Kansas: Another abuse victim returned to abuser

Abortion Corruption Scandal Continues As Board of Healing Arts Ignores Abortionist’s Concealment Of Child Rape

Stepfather repeatedly abuses girls for four years. Mom goes to prison for allowing it to go on. The abortionist who vacuumed one of the girls out -- when she was only 11 years old -- gets a pass from the Medical Board.

The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts closed an investigation of abortionist Sherman Zaremski, finding that he did not violate the state’s Healing Arts Act even though overwhelming evidence exists that he concealed an incident of child rape that allowed a young girl’s abuser, Robert Estrada, to continue his attacks on her and her sister for an additional four years.

The Board had access to court documents, medical records, and even news reports that clearly showed Zaremski never reported the 11-year old child’s pregnancy and abortion, as required by law.

What I want to know is whether this scumbag abortionist is being prosecuted for having allowed this to go on, and what other medical professionals knew about the repeated pregnancies but failed to report it. I'm just an EMT, and I'm required to report suspected child sexual abuse. If I pulled a pregnant underage girl out of a car wreck, I could lose my EMT certification if I didn't report the pregnancy to Child Protective Services so they could investigate. Why am I held to a higher standard than a physician?

HT: Catholic Fire

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1930: Dead in doc's office from back-alley abortion

Ethel Crowell, age 20, died on April 14, 1930, in the office of Dr. Hans Paulsen, from an abortion performed on her that day.Two days later, Paulsen was booked for manslaughter by abortion. The father of the baby, Uriah Deniston, was booked as accessory. Paulson was held by the Coroner for murder by abortion. Denniston wasn't mentioned in the verdict. On September 1, the indictment was quashed. The source notes "Circumstances suggesting judicial corruption."

Ethel's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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1968: Safe, legal abortion leads to death

Stella Saenz, age 42, had arranged for a legal abortion in the spring of 1968. On April 11, she was admitted to Los Angeles County General Hospital with sepsis. Doctors administered penicillin. Stella went into anaphylactic shock; neither she nor the doctors had realized that Stella was allergic to penicillin. Doctors tried to treat both the infection and Stella's reaction to the penicillin, to no avail. She died on April 13.

The California Department of Public Health classified Stella's death as both a drug reaction death and a legal abortion death.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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The new abortion videos

Priests for Life has produced two simple, straightforward videos which use actual instruments and fetal models to demonstrate and explain how abortions are performed, by the two most common methods. Suction abortion is used through about 12 weeks:



PFL also provides a collection of descriptions culled from testimony by the doctors who perform this procedure. PFL also provides a medical diagram of the procedure, including a photograph of the end result.

D&E is used from 12 weeks on. After about 20 weeks (though Pavone does not go into this), the provider of vital reproductive health care services will often use a lethal injection the day before so that the baby rots overnight and is easier to dismember.



Here is a medical illustration of the procedure, which you can purchase from the company that produces them.

And in case you doubt that abortions are really performed that late in pregnancy, or if you're convinced that they're only done in dire medical circumstances involving threats to the mother's life, check out these ads:

Anniversary: Woman abandoned by abortion doc dies

On April 11, 1991, "Terri", age 34, died in a New Jersey hospital. She had been on life support since losing consciousness in an abortion performed in a doctor's office in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue in Union City. A nurse had called the police saying they needed help for an unconscious patient. The police who responded reported that the nurse had summoned help after the doctor had left the patient in her care.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Convicted murderer out on bail performs fatal abortion

Abortionist Raymond E. Showery was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca. Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion April 11, 1984. Showery's defense team said that Mickey was not bleeding excessively immediately after her abortion, but that a nurse discovered the hemorrhage, and Mickey was taken into the operating room for a transfusion. However, Showery would not provide Mickey's records to the Grand Jury on the grounds that they might incriminate him.

It turns out that during the abortion, Showery had torn a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey hemorrhaged for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.

The prosecution charged that Showery used inadequately trained staff, failed to properly treat the injuries he'd caused Mickey, delayed treatment, and delayed transfer to a hospital.

Showery's murder conviction stems from an incident that led several of Showery's employees to go to the police and report that he had drowned a baby girl who had survived a 1979 abortion.

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

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Karaoke for the rich

George Takai does "On the Road Again".

It's exactly as bad as I feared it would be.

Hell freezes over

Fox News is reporting on the racial disparity in abortion sales.

The article also covered PP's racist history and the fact that readily available abortion increases the pregnancy rate.

Wow.

But the article overlooked one more piece of information: After the Black woman is sold her abortion, she is twice as likely as a white woman to die from abortion complications.

Still, this article is a ray of hope that the strangle-hold Planned Parenthood has on the US media is finally being loosened.

Remembering: New York rolls out red carpet for death

Thirty-eight years ago today, the New York State Assembly was one vote short of the 76 votes needed to legalize abortion on demand through 24 weeks. In a move that made him a hero to abortionists everywhere, Assemblyman George Michaels stood up and requested that his vote be changed from "nay" to "yea." George Michaels' deciding vote made New York the first abortion free-for-all in the United States.

I'm sure he meant well, but like the other 75 yea-voting assembly members, he'd been bamboozled by activists such as Bernard Nathanson and Larry Lader into believing that he'd be preventing thousands of maternal deaths a year. Little did these politicians know that the claims were a lie.

The fallout was almost immediate. Even before the law went into effect, abortionists were setting up shop openly. One woman who was injured before the law went into effect was surprised when her suit was thrown out of court. She hadn't realized abortion hadn't become legal until June 1.

New York abortionists were ready. Health officials were not.

The fallout wasn't pretty. With far more abortionists than officials to supervise them, the most egregious practices went unremarked. Saline abortions, which can be deadly to mothers even when performed in a hospital under careful monitoring, were being performed routinely, sometimes on an outpatient basis. Other abortionists, such as Jesse Ketchum, were doing hysterotomy abortions -- major abdominal surgery -- in their offices. Not surprisingly, women paid with their lives.

Despite this dismal beginning, enthusiasm for legalization continued unabated in many circles. Bernard Nathanson had his staff at CRASH (Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health) compile their statistics on complications recorded in patient charts. Never mind that the charts were known to be incomplete and inaccurate; what mattered was "proving" that freestanding clinics could do "safe" abortions. Abortion enthusiasts used Nathanson's tainted numbers to convince the Supreme Court that the picture was rosy. The dead women, of course, were not deemed worthy of mention.

New York's chaotic, grim years of legalized pre-Roe abortion paved the way for the current regime of unsupervised, marginally regulated abortion mills and the carnage they produce. In a way, all the infertility, and the post-abortion trauma, all the orphaned children and grieving families of women killed by legalized abortion in the United States since Roe, have their beginning in George Michaels' decision 38 years ago to stand up for what I'm sure he thought was right.

Time has proved him dead wrong.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Slumming with Obama

Zombie checks out a little-publicized visit by our populist candidate.

Cute girl or horrible monster?

Tiny Teenager Stands Tall Despite Her Height of 23 Inches

Standing at 23 inches tall — and weighing in at just 11 pounds — Jyoti Amge is no ordinary teenager. In fact, the 14-year-old is the world's smallest girl, according to the Indian Book of Records.

Amge has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which affects an estimated one out of every 25,000 births and occurs in all races.

But, her tiny size hasn't hampered her spirit one bit.

Many doctors, however, beg to differ. You could say their motto is to take to heart Randy Newman's flippant line, "Don't want no short people 'round here."

So, should being short bring a death sentence?

Yeah, I know, "It's up to the mother."

What if somebody passed a law that YOUR mom got to make all your life decisions for you? A law that allowed Mom to deny you any choices, ever?

Well, that's what abortion does. Allows Mom to decide that this particular baby should never, ever get to make any choices. Maybe because the kid will be short. Maybe just because Mom made other plans.

So much for choice.

Anniversary: Mystery abortion death

On April 8, 1928, 26-year-old Mildred Jacobsen "took sick" at work. She died there before she could be taken to a hospital. On May 4, the coroner concluded that Mildred had died from complications of a criminal abortion, and recommended the identification and arrest of the person or persons responsible. Nobody was ever held accountable for Mildred's death.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Not another Waco

It appears that the authorities learned their lesson and are not turing the situation with the Mormons into the same kind of deadly fiasco they managed with the Branch Davidians:

Members of Polygamist Sect Allow Authorities to Search Texas Compound

They've gotten 200 women and kids out safely so far. They are still looking for the girl who lodged the complaint that sparked the standoff. And in this case, the man they're after has a criminal history and they're actually trying to collect him in a peaceful manner.

I'm not seeing any evidence that the Feds insitgated this one, which may be why we're seeing buses of healthy women and children being brought to a place of safety. Whoever is managing this standoff realizes that you don't rescue children thus:

Anniversary: A grim discovery

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 daugther'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 psuedonoms 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.

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'd 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. While performing the vacuum abotion, 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, 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.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: When killing a woman was still a big deal

On the morning of April 5, 1927, Arhne Reynolds died at the office of Dr. Louis Ginsburg from an abortion performed on her there that day. Ginsburg was arrested on April 18, and indicted for felony murder on May 15. Back in the "bad old days", it wasn't just shrugged off as no big deal when an abortionist killed a woman, like it is now.

Arhne's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was >performed by a physician.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Gentlemen, change your underpants

WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!

Anniversary: When killing women was still a crime

Operating on a tip, police, accompanied by an ambulance, broke into a private home at 2753 Sexton Place, in the Pelham section of the Bronx, on April 4, 1954. There they found Gertrude Pinsky, age 35, dead from septic poisoning from an illegal abortion.

Police arrested Florence Cavalluzzo, a resident of the home, and Hugo Francese, an unlicensed physician. Later arrested were Jack M. Werner, owner of Werner Surgical Supplies, and Ignatius Cavalluzzo, Florence Cavalluzzo's son. Dr. Samuel E. Witt was charged with referring women to the abortion ring, evidently run by Dr. Herbert S. Wolfe. Four doctors were charged with referring women and receiving a $30 kickback for each referral: Joseph F. Pacelli, Abraham Cohen, Kalman Molnar, and Poon Lim. Francese and Florence Cavalluzzo were convicted of first-degree manslaughter in Gertrude's death. A police detective, found at the home at the time of the raid, was acquitted.

Gertrude's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Anniversary: A big yawn for the abortion lobby

On April 4, 1984, Mary Bradley, a 41-year-old mother of four, died from lingering complications of an a 20-week abortion performed Dr. Wayne Patterson in March. Because of severe bleeding, she had been admitted to a hospital and had a total hysterectomy on March 28. Mary developed blood clotting and respiratory difficulties which ultimately killed her.

According to official documents, another Alabama woman, Janyth Caldwell, died after an abortion performed by a doctor identified as George Wayne Patterson. The Alabama medical board lists no Dr. Wayne Patterson, only Dr. George Wayne Patterson, deceased, which leads me to believe that the same Dr. Patterson responsible for Mary's death had also caused the death of Janyth Caldwell the following year. If anybody can confirm or disprove this theory, please let me know.

Dr. George Wayne Patterson himself also suffered an early death at somebody else's hands. He was gunned down outside a pornography theater in an apparent gangland slaying. (The Feminist Majority Foundation, and Revolutionary Worker refer to the slain doctor as "Wayne Patterson", which is further evidence that he is the same doctor responsible for Mary Bradley's death. The fact that these organizations lament the gangland shooting of an abortionist who had entangled himself in criminal activity, while ignoring the fact that he himself had evidently killed two women, underscores where their priorities are.)

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Who is the guilty party here?

So You Want to Be a McCain Democrat

It's a rabble-rousing piece of spin designed to demonize John McCain and scare Democrats into picking either Hillary or Obama, regardless of how loathsome they find whichever candidate gets the nomination. It's what you'd expect. But here's a little gem (italics mine):

Democrats thinking of voting for John McCain should ask themselves if they want a hot-tempered, right-wing Republican in the White House - keeping his foot on the gas in Iraq, sentencing women to illegal abortions, and pouring cement around President Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

I would like to know what bill McCain has introduced to sentence women to illegal abortions. I assume it's similar to the "mandatory motherhood" bills Republicans are famous for. You know, the ones that check the census data, find women who have failed to reproduce, and send insemination squads out to wrestle them to the ground and knock them up with a turkey baster.

The only people who are in favor of illegal abortions are hardcore abortion advocates, who disguise themselves as prochoice, and who -- to judge by their behavior -- figure that a dead mother is preferable to a live baby.

Let's say it again: Prolifers are no more in favor of illegal abortions than they are of legal ones. They want ZERO abortions. The only people in favor of illegal abortions are people who approve of legal abortions as well.

When abortion was illegal, who was performing abortions anyway? Abortion advocates. Now that abortion is legal, you still catch the occasional abortion advocate performing -- Fancy that! -- illegal abortions.

When, after all, is the last time a die-hard right-to-lifer was caught performing any sort of abortion at all?

Among the peopple waving coathangers now are the ones who will be wielding them if abortion is reciminalized. Judging by their behavior, they'd rather see a woman die a horrible death than get any real help with a stressful pregnancy, as evidenced by the regularly with which they attack prolife pregnancy centers.

Who would "sentence women to illegal abortions"? Look around you, prochoice America. It's people you think are your allies, hidden in the prochoice movement. You can identify them by their dedication to abortion as a practice, regardless of the effects on the women in question. It's the people who started a legal defense fund for Bruce Steir when he killed Sharon Hamplton. It's the people who deliberately block attempts to get quacks out of the abortion business. It's people who talk a prochoice talk, but when the rubber hits the road it's the abortion that matters, not the woman who feels it's her only choice.

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Anniversary: Abortion by midwife proves fatal

On April 3, 1928, 30-year-old Stafania Kwit died from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day by midwife Pauline Majerczyk. On May 3, Mauerczyk was held by the coroner for murder by abortion. She was indicted for felony murder on May 15.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Another attempt to criminalize hope

Pro-Abortion Lawmaker Reintroduces Bill Targeting Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Sen. Robert Menendez is one initiating this attack this time. I want to rant about his motivations, but I don't know them. It could be that his only mistake is to believe the lies of the abortion lobby. This might reflect ill on his intellect, but his heart might actually be in the right place.

Let's at least attempt to get a few bits of truth into his head. It's up to him if he's willing to put women's well-being ahead of his politics.
Who Should We Investigate?

Look here for how to contact your own Senator. I especially encourage women who have first-hand experience with CPCs or abortion facilities to step forward.

I ranted at Senator Menendez thus:

I am staggered that you are reintroducing the ages-old attack on pregnancy centers that offer real help and hope to pregnant women.

I have no idea how to reach you, to get you to think of the women who are injured and even killed because they trust abortion businesses. One of your own constituents, Eileen Smith, lost her precious daughter Laura just last year. Laura believed the advertisements, believed that her doctor would safeguard her well-being. Instead, he put her under general anesthesia with nobody to monitor her. She died on the abortion table. Another consitutent of yours, George Zallie, lost his daughter Stacy to a post-abortion suicide because her abortion facility did nothing to properly screen her or to ensure adequate aftercare.

Young women die becaues of abortion industry practices. The worst that can happen to a woman in even the most unprofessional CPC is that she might be annoyed. Why is it that people like you would rather see a woman killed by a prochoicer than annoyed by a prolifer?

What would it take to convince you to put aside politics and start caring about women's lives, health, and well-being? Tell me, I beg of you. Tell me what it would take to get you to even examine the evidence with an open mind. Tell me how to convince you that the lives of Laura Smith and Stacy Zallie mattered. What will it take to make you care?

Teen drowns newborn in middle school toilet

CPS Intervenes in Case of Baby Drowned at School

1. What's a 14-year-old doing pregnant without somebody being held accountable? Who is the father of this baby? Another clueless teenager? A sexual predator? Why wasn't CPS already involved?

2. This happened in Houston. It's not as if Houston lacks abortion "services". Evidently an abundance of abortion facilities isn't some sort of panacea for infanticide. One might argue -- and I would -- that the very abundance of abortion facilities gives the message that life is cheap and that babies are disposable.

Yes, I know that infanticide is as old as sin. I'm just pointing out that abortion, which was supposed to eliminate child abuse, isn't living up to its supporters' expectations.

Unbelievable missing infant 911 call

911 call -- infant kidnapped from hospital

Or, as the Fark headline put it, "Baby stolen, hospital calls 911 only to transfer, put on hold & hang up on 911 operator. Oddly competent 911 operator handles it perfectly."

The only thing that makes listening to it bearable is knowing that the baby was recovered, safe and sound.

Note for future policy and procedures manuals: Have person who knows what the hell is going on be the one to call 911.

What the heck is an apparent fetus?

Apparent Fetus Discovered in Bathroom of NYC Flight

FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap said that while the plane was being cleaned about an hour after the plane landed Sunday, the cleaning crew found the apparent fetus. The medical examiner's office will do an autopsy to determine if it was viable.

This sounds like the question is, "Was this a miscarried/aborted fetus or a premature infant?"

Reminds me of the moment -- was it in "Jaws" or a Mad Magazine spoof of "Jaws"? -- in which somebody is looking for someone to consult about "the alleged shark". He's told "The alleged shark bit off his alleged head. Also his alleged arms and legs."

RU dreaming?

FDA Asks Maker of Abortion Drug Mifepristone for Safety Plan by September

The Food and Drug Administration has asked the makers of 25 drugs, including the dangerous abortion pill mifepristone (RU 486), to submit safety plans later this year. The FDA published the list of drugs needing safety plans in the latest issue of the Federal Register and abortion drug maker Danco Laboratories made the list.

The drug manufacturers must devise a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) plan and submit it to the agency by September 21. Those who don't comply by the deadline face "enforcement action," which could include monetary penalties from FDA officials.

Fat lot of good that'll do. It's not the drug manufacturer that's causing the deaths. After all, the drugs that are part of the cocktail are therapeutic medications with legitimate uses. It's a choice to misuse them that's causing the trouble. Even if you consider abortion to be a legitimate use of medications, the abortionists in question are failing to follow the existing safety guidelines. Promulgating new ones won't change the character of the quacks who prescribe this stuff in violation of guidelines in the first place.

And of course it's women and families who pay the price:

• Chanelle Bryant
  
• Holly Patterson
  
• Cherish Roe
  
• Tara Roe
  
• Wanda Roe
  
• Oriane Shevin
  
• Vivian Tran
  
• Brenda Vise

These are just the women that the FDA found out about. People who administer drugs in an off-label manner aren't exactly the kind of people who are going to follow through on other matters, such as reporting the deaths to the proper authorities. Not to mention if a woman was keeping the abortion as secret, nobody may ever find out that it was abortion drugs that caused her death.

And then there are the cases where the woman manages to survive, such as the woman who was given RU-486 even though she was nine months pregnant and in the middle of a life-threatening medical crisis already.

More guidelines and recommendations won't stop this sort of behavior. People with that kind of callous disregard for human life belong in jail.

And, interestingly enough, in most of the US cases identified, the people in question worked either for Planned Parenthood or the National Abortion Federation.

Astonishing new levels of abortion advocacy cluelessness

When Obama Voted "No"

It's like picking on Hillary for her tales of dodging sniper fire, going after Dana Goldstein's "misspeaks". I'll give it a go purely for entertainment's sake, since it's not like she or any of her acolytes are about to stop misspeaking any time soon.

She's defending Obama for voting no on the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Just one single paragraph provides abundant fodder:

BAIPA targets the abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, which anti-choicers have so successfully re-branded as "partial birth abortion." Dilation and extraction accounts for less than one-fifth of one percent of all American abortions, and is used most often to end wanted pregnancies in which expectant parents learn their baby will not be viable outside of the womb. During the operation, the fetus' skull is capsized inside of the woman, after which labor is induced and she delivers the fetus.

1. "BAIPA targets the abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, which anti-choicers have so successfully re-branded as 'partial birth abortion.'" No, not really, since removing the baby's brain pretty much renders him or her incapable of being born alive. Now, should a baby manage to be born alive, then yes, BAIPA would apply, but only because he or she happened to survive. Repeat: BAIPA would only kick in if the baby managed to come out alive before the abortionist managed to stab him or her in the skull with a scissors and suck out the brain.

2a. "Dilation and extraction accounts for less than one-fifth of one percent of all American abortions, and is used most often to end wanted pregnancies in which expectant parents learn their baby will not be viable outside of the womb." And Jeffrey Dahmer killed less than one-fifth of one percent of all American homosexuals. I guess that means he wasn't a problem to be addressed, by Ms. Goldstein's reckoning.

2b. "Dilation and extraction accounts for less than one-fifth of one percent of all American abortions, and is used most often to end wanted pregnancies in which expectant parents learn their baby will not be viable outside of the womb." Not true. Ron Fitzsimmons admitted that he "lied through [his] teeth" when he passed this claim along. Most of them are performed for the same reasons any abortions are performed -- for social reasons. Others are performed for Down Syndrome or other non-lethal conditions that cause parents to judge the baby's life not worth living. (So much for diversity.)

3a. "During the operation, the fetus' skull is capsized inside of the woman, after which labor is induced and she delivers the fetus." Um, Ms. G., to capsize is to cause a vessel to flip over in the water. The word you were looking for it "collapse". If you can't even get your vocabulary right, I have little faith in your ability to get much else correct. Rightly so, as we've already seen.

3b. "During the operation, the fetus' skull is capsized inside of the woman, after which labor is induced and she delivers the fetus." PBA or D&X is not an induction abortion. Those are performed by our curious Georges, George Tiller and George Pendergraft. They inject digoxin into the baby's heart to kill him (thus ensuring that the BAIPA doesn't apply), then they start dilating the mother's cervix. In a PBA or D&X, the cervix is dilated, and the baby is pulled out feet-first until only the head remains undelivered. Then the abortionist sticks him or her in the base of the skull with a blunt, curved Mentzenbaum scissors to make a hole into which he then sticks a straw and sucks out the baby's brain with a suction machine. There is no labor induced.

On the state Senate floor on April 4, 2002, he explained, "This issue ultimately is about abortion and not live births. Because if there are children being born alive, I, at least, have confidence that a doctor who is in that room is going to make sure that they're looked after."

Anybody who believes that also believes in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. William Baxter Waddill (pictured) strangled a live-born baby in front of multiple witnesses. Raymond Showery attempted smothering a live born baby, to no avail, so he tied her up in a plastic bag and left her to suffocate. And these are just the guys who got caught.

Of course, the idea that otherwise viable babies are regularly "born alive" during abortions is an invention of the anti-choice movement.

First of all, nobody said it happened "regularly". We're just asserting that it does happen. And we weren't the ones to say so. Actually, it was Willard Cates, rabidly pro-abortion scion of the Centers for Disease Control, who said that around 500 such infants were reported as being born alive annually in the United States. And Cates said that surely there were many more that went unreported, since reporting these birth was "like turning yourself in to the IRS for an audit". (Liz Jeffries and Rick Edmonds, "Abortion, The Dreaded Complication," The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 2, 1981, 4 page insert.)

Ninety percent of abortions are performed within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy through a procedure called aspiration, in which a surgical vacuum is used to empty out a woman's uterus. The second most common abortion procedure is dilation and evacuation, which takes place in rare cases after 16 weeks of pregnancy, often when a woman's health or life is at risk. Under that procedure, the aspiration process is sometimes preceded by an injection into the abdomen that ensures fetal demise.

1. Vacuum aspiration is only done through about 12 weeks.

2. If 90% of abortions are done in the first 16 weeks, that still leaves 10% done after 16 weeks. This hardly constitutes "rare". Especially when you consider that 10% of 1.2 million is over a hundred thousand. Compare that to 43,000 traffic fatalities per year.

3. Abortions past 16 weeks are done for the same reasons as abortions before 16 weeks. Social reasons. The maternal indication abortions make up a portion of the roughly 7% done for all "hard cases" combined -- maternal and fetal indications, and rape and incest. And "maternal indications" might be anything the woman decides consitutes a "medical" reason in her personal opinion. It could be anything from heartburn or wanting to avoid stretch marks to full-blown life-threatening medical emergencies. Nobody is doing any kind of breakdown. And "fetal indiations" can be anything from remembering that she had a glass of wine during the first trimester and thinking "Why risk it?" to anencephaly. Again, nobody is doing any kind of breakdown as to what percentage of "fetal indication" abortions are due to confirmed lethal conditions and what percentage are due to the mother just being uneasy and deciding she'd rather not risk giving birth to a less than perfect baby.

4. The doctor doesn't always do the injection, and sometimes it fails. Witness Ana Rosa Rodriguez, who was born at 32 weeks, minus her arm, in the process of what her mother thought was a 12-week abortion.

So the only abortion procedure that could ever result in an intact fetus outside the uterus is the extremely rare dilation and extraction.

Don't forget the induction abortions performed by Tiller and Pedergraft. Not to mention that sometimes the doctors screw up and miscalculate a gestational age. They try to perform what they think is an early abortion and it turns out the baby is nearer to term. Sometimes he or she is born alive. And sometimes somebody just figures he'll do an illegal third-trimester abortion, hoping he won't get caught. And sometimes those babies are born alive.

Dilation and extraction is such a rare operation that most hospitals won't perform one in a year, let alone conduct more than one in a day.

They're not done in hospitals. They're done in freestanding outpatient facilities. And they're done in groups. Tiller typically has about a dozen patients a day. Does anybody know how many Haskell and Pendergraft do a day?

I wanted to provide links substantiating what I say, but my internet is not working well. I have a small window to post this at all. I'll add the links as my service permits me access to the net. Rachael, et. al, please post what you can in the comments!

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Anniversary: Abortion kills mom; doc blamed

On March 29, 1924, 30-year-old Etta Marcus died at Chicago's Francis Willard Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. The coroner concluded that Dr. William J. Wick had performed the fatal abortion at his office. However, on April 10, Wick was acquitted for reasons not disclosed in the source material. Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was attributed to a physician.

Harpo's Hungarian Rhapsody

Totally appropos of nothing. I just couldn't resist.



Enjoy!

Anniversary: Abortion by midwife proves fatal

On March 27, 1926, 24-year-old Louise Maday died at Chicago's West End Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day. Midwife Amelia Becker was held by the coroner on April 27.

Anniversary: Mystery abortion death in Pittsburgh

According to the National Organization for Women web site, Clara Bell Duvall was a 32-year-old married mother of five, aged 6 months to 12 years. She and her family were living with her parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to financial problems. NOW says that Clara attempted a self-induced abortion with a knitting needle. Though she was seriously ill and severe pain, NOW says, Clara's doctor delayed hospitalizing her for several weeks. Her death, at a Catholic hospital on March 27, 1929, was attributed to pneumonia.

I'd welcome any verifying information on Mrs. Duvall's death. After all, NOW also claims that Becky Bell died from complications of an illegal abortion, when in fact she died of pneumonia concurrent with a miscarriage. (There was no evidence that Becky's pregnancy had been tampered with in any way.) But if people who think abortion is a good idea want to blame Clara's death on abortion, I'll let them claim her as somebody their ideology killed.

Clara Duvall seems to be the woman described in the chapter, "Marilyn," in The Worst of Times by Patricia G. Miller. Marilyn was Clara's daughter. There are differences in Marilyn's story and in the story NOW relates, but so many other details match that it is unlikely that they're describing different women.

Marilyn gives her mother's name as Claudia, and her age as 34. The difference in ages may be attributed to people taking the years of the woman's birth and death and calculating her age without taking the months into account, or due to Marilyn misremembering her mother's age. As for the name difference, Marilyn said that her mother sang with the Pittsburgh light opera company, so it is possible that Claudia had a stage name that NOW used when telling her story. Or Marilyn might have been using a false name for her mother to preserve the family's privacy.

Clara/Claudia's association with the opera company may also explain the elegant portrait on NOW's site -- a portrait that a poverty-stricken and desperate woman would have been unlikely to afford.

The following facts match:

• Five children, from an infant to a 12-year-old
  
• Living in Pittsburgh
  
• Died in March of 1929
  
• Death originally attributed to pneumonia
  
• The woman used a knitting needle
  
• Was at home for several days before being hospitalized
  
• Died in a hospital
  
• Cared for until her death by her usual doctor who seemed at a loss as to how to care for his moribund patient

Marilyn said that her brother Gerald was the oldest, twelve years old when Clara died. Eileen was ten. Rose was eight, Marilyn was six, and Constance was 18 months. Marilyn describes poignantly the difference between her life before her mother's death and her life after losing her mother. The loss was truly shattering for the entire family.

Marilyn said that her mother had gotten help from a friend for a successful abortion between the births of Marilyn and Constance. Marilyn didn't have any details of the first abortion, and got what she knew about the fatal abortion from her sister Eileen, who had spoken at length with their mother when she was hospitalized.

NOW's story differs from Marilyn's in many aspects, however. Aside from the different age and name, the following aspects do not match:

• NOW has the family living with the woman's parents; Marilyn said that they were living in a large house owned by the woman's parents.
  
• NOW indicates that the family were too poor to afford a home of their own. Marilyn said that they lived in a large house, and that her father was an editor of one of Pittsburgh's daily newspapers, and that he did freelance public relations for sports events. Marilyn also said that one of her mother's friends was the wife of a well-known Pittsburgh industrialist. This is not a likely friendship for a destitute woman forced to move her family of seven into her parents' home. Marilyn also said that her mother was laid to rest in a magnificent mahogany casket with a satin lining, hardly the sort of burial a poverty-crushed widower could afford for his dead wife. Marilyn also said that the casket lay in the parlor, not a room that poor people were likely to have. In fact, Marilyn describes how shocking it was, after her mother's death, to go live with poor relatives. Poverty was a new experience for the child. In fact, Marilyn describes an riverboat outing the family took before her mother's death. She described how the girls were dressed in matching navy blue coats with red satin linings, and her brother had a jacket and tie.

So there are two possibilities:

1. Clara Bell Duvall and Claudia are two different women, both with five children, both of whom lived in homes owned by their parents, who both performed knitting-needle abortions in the same city in the same month, and who both died in hospitals and both had their deaths wrongly attributed to pneumonia.
   
2. Clara and Claudia are the same woman, and but NOW turned her from a prosperous matron and opera singer into a wretched slum mother in order to make her situation seem more desperate.

I will be going to the library at my next opportunity to research the Pittsburgh newspaper and see what I can learn.

If what NOW and Marilyn describe is accurate, then Clara/Claudia's abortion was unusual in that it was self-induced, rather than performed by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.

A beautiful life

Go see the video Jill posted about the baby who had 29 days of love.

Anniversary: Safe, legal, and fatal

Gail Wright was 29 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. She was 20 weeks pregnant. After her abortion, she developed sepsis. She died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on March 26, 1986, leaving behind a husband.

Anniversary: Abortion by osteopath proves fatal

On March 25, 1962, Jolene Joyce Griffith died of complications of a back alley abortion performed March 3 by Dr. J. Bryan Henrie, an osteopath, at his clinic in Grove, Oklahoma. Jolene developed an infection, and, according to her survivors, Griffith abandoned her and provided no care to treat the infection. On March 10, Jolene had been admitted to a hospital in Tulsa, where she was treated until her death.

Jolene's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.

Anniversary: Woman bullied into illegal abortion loses battle for life

On March 24, 1947, Ilene Eagen lost her battle for her life.

On March 21, Ilene Eagen had been brought to Mankato, Minnesota, to the dental office of W. A. Groebner for an abortion. Court records indicate that Ilene was pressured into the abortion by her paramor, Raymond Older, who refused to marry her and threatened her with bodily harm if she refused an abortion.

After the abortion, Ilene became violently ill and lost consciousness. Groebner and Older failed to seek or provide properly care for the sick woman. Instead, Older took Ilene to his service station in Granada, Minnesota and kept her there through the remaineder of the night, into the morning of March 22.

Older allowed Ilene to languish without medical care. She died March 24.

Ilene left a seven-year-old daughter motherless.

Older tried to escape civil liability on the grounds that despite his refusal to marry her, and the threats, Ilene had consented to the abortion and that therefore she was responsible for her own sickness and subsequent death.

Make up your mind already!

California is considering a bill to allow women in late pregnancy, and with newborns, temporary handicapped parking status.

I'm with the opponents of the bill who point out that exercise is good for most pregnant women, and that those women who develop health problems during pregnancy already can qualify for temporary handicapped parking status.

But we have another opponent of the bill. And while I agree with what she says, I think this is the last person on earth who ought to be saying it:

Helen Grieco, executive director of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, said the bill inadvertently could send the wrong societal message.

"It's very much a normal part of a woman's life — we have children," Grieco said. "So we've always been troubled by framing pregnancy as a disability."

This from somebody who heads an organization that frames pregnancy as such a dreadful, life-destroying thing that without access to immediate "cure" of the horrible disease via abortion, women are helpless, disenfranchised non-participants in society who can't even begin to function at all, much less make it from their cars to the supermarket.

Look, Grieco, riddle me this. Is pregnancy a perfectly normal thing women can cope with or not? Pick one, okay?

Anniversary: Doc performs fatal back alley abortion

On March 21, 1927, Nancy Dawson died on-site from a criminal abortion performed that day. That same day, Dr. J.F. Peck and midwife Christine Sedwig were booked for murder. They were indicted for felony murder on April 1.

Nancy's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Anniversary: Abortion proves fatal. Illegal or not?

On March 20, 1926, 19-year-old Alice Annalora died at the County Hospital in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. Dr. Wilford Vine was booked for Alice's death, as was her husband, Joseph Annalora. Vine was indicted for felony murder.

Ultimately, the coroner was unable to determine the legal status of the abortion that killed Alice, so Dr. Vine and Mr. Annalora were released.

Alice's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.

Anniversary: Criminal abortion kills woman

On March 20, 1906, Anna Gosch died from complications of a criminal abortion evidently performed by her boyfriend with a catheter of some sort. The boyfriend, a Mr. Edwards, had consulted a physician to treat Anna after the abortion, to no avail. Edwards was convicted of homicide.

Anna's death is similar to the death of "Daisy" Roe, a systems analyst who died in 1990 after allowing her boyfriend to attempt to perform an abortion on her with a piece of aquarium tubing. It was also unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions

Anniversary: Diagnostic failure by abortionist costs mom life

Magnolia Reed Thomas was a 35-year-old mother of two when she went to Hedd Surgi-Center in Chicago for an abortion, performed by Rudolph Moragne on February 19, 1986.

Moragne failed to note that the fetus was growing in Magnolia's fallopian tube, rather than in her uterus. After Magnolia was discharged from the clinic, the undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy ruptured, and Magnolia was rushed to the hospital. There, doctors did everything they could to save her, but she died from blood loss and shock before the day was over.

This was Magnolia's third abortion. Multiple abortions are a known risk factor for ectopic pregnancy.

Another patient, Diane Watson, died of anesthesia compliations after she'd undergone a safe, legal abortion by Moragne at Hedd.

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.

Abortion and the Milgram Experiment

A post-abortive mom has this excellent guest post, exploring how the infamous Milgram Experiment, in which subjects were convinced to give what they believed were lethal shocks.

A Boon to Child Rapists

A 19-year-old man stands accused of raping a 13-year-old girl -- then giving her the "morning-after pill" to cover up his crime. Better living through chemistry, right?

Anniversary: Cervical laceration in legal abortion turns fatal

Cycloria Vangates died on St. Patrick's Day of 1976, four days after undergoing a safe, legal abortion performed by Dr. Paul Glassman. Cycloria had suffered a cervical laceration. The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine found that Glassman failed to adequately treat Cycloria's injury. Glassman paid out $386,875 to Cycloria's survivors, according to a malpractice liability search.

Glassman's license was finally revoked for three years beginning in 1981. He later recovered his license on the condition that he undergo close supervision and not perform any more abortions. Glassman moved to Missouri, but his attorney revealed to the Florida Board of Osteopathic medical Examiners that Glassman performed 17 abortions while visiting in Fort Lauderdale, in an effort to prove that the ban against Glassman performing abortions was unnecessary.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Love to Last a Lifetime

Love to last a lifetime: The story of a couple who embraced every moment of their son's short life.

Anniversary: Safe, legal abortion leaves two children motherless

On March 14, 1989, 31-year-old Glenda Davis died in a Texas hospital from complications of an abortion performed by Robert Hanson at Aaron Family Planning three days earlier. During the abortion, Glenda had suffered a 1.5 - 2 inch long wound to her uterine artery and vein complex. After a delay, staffers finally decided to transfer Glenda to the hospital. Her husband discovered staffers attempting unsuccessfully to transfer Glenda from a wheelchair to a staffer's car. He helped them get Glenda into the car.

With the IV still in her arm, Glenda was driven to HCA Memorial Hospital. She had no blood pressure and almost no pulse upon arrival. She remained in a coma until her death.

The legalise can't disguise the anguish of Glenda's family: "Prior to the aforementioned breaches and negligence of these Defendants, Glenda H. Davis was a happy and healthy woman. ... Your minor Plaintiffs [Glenda's two children] have suffered and will continue to suffer from the great loss of the care, ...guidance, protection, ... love, affection, solace, comfort, companionship, society and assistance from their mother. Plaintiffs experienced the horror of watching the devastation of their mother's condition on a day to day basis. This horror was further complicated by their having to deal with the anguish of missing the love and attention of their mother. They were too young to understand what and why this had happened. They could only feel abandoned. ... Their family has been destroyed and the loving parent-child relationship they once had has been forever terminated."

Anniversary: Back alley abortion proves fatal

On March 14, 1930, Alberta Beard, age 29, died at the office of Dr. Davis Lucas from an abortion performed there that day. Lucas was arrested on May 24, on recommendation of the coroner. He was indicted for felony murder in Alberta's death on August 7. Alberta's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Did your senator vote to protect teens?

How did he or she vote on funding to enforce the Child Custody Protection Act?

I would also propose that anybody who usurps the parental role also needs to assume 100% financial responsibility for the repercussions of having gone behind the parents' backs. Including big fat punative damages for the damage done to the integrity of the family, especially if the girl dies.

And if it was them, their drinking buddy, or their kid who knocked her up, DOUBLE the damages.

Go here to contact your senator.

Anniversary: Back alley fatality

On March 12, 1928, 24-year-old Julia Agoston died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital of complications of a criminal abortion that had been performed February 4 in her Chicago home.

On March 31, Dr. Anton Feher, Dr. Helen Moskowitz, Susie Kosmos, and Manhart Agoston were held by the coroner. The physicians were held as principals. The two laypersons were held as accessories. Moskowitz was indicted for felony murder on November 23.

Julia's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Two anniversaries. Is only one tragic?

Sidney Knight was facing a number of criminal abortion charges in 1973, when Roe v. Wade made them a moot point. He hung out his shingle and began performing abortions legally. In March of 1974, Janet Blaum went to Knight's New Orleans facility for an abortion. Five days later, on March 11, she was dead of brain hemorrhage. Janet's ex-husband sued Knight on behalf of the couple's children, alleging that Knight had administered a fatal dose of anesthesia while preparing Janet for the abortion.

On March 11, 1929, 30-year-old Catherine Mau died from complications of an abortion performed on February 13 at the hands of Chicago midwife Anna Heisler. On July 20, 1929, Heisler was sentenced to Joliet Penitentiary for Catherine's death.

Fetal parts, patient records in dumster

Medical Waste, Patient Records Found in Michigan Abortion Center Dumpster

Acting on a tip from a local pro-life group, Michigan officials have found parts of unborn children, medical waste and patient records in a dumpster outside an abortion center. The potentially illegal dumping occurred outside the WomanCare abortion center on Southfield Road and the contents are believed to be from the abortion business.

The abortion business in question is -- no big surprise here -- a National Abortion Federation member facility, featuring practitioner Abraham Alberto Hodari, who safely and legally sent Tamiia Russell and Chivon Williams to meet their Maker.



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Two back alley abortion anniversaries

On March 9, 1921, Iva J. Triplett died of septicemia and peritonitis under the care of Dr. C. W. Milliken. She had been ill ever since Milliken had performed an abortion on her in Akron on March 1. She left a widower and children. Iva's survivors sued, not only for the injury but for failure to inform Iva's family of the nature of her illness so that they could seek and provide appropriate care for her. Iva's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

On March 9, 1929, Alline L. Brown died in Chicago from a criminal abortion. The culprit was never identified or brought to justice.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Jill Stanek takes another look at PP's financial games

Planned Parenthood accused of overcharging CA for contraceptives

More evidence to support my contention that PP's not as enamored of abortion as a money maker as they are enamored of abortion as a way of keeping customers in the non-pregnant state that has them coming in for contraceptives. There are two sure things that will bankrupt an organazation that makes a killing on contraceptives: chaste females, and pregnancies that get carried to term.

Anniversary: Safe, legal abortion kills mom

Connie was 31 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion in New York on March 3, 1972. She went into cardiac arrest during the abortion. Attempts to save her life were futile; she died on March 8, five days after her abortion. She left behind one child.

Anniversary: Safe, legal pre-Roe abortion causes woman's death

In early March of 1972, Colleen traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion. She was 21 years old and 20 weeks pregnant. Colleen had a history of asthma. During the abortion, she went into respiratory arrest. She died March 8.

Anniversary: Incomplete abortion kills teen

Sixteen-year-old Rita McDowell died on March 8, 1975, after a string of events that had begun earlier in the month. Rita was the daughter of Ethel Kennedy's part-time housekeeper. On March 4, Robert Sherman performed an abortion on Rita. When Rita was discharged, her mother was informed that she would probably expel the fetus that night. Rita did not expel the fetus. Instead, she developed a fever. Her mother called Sherman's facility on March 5 to seek care for her daughter. She said that Sherman would not speak to her, and that the receptionist told her to bring Rita in two days later.

In the early morning hours of March 7, Rita awoke screaming, then collapsed in her mother's arms. Doctors at the hospital where Rita was taken removed the fetus, but she died just after midnight on March 8.

An investigation into Rita's death revealed evidence that Sherman deliberately performed incomplete abortions so that he could charge more for follow-up care. Sherman was charged with murder in Rita's death, and prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence that Sherman re-used disposable medical equipment, failed to perform tests to verify pregnancy, failed to do pathology examinations of abortion tissues, allowed a nurse's aide to perform surgery, and falsified medical records.

Sherman claimed to develop heart problems during the murder trial. He plea-bargained, getting the murder charge dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on the perjury charges. The prosecutor defended the plea bargain on the grounds that the felony convictions would block Sherman from ver practicing medicine again. Sherman served two years in a federal prison, then set up a legal abortion practice in Boston.

Anniversary: Abortion anesthesia proves fatal

Gwendolyn Cliett, age 29, was about to undergo an elective abortion and tubal ligation at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia on March 5, 1980. She was 8 to 10 weeks pregnant. Before the proecdure could be done, Gwendolen reacted to the anesthesia and died.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Criminal abortion by "professional" proves fatal

On March 5, 1900, Mrs. Alide Koester died in German Hospital from complications of an illegal abortion evidently performed there that day by Maria Janke. Janke was arrested March 10, and held by Coroner's Jury on March 11. She was sentenced by Judge Clifford to Joliet Penitentiary. Janke's employment status is listed as "professional", but nothing more specific is indicated to clarify why she would be performing an illegal abortion in a hospital.

Anniversary: NAF member clinic performs fatal abortion on teen

Sixteen-year-old Patricia Chacon underwent a second-trimester abortion at the hands of either Edward Allred or Leslie Orleans at Allred's Avalon Hospital in Los Angeles on the morning of March 3, 1984. Patty retained fetal tissues, so she was scheduled for a second procedure that afternoon to complete the abortion.

There are conflicting stories as to what happened next. Allred claimed that Patty died of an embolism during the second surgery. (He pronounced her dead at 4:30 PM.) Patty's parents claim that the child bled to death while
left unattended.

An autopsy found numerous catgut sutures in Patty's vagina and hemorrhage in her uterus. Death was attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (inability of the blood to clot properly) due to abortion-induced amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid in the mother's blood). Patty's parents sued Allred and Orleans for their daughter's death.

Avalon Hospital was part of Edward Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a National Abortion Federation member facility.



Patricia is one of many abortion patients to die at one of Edward Allred's facilities. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:

• Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
  
• Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
  
• Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
  
• Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
  
• Joyce Ortenzio, age 32, 1988
  
• Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
  
• Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
  
• Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
  
• Christina Mora, age 18, 1994
  
• Kimberly Neil, 2000
  
• Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004
  

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: "This baby can't live or it will be a big mess."

On March 2, 1977, a high school student named Mary W. checked into Westminster Community Hospital in California for a saline abortion to be performed by Dr. William Baxter Waddill. She had been examined by another ob/gyn on February 22, and he had informed her that, since she was 28 weeks into her pregnancy by his estimate, she was too far along for an abortion. He advised Mary to consider making an adoption plan. But somehow Mary had learned that Waddill would be willing to do the abortion, even at this late point in pregnancy. Waddill initiated the abortion by saline injection and left Mary in the care of the nurses.

Mary's baby, a 2 lb, 8 oz infant girl, was expelled that evening and discovered by a nurse who was attending Mary. The nurse clamped the cord and was about to put the baby in a bucket for transport to the pathology lab, when she noticed that the infant was moving and crying. Another nurse suggested putting the baby in the bucket anyway. Yet another nurse testified that she had seen the infant move but said nothing about this to avoid distressing Mary. The first nurse summoned the nursing supervisor, who noted that the baby was pink and making sucking motions. She sent the baby to the nursery and summoned Waddill.

A nurse at the nursery cleared the infant's throat, placed her in an isolette, and charted a heartrate of 88. A neonatal ICU nurse began providing respiratory assistance on the little girl, and asked for help performing an intubation, which is routine NICU care. Waddill arrived and dismissed all the others from room. Several witnesses heard Waddill instruct staff "not to do a goddam thing for the baby." An ER doctor saw Waddill squeeze the umbilical cord, whereupon the "child jerked its body and gasped for air."

During Waddill's trial, a tape was entered into evidence of a call from Waddill to a pediatrician, Dr. Ronald Cornelsen. The tape had Waddill telling Dr. Cornelsen to come to the hospital, because the law required a pediatrician to assist when a newborn was in distress. Waddill said, "If we all tell the same story, there will be no trouble. ... So long as we stand together, no one anywhere can make any accusations anywhere. ... Do not get squirrely. Just tell them exactly as we've discussed. Just say you went in, there was no heartbeat and you left."

Dr. Cornelsen testified that when he arrived at the hospital the infant, a baby of about 31 weeks gestation, was breathing and had a heart rate of 60-70. There were bruises on her neck. Dr. Cornelson said that Waddill told him, "Sorry to get you in this mess. We had a baby that came out live from a saline abortion, and it can't live!" Dr. Cornelsen testified that he saw Waddill press on the infant's neck, saying, "I can't find the goddam trachea," and "This baby won't stop breathing." Dr. Cornelsen testified, "I said, 'Why not just leave the baby alone?' He said, 'This baby can't live or it will be a big mess.'" Waddill requested potassium choloride, for an injection to stop the baby's heart, but Dr. Cornelsen wouldn't let the nurse get it. Dr. Cornelsen said Waddill also asked for a bucket to drown the baby in.

Waddill claimed that he hadn't strangled the baby, that she had died of natural causes before he even arrived at the hospital to deal with the delivery. He also said that all of his actions were done in the best interests of the mother and the baby.

A pathologist examined the baby's lungs and concluded that she'd been alive for at least 30 minutes. The neck trauma was "consistent with manual pressure, and inconsistent with saline." This pathologist also testified that only the infant's placenta and small bowel seemed to have been "significantly affected by the saline," meaning that the baby had not suffered fatal injury from exposure to the saline in-utero. The autopsy found the cause of the baby's death to have been "manual strangulation." The baby's gestational age was determined to have been 29 to 31 weeks at autopsy. This is consistent with the gestational age estimated by the ob/gyn who had suggested an adoption plan.

All told, over 13 weeks of testimony, the witnesses described three unsuccessful attempts by Waddill to strangle Mary's baby, and the fourth, successful, attempt. But during deliberations, the jury asked for clarification of a procedural point. A few phone calls to clarify the point led to the discovery by the attorneys and judge that there was a definition of "death" in the California health and safety code that the jury had not been informed of. Because the testimony hadn't directly addressed this particular definition of "death," the jurors became hopelessly deadlocked over whether Waddill's actions, though clearly causing what laymen would consider the "death" of the baby, had caused what the law would call the "death" of the baby. The judge had to delcare a mistrial. A second jury was also deadlocked, and the charges against Waddill were eventually dismissed.

Mary later sued Waddill, saying that he'd never told her that her baby might been born alive, and that she never would have consented to the abortion had she known this was possible. She said that Waddill "willfully and unlawfully used force and violence upon the person of the baby [W.] ... causing the decedent baby [W.] to die."

Waddill continued to perform abortions in California, and as of 2000 was working for National Abortion Federation member Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a chain where the following women and girls suffered fatal abortions: Deanna Bell, Chanelle Bryant, Patricia Chacon, Laniece Dorsey, Josefina Garcia, Denise Holmes, Susan Levy, Christine Mora, Kimberly Neil, Joyce Ortenzio, Mary Pena, and Tami Suematsu.