat brain waves, so Diane was kept on life support until organ donation surgery could be arranged. She was removed from life support and pronounced dead at 1:30 pm on October 24.

According to suits later filed by Diane's mother, RHS staff and abortionist Robert Crist did not check for possible drug interactions before giving Diane valium and sublimaze. Dr. Mary Case of the St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office said that sublimaze could depress a patient's respiration. "This was a severely brain-damaged individual," Dr. Case told the United Press. "She could not tolerate any respiratory depressant. The reaction was totally unpredictable."

It's unclear how it would be unpredictable that a drug known to cause respiratory depression could have caused Diane's respiratory depression, especially if given to a patient who was already taking thorazine. The drug combination is likely what caused Diane to stop breathing. 

Clinic staff told the Associated Press that they would never have administered the drugs they did to Diane had they known that her disability had been caused by brain damage. But again, she was already taking a medication that could cause respiratory depression and gave her additional respiration-suppressing drugs.

Diane's mother also said that the clinic lacked heart monitoring equipment or resuscitation equipment.

Diane was not the last woman to die after abortion by Crist. Seventeen-year-old Latatchie Veal bled to death after an abortion by Crist in 1991. Twenty-two-year-old Nichole Williams died of DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulopathy) after an abortion by Crist in 1997.

Fourteen-year-old Sandra Kaiser committed suicide after a 1984 abortion at RHS, performed without her mother's knowledge or consent.

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