Early 20th Century Chicago: Self-Induced and Two Mystery Abortions
"Clara," identified as "Miss F." in the source document, was 21 years old when she used a catheter to perform a self-induced abortion in mid-May of 1910. Five days later, Clara began suffering chills, fever, and abdominal pain. She passed the fetus the nest day but did not pass the placenta. Her condition deteriorated, so on June 12, 1910 she went to Cook County Hospital. Her admission notes indicate, "Very weak and sick. Face drawn and anxious. Abdomen distended and tender. Muscles rigid." The following day, Clara's temperature began to fall below normal and her pulse became more rapid. She died on June 18 from streptococcal peritonitis.
On June 18, 1914, 39-year-old Bridget Murphy died at Post Graduate Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed that day by an unknown perpetrator.
The Coroner was never able to identify the abortionist responsible for the death of 19-year-old Julia Suchora June 18, 1917, at her Chicago home. Given the plethora of physicians and midwives running abortion practices in Chicago, it is likely that she availed herself of one of them.
Safe and Legal in New York, 1972
"Sara" Roe is one of the women Life Dynamics notes on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legalized abortion. Sara took advantage of New York state's legalization of abortion, and underwent a second trimester abortion in New York City in May of 1972. She was 18 weeks pregnant. She had problems with retained tissue, so three weeks after the abortion she had a D&C to remove the tissue. Sara had developed infection from the retained tissue, and on June 18, 1972, the infection took her life. She left one child motherless.
"Back Alley Butcher" in South Dakota, 1973
Dr. Benjamin Munson had been practicing criminal abortion in Rapid City, SD as early as 1967. In 1969, he was convicted of performing an abortion on a 19-year-old patient. Munson won an appeal in circuit court. When the state appealed, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Munson was in the process of appealing this decision when Roe vs. Wadewas handed down, making the case moot. Munson was free to practice abortion at-will.
Into this situation walked 28-year-old Linda Padfield. On June 15, 1973, Linda had traveled about five hours from Groton, SD with her three small children and a friend. Her mother, Audrey Padfield, had thought that Linda was making the trip to visit friends. Munson, then 61 years of age, performed the abortion that evening, and then Linda went to a motel for the night. The next day she, her children, and her friend did some sightseeing and then headed home to Groton. They arrived on the 17th, and Linda was already sick with nausea and high fever. She told her mother about the abortion, and her mother took her to St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen for emergency surgery, but the infection had progressed too far and Linda died on June 18.
One of the doctors who treated Linda at the hospital, Dr. James Hovland, said that Linda had been conscious when she first arrived but that she deteriorated rapidly. She seemed to be going into kidney failure, and didn't even bleed from the incision made for exploratory surgery. When asked if an immediate hysterectomy would have saved her, Hovland expressed his doubts, given how gravely ill Linda was from the results of the infection raging through her entire body.
A pathologist found the remains of a five-month fetus in Linda's uterus, missing a leg, arm, part of its skull and part of its torso. The 240 grams of retained fetus caused the massive infection that had killed Linda.
Munson sued to enjoin prosecution, but the case went to court nevertheless. The prosecution focused on the fact that infection will inevitably result from that much retained tissue. The Attorney General commented, "You take a three-inch leg off something, you have to know that there's more in there than just the leg." The defense, however, argued that infection is an accepted risk of abortion, and that the state couldn't prove that Munson meant to harm Linda. The only standard of care, the defense said, was a local standard of care. What abortion doctors did in other areas, the defese argued, was irrelevant. Since Munson was the only dedicated abortionist in the state, whatever he did, therefore, was by definition the community standard of care.The judge bought it, ordered the jury to acquit. Munson later became a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF).
In In 1985, Munson sent a teenage patient, Yvonne Mesteth, home with retained tissue. She, like Linda Padfield, died of infection. Again Munson was prosecuted for manslaughter, and again he beat the rap. Munson is the third former criminal abortionist I've learned of who had a clean record -- no patient deaths -- as a criminal abortionist, only to go on to kill two patients in his legal practice. The others are Milan Vuitch(Georgianna English and Wilma Harris) and Jesse Ketchum (Margaret Smith and Carole Schaner).
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
At Least It's Better Than Gosell's Clinic?
I was poking about online today for more documentation in anticipation of an upcoming post on the abortion death of Kelly Morse on June 22, 1992. What I found demonstrated that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is back to ignoring the goings-on inside abortion clinics. The authorities either learned nothing from the Kermit Gosnell fiasco, or they learned that they can get away with appalling lack of oversight for decades on end. I'm guessing that it's the latter.
AbortionDocs.org grabbed a screen shot of Google reviews for Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania -- the clinic where Kelly's fatal abortion was performed. (Click here to see the reviews currently displayed.)
I'll take the reviews in alphabetical order by reviewer name.
Christie says, "This place will not give you the information you need before having an abortion. .... They will even accept clients who are pushed through the doors by a man, crying .. and take her through the process."
Christie's comment on Hillcrest doing abortions even on women who are evidently being forced to go there is in keeping wiht what a prolife protester once told me she'd observed there shortly before the post-abortion suicide of Arlin della Cruz: a clinic escort holding the door open so that a couple could force a crying teen to go inside.
AbortionDocs.org grabbed a screen shot of Google reviews for Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania -- the clinic where Kelly's fatal abortion was performed. (Click here to see the reviews currently displayed.)
I'll take the reviews in alphabetical order by reviewer name.
Christie says, "This place will not give you the information you need before having an abortion. .... They will even accept clients who are pushed through the doors by a man, crying .. and take her through the process."
Christie's comment on Hillcrest doing abortions even on women who are evidently being forced to go there is in keeping wiht what a prolife protester once told me she'd observed there shortly before the post-abortion suicide of Arlin della Cruz: a clinic escort holding the door open so that a couple could force a crying teen to go inside.
Kaylee went into quite a bit of detail, noting that Hillcrest "reminded me of an animal clinic, it even smelled like one."
Her description of the abortion paints a less than caring picture (exactly as in original):
Once you are in that room it is something you never forget. As you lay on the table... You see all the other girls dead babies blood seeping through the blue cloth that they put you on. The doctor doesn't speak one word to you he just goes and does what he has to do. You don't have the choice to be put to sleep... You hear everything from the Machine he uses... Which actually broke when they went to do mine. The doctor left after he did what he had to do and as I was laying on the table, the nurse cleaned up & the doctor came in several times asking her if she was done yet he had other patients. Nobody had any sympathy there.
Madison also lamented the shortcomings of what passed for counseling:
This place is awful. Absolutely no compassion for the patients. Staff was rude and was talking about each and every woman that was there after they went back. Absolutely nasty old women. During counseling they rolled their eyes at every question I had asked.
She also had a ghoulish experience in the procedure room (exactly as in original):
The doctor laid out what was removed on a table in front of my poking at it .. I am mortified and I will never get the images out of head.
Vanessa went into the most detail. Like Kaylee, she describes a doctor who is rushing throuh his patients. She goes into more detail (exactly as in original):
The doctor, if that's what you even want to call him, was unprofessional and rushed for time. He showed no compassion for the patients. All he was concerned with was his turnover rate and when he was getting out. "Quickly! Quickly I have places to be after this, I don't have time for this" he shouted to the nurses to get the girls in and out as fast as possible.
Vanessa's description of the conditions is dismaying:
The facility is dirty and beyond it's time. I felt like I was sitting in an old dusty school. The sink in the ultra sound room looked like there had been blood or fluids splattered on it and then barely wiped clean. The equipment and instruments looked old and outdated.
I'm going to call the state health department (1-877-724-3258) to point out that they are falling short in carrying out their duties, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the state to take action. They weren't exactly galvanic when Marcella Choung came to them with an eyewitness account of the appalling goings-on at Kermit Gosnell's "house of horrors." I don't expect any better when it comes to Hilldrest.
I'm also not holding my breath waiting for abortion-rights group to get up in arms. "Access" has always trumped safety, and Hillcrest is no exception.
PS: Hillcrest's web site claims that they are accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Centers. Either their standards are low or they don't look too closely.
Illegal Abortions: Two Typical and One Atypical
The oldest of today's deaths are from common Chicago abortions of the early 20th century.
On June 17, 1913, 36-year-old Freda Englehard died in Chicago, at the scene of an abortion reportedly perpetrated that day by Dr. Joseph A. Meeks. Meeks was held for murder, and Mrs. Mollie Flaherty was held as an accessory, but the case never went to trial.
On June 17, 1918, 25-year-old Sophie Suida died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from complications of an abortion reportedly perpetrated by Dr. L. D. Tucholska, who died at the county jail on June 28, before the case could come to trial. Physicians and midwives ran an abundance of semi-clandestine abortion practices in the Chicago of that era.
Another death, this one in the 1950s, followed a less common abortion.
"When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle's Maternal Death Toll," Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, citing Seattle Times articles dated June 22, July 1, and July 3, 1935, notes the following about the abortion death of Bettye Porter:
The African American mother of two flew to Seattle from her home in Anchorage evidently seeking an abortion. After friends reported her missing, her body was found in a remote area near Gig Harbor. Norman Wade Austin was charged with manslaughter and two others as accessories. Police charged that Austin, 34, a mechanic by trade, had performed the abortion in the massage parlor he had recently opened in the Savoy Hotel at 1214 2nd Ave. Austin, who also faced charges for running a stolen car ring, spent several years in prison.
I have been unable to learn anything more about Bettye or Austin. The fact that Bettye went to a lay abortionist made her choice highly unusual.
Who performed abortions before legalization?
Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that 90% of all illegal abortions in the early 1960s were being done by physicians. Calderone further estimated that 8% were self-induced and that 2% were induced by someone other than the woman or a doctor. Lee estimated that 89% of pre-legalization abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% were done by non-medical persons or the woman herself.
Calderone's numbers came from "43 men and women from the various disciplines of obstetrics, psychiatry, public health, sociology, forensic medicine, and law and demography." Lee interviewed women who had undergone pre-legalization abortions. The discrepancy between Lee's and Calderone's breakdowns of non-physician abortions is probably due to sampling errors.
Lee, who spoke with women who survived abortions, would of course not encounter women whose abortions killed them. Therefore she would not be exposed to the proportionate number of women who chose the most dangerous alternative. Lee's sample also included only willing survey participants, who would be more forthright and complete in divulging information, such as who really performed the abortion, than women being interviewed by health or law enforcement officials.
Calderone, on the other hand, spoke with those likely to see the botched and fatal abortions, and therefore they would be exposed to a higher percentage of the most dangerous, self-induced abortions. Also, Calderone's informants would have been investigating botched abortions that could be subject to a criminal investigation. Therefore, women speaking to them would be likely to withhold the true identity of their abortionists to protect them. Also, should the woman die, her family and friends might identify the woman herself as the abortionist, rather than admit their own roles in arranging or performing abortions, in order to close the investigation.
Anecdotal data tends to support Lee's research. Stories of abortions by midwives, orderlies, chiropractors, and assorted lay practitioners likeHarvey Karman and the Jane Syndicate are far too common to represent only 2% of criminal abortions. We would probably not err too far if we relied primarily on Lee's numbers and adjusted them slightly to reflect the slight under-reporting of amateur abortions. Thus, a fair estimate of the breakdown of criminal abortions would probably look like this:
On June 17, 1913, 36-year-old Freda Englehard died in Chicago, at the scene of an abortion reportedly perpetrated that day by Dr. Joseph A. Meeks. Meeks was held for murder, and Mrs. Mollie Flaherty was held as an accessory, but the case never went to trial.
On June 17, 1918, 25-year-old Sophie Suida died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from complications of an abortion reportedly perpetrated by Dr. L. D. Tucholska, who died at the county jail on June 28, before the case could come to trial. Physicians and midwives ran an abundance of semi-clandestine abortion practices in the Chicago of that era.
Another death, this one in the 1950s, followed a less common abortion.
"When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle's Maternal Death Toll," Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, citing Seattle Times articles dated June 22, July 1, and July 3, 1935, notes the following about the abortion death of Bettye Porter:
The African American mother of two flew to Seattle from her home in Anchorage evidently seeking an abortion. After friends reported her missing, her body was found in a remote area near Gig Harbor. Norman Wade Austin was charged with manslaughter and two others as accessories. Police charged that Austin, 34, a mechanic by trade, had performed the abortion in the massage parlor he had recently opened in the Savoy Hotel at 1214 2nd Ave. Austin, who also faced charges for running a stolen car ring, spent several years in prison.
I have been unable to learn anything more about Bettye or Austin. The fact that Bettye went to a lay abortionist made her choice highly unusual.
Who performed abortions before legalization?
Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that 90% of all illegal abortions in the early 1960s were being done by physicians. Calderone further estimated that 8% were self-induced and that 2% were induced by someone other than the woman or a doctor. Lee estimated that 89% of pre-legalization abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% were done by non-medical persons or the woman herself.
Calderone's numbers came from "43 men and women from the various disciplines of obstetrics, psychiatry, public health, sociology, forensic medicine, and law and demography." Lee interviewed women who had undergone pre-legalization abortions. The discrepancy between Lee's and Calderone's breakdowns of non-physician abortions is probably due to sampling errors.
Lee, who spoke with women who survived abortions, would of course not encounter women whose abortions killed them. Therefore she would not be exposed to the proportionate number of women who chose the most dangerous alternative. Lee's sample also included only willing survey participants, who would be more forthright and complete in divulging information, such as who really performed the abortion, than women being interviewed by health or law enforcement officials.
Calderone, on the other hand, spoke with those likely to see the botched and fatal abortions, and therefore they would be exposed to a higher percentage of the most dangerous, self-induced abortions. Also, Calderone's informants would have been investigating botched abortions that could be subject to a criminal investigation. Therefore, women speaking to them would be likely to withhold the true identity of their abortionists to protect them. Also, should the woman die, her family and friends might identify the woman herself as the abortionist, rather than admit their own roles in arranging or performing abortions, in order to close the investigation.
Anecdotal data tends to support Lee's research. Stories of abortions by midwives, orderlies, chiropractors, and assorted lay practitioners likeHarvey Karman and the Jane Syndicate are far too common to represent only 2% of criminal abortions. We would probably not err too far if we relied primarily on Lee's numbers and adjusted them slightly to reflect the slight under-reporting of amateur abortions. Thus, a fair estimate of the breakdown of criminal abortions would probably look like this:
- 90% performed by physicians
- 5% performed by trained non-physicians (medical and lay)
- 3% performed by an untrained accomplice
- 2% performed by the woman herself
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Very Different Scenarios: 1843, 1917, and 1999
A Mysterious Death, 1843
Caroline Clark, age 18, lived in Detroit with her mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Myers. From time to time she resided with the family of her stepfather's son-in-law, Alonzo Plumstead, in Northville. On Sunday, June 4, 1843, Caroline told her mother that she was leaving aboard a steamboat for Toledo, accompanied by Mr. Plumstead. Instead of boarding the boat, however, Caroline and Plumstead went to the Farmington home of Mrs. Sophia Sperry, arriving as night was falling. Plumstead gave his name as Marlow, and, referring to Caroline as his wife, Sarah, Plumstead asked if she could stay there for a few days while he went to Livingston County. She was feeling too ill, he said, to continue the trip with him. Mrs. Sperry agreed, and Plumstead left.
Caroline only sat by the fire a short time before saying that she felt unwell and wanted to go to bed. Mrs. Sperry settled her visitor in bed and sat up with her through the night. The next day, which was Monday, Mrs. Sperry saw Dr. Wixom passing by, so she called him in to attend to the sick woman. Wixom examined Caroline, who was pregnant and appeared to be in premature labor.
Caroline gave birth to a stillborn child on Wednesday. Wixom checked on her and she seemed to be adequately recovering. However, she took violently ill on Friday. On Saturday Plumstead came to the house, stayed with Caroline for several hours, and then left, instruction Mrs. Sperry to send for him in Northville if "Sarah" died.
She died the very next day, June 11. A post-mortem examination was performed, and a coroner's jury concluded that "Caroline Amelia Clark came to her death by inflammation subsequent to abortion, which was produced by extraordinary means used or administered to or upon said Caroline Amelia Clark, by some person or persons, for that purpose, to this jury unknown." Plumstead fled to avoid prosecution.
A Midwife's Handiwork, 1917
On June 11, 1917, 23-year-old homemaker Esther Stark died at Chicago's German Hospital from a criminal abortion perpetrated by midwife Mary Groh, who was never prosecuted because she died several days later from causes not indicated in the source. Groh had arranged for Esther to board at the home of Mrs. Scholtes for her abortion.
The Utmost in Safe, Legal Abortion Care, 1999
Maria Leho was in the first trimester of pregnancy when she entrusted herself to the staff at Albany Medical Surgical Center of Chicago -- a member of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group chain of abortion facilities and thus a member of the prestigious National Abortion Federation (NAF). NAF purports to ensure that all of its member facilities adheret to the very higest standards of care.
On June 9, 1999, John Weitzner, MD performed a suction abortion on Maria, while Lawrence Hill, CRNA, administered Brevitol for anesthesia. This drug is inappropriate for a patient who had seizure disorder, as Maria had indicated on her medical history. Maria was under anesthesia for a total of four minutes, from 12:40 to 12:44 p.m. Hill then transferred Maria to the recovery room without first verifying that her condition was stable. When she was transferred, the pulse oximeter, which monitors pulse and blood oxygen levels, was removed.
Once in the recovery room, the still-sedated and unconscious Maria was attended Tanya Hall, RN, while Hill went to administer anesthesia to another patient. Hall put a blood pressure cuff on Maria's arm, and another pulse oximeter on her finger, but this one hadn't been tested. She then left the recovery room. Maria was now in the care of Yvette Johnson, RN. A nurse reviewing Maria's records noted that the nurses did not perform a proper assessment of Maria when she was turned over to their care. They did not take a pulse or check to see if she was even breathing.
Shortly thereafter, Johnson noticed that Maria wasn't breathing and had no pulse. She, Hill, and Hall attempted to resuscitate her with CPR, and ambu-bag, and a defibrillator. Nobody summoned Weitzner, who was performing an abortion on another patient. He came into the recovery room at about 12:50. Staff continued to try to revive Maria for another ten minutes before they finally got around to calling 911, rather than summoning EMS as soon as they realized that their patient was in a life-threatening emergency.
Maria was taken to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's hospital, where she died on June 11. She left behind two sons, a 7-year-old and a toddler.
Albany had already had one patient, Deanna Bell, die from anesthesia complications. Then-owner Edward Campbell Allred admitted that he failed to perform any preventability study to keep any other patients from suffering Deanna's fate.
Other women known to have died after abortions at Allred's facilities include: Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Lanice Dorsey, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant.
Caroline Clark, age 18, lived in Detroit with her mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Myers. From time to time she resided with the family of her stepfather's son-in-law, Alonzo Plumstead, in Northville. On Sunday, June 4, 1843, Caroline told her mother that she was leaving aboard a steamboat for Toledo, accompanied by Mr. Plumstead. Instead of boarding the boat, however, Caroline and Plumstead went to the Farmington home of Mrs. Sophia Sperry, arriving as night was falling. Plumstead gave his name as Marlow, and, referring to Caroline as his wife, Sarah, Plumstead asked if she could stay there for a few days while he went to Livingston County. She was feeling too ill, he said, to continue the trip with him. Mrs. Sperry agreed, and Plumstead left.
Caroline only sat by the fire a short time before saying that she felt unwell and wanted to go to bed. Mrs. Sperry settled her visitor in bed and sat up with her through the night. The next day, which was Monday, Mrs. Sperry saw Dr. Wixom passing by, so she called him in to attend to the sick woman. Wixom examined Caroline, who was pregnant and appeared to be in premature labor.
Caroline gave birth to a stillborn child on Wednesday. Wixom checked on her and she seemed to be adequately recovering. However, she took violently ill on Friday. On Saturday Plumstead came to the house, stayed with Caroline for several hours, and then left, instruction Mrs. Sperry to send for him in Northville if "Sarah" died.
She died the very next day, June 11. A post-mortem examination was performed, and a coroner's jury concluded that "Caroline Amelia Clark came to her death by inflammation subsequent to abortion, which was produced by extraordinary means used or administered to or upon said Caroline Amelia Clark, by some person or persons, for that purpose, to this jury unknown." Plumstead fled to avoid prosecution.
A Midwife's Handiwork, 1917
On June 11, 1917, 23-year-old homemaker Esther Stark died at Chicago's German Hospital from a criminal abortion perpetrated by midwife Mary Groh, who was never prosecuted because she died several days later from causes not indicated in the source. Groh had arranged for Esther to board at the home of Mrs. Scholtes for her abortion.
The Utmost in Safe, Legal Abortion Care, 1999
Maria Leho was in the first trimester of pregnancy when she entrusted herself to the staff at Albany Medical Surgical Center of Chicago -- a member of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group chain of abortion facilities and thus a member of the prestigious National Abortion Federation (NAF). NAF purports to ensure that all of its member facilities adheret to the very higest standards of care. On June 9, 1999, John Weitzner, MD performed a suction abortion on Maria, while Lawrence Hill, CRNA, administered Brevitol for anesthesia. This drug is inappropriate for a patient who had seizure disorder, as Maria had indicated on her medical history. Maria was under anesthesia for a total of four minutes, from 12:40 to 12:44 p.m. Hill then transferred Maria to the recovery room without first verifying that her condition was stable. When she was transferred, the pulse oximeter, which monitors pulse and blood oxygen levels, was removed.
Once in the recovery room, the still-sedated and unconscious Maria was attended Tanya Hall, RN, while Hill went to administer anesthesia to another patient. Hall put a blood pressure cuff on Maria's arm, and another pulse oximeter on her finger, but this one hadn't been tested. She then left the recovery room. Maria was now in the care of Yvette Johnson, RN. A nurse reviewing Maria's records noted that the nurses did not perform a proper assessment of Maria when she was turned over to their care. They did not take a pulse or check to see if she was even breathing.
Shortly thereafter, Johnson noticed that Maria wasn't breathing and had no pulse. She, Hill, and Hall attempted to resuscitate her with CPR, and ambu-bag, and a defibrillator. Nobody summoned Weitzner, who was performing an abortion on another patient. He came into the recovery room at about 12:50. Staff continued to try to revive Maria for another ten minutes before they finally got around to calling 911, rather than summoning EMS as soon as they realized that their patient was in a life-threatening emergency.
Maria was taken to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's hospital, where she died on June 11. She left behind two sons, a 7-year-old and a toddler.
Albany had already had one patient, Deanna Bell, die from anesthesia complications. Then-owner Edward Campbell Allred admitted that he failed to perform any preventability study to keep any other patients from suffering Deanna's fate.
Other women known to have died after abortions at Allred's facilities include: Denise Holmes, Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Lanice Dorsey, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant.
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Illegal in Illinois, Safe and Legal in Georgie
Illegal in Illinois, 1917
The two illegal abortion deaths on this date in the Cemetery of Choice both took place on exactly the same day in Illinois.
Matilda "Dollie" Tidrick, a 38-year-old homemaker and wife of a cook, was taken to a hospital in Danville, Illinois, in June of 1917. There, she was operated on by Dr. George Lotz. He called in other doctors "who assisted until they learned the nature of the case."
Dollie died on June 9, in spite of the surgery, along with her unborn child. The autopsy found that both had died from the results of an attempted abortion.
Lotz, who was held without bail, "admitted ... that he was guilty, and had been arrested for the same offense at Chicago and 'paid the price.'" This Chicago case was most likely the June 25, 1911 abortion death of 20-year-old Anna Mueller.
The same day as Dollie Tidrick's death, June 9, 1917, 26-year-old homemaker Emma Melvin died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from infection caused by a criminal abortion. A person or persons unidentified in the source document indicates that the abortion was perpetrated by Dr. M. Meinhardt, who was never tried in Emma's death.
Safe and Legal in 1979
When we jump ahead to the era of safe, legal abortion, we find a case of striking ineptitude. On June 2 of 1979. National Abortion Federation member Atlanta Women's Pavillion rose to new levels of incompetence when staff there managed to fatally injure two teenage abortion patients in less than an hour.
There was a 15 minute delay in getting an ambulance to the clinic because staff didn't tell the ambulance service that the call was for an emergency.
The two illegal abortion deaths on this date in the Cemetery of Choice both took place on exactly the same day in Illinois.
Matilda "Dollie" Tidrick, a 38-year-old homemaker and wife of a cook, was taken to a hospital in Danville, Illinois, in June of 1917. There, she was operated on by Dr. George Lotz. He called in other doctors "who assisted until they learned the nature of the case."
Dollie died on June 9, in spite of the surgery, along with her unborn child. The autopsy found that both had died from the results of an attempted abortion.
Lotz, who was held without bail, "admitted ... that he was guilty, and had been arrested for the same offense at Chicago and 'paid the price.'" This Chicago case was most likely the June 25, 1911 abortion death of 20-year-old Anna Mueller.
The same day as Dollie Tidrick's death, June 9, 1917, 26-year-old homemaker Emma Melvin died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from infection caused by a criminal abortion. A person or persons unidentified in the source document indicates that the abortion was perpetrated by Dr. M. Meinhardt, who was never tried in Emma's death.
Safe and Legal in 1979
There was a 15 minute delay in getting an ambulance to the clinic because staff didn't tell the ambulance service that the call was for an emergency.
After the staff had resuscitated Angela and loaded her into an ambulance, they returned their attention to Deloris, who had gone into cardio-respiratory arrest. Adams had accompanied Angela to the Grady Memorial Hospital, and even though the ambulance could have transported both patients, staff refused to release Doloris until the physician had returned to discharge her. This resulted in a 30-minute delay, during which the ambulance crew was unable to attend to Delores or begin transporting her.
Angela lingered for a week in a coma before dying on June 9. Delores never regained consciousness and eventually was admitted to a nursing home, where she died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on October 24, 1979, some time after her fifteenth birthday.
Angela lingered for a week in a coma before dying on June 9. Delores never regained consciousness and eventually was admitted to a nursing home, where she died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on October 24, 1979, some time after her fifteenth birthday.
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
Lethal Doctors, 1914 and 1988
A Doctor's Work in 1914
In 1914, when Mrs. Julia Reed's eighteen-year-old daughter Ester reported that her period did not arrive, Mrs. Reed took her to two people to find out whether she was pregnant, then bought pills to induce an abortion. These didn't work, so she took Ester to Dr. J.L. Neuman, who demanded payment of $150 for an abortion. Julia protested, and Neuman told her to sell furniture and clothes to get the money. She dickered him down to $50, though he complained about it. He started the abortion at his practice, then completed it two days later at the family's home.
His efforts clearly weren't even worth the $50, much less then $150 he'd wanted, since he managed to fatally injure Ester, who died of septicemia on June 8, 1914 at Park Avenue Hospital. The secret abortion intended to keep Esther's father from kicking her out of the house thus removed her from the family permanently. Neuman was arrested January 11, 1917, and though the case went to trial, the source does not indicate the outcome.
One of Many Victims of a Reputable Chain of Clinics, 1988
The survivors of 32-year-old Joyce Ortenzio filed suit against Edward Allred, his Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA), the San Vicente Hospital FPA facility, and abortionist Ruben Marmet. Joyce went to San Vicente for laminaria insertion by Marmet on June 7, 1988. Later, Marmet performed a safe and legal abortion, but did not remove all of the fetal parts from Joyce's uterus. The next day, June 8, Joyce was found dead in her home. The cause of death was an overdose of the drug amitriptyline, infection from fetal parts that were not removed during the abortion and septic shock. Joyce left three children motherless.
Joyce is one of many women to die at this NAF facility after theNational Abortion Federation was founded. Other patients known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:
In 1914, when Mrs. Julia Reed's eighteen-year-old daughter Ester reported that her period did not arrive, Mrs. Reed took her to two people to find out whether she was pregnant, then bought pills to induce an abortion. These didn't work, so she took Ester to Dr. J.L. Neuman, who demanded payment of $150 for an abortion. Julia protested, and Neuman told her to sell furniture and clothes to get the money. She dickered him down to $50, though he complained about it. He started the abortion at his practice, then completed it two days later at the family's home.
His efforts clearly weren't even worth the $50, much less then $150 he'd wanted, since he managed to fatally injure Ester, who died of septicemia on June 8, 1914 at Park Avenue Hospital. The secret abortion intended to keep Esther's father from kicking her out of the house thus removed her from the family permanently. Neuman was arrested January 11, 1917, and though the case went to trial, the source does not indicate the outcome.
One of Many Victims of a Reputable Chain of Clinics, 1988
Joyce is one of many women to die at this NAF facility after theNational Abortion Federation was founded. Other patients known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:
- Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
- Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
- Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
- Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
- Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
- Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
- Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
- Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
- Christina Mora, age 18, 1994
- Ta Tanisha Wesson, age 24, 1995
- Nakia Jorden, 1998
- Maria Leho, 1999
- Kimberly Neil, 2000
- Maria Rodriguez, age 22, 2000
- Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004
I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Two Chicago Abortion Deaths
On June 7, 1924, 27-year-old Anna Strazynski died at her Chicago home from an illegal abortion performed that day. The perpetrator was never identified. Given the abundance of physicians and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time, it is likely that she availed herself of one of these trained professionals.
On June 7, 1929, 20-year-old Viola Koepping died at the office of Dr. Albert West of Chicago, from an abortion evidently performed there that day. West was held by the coroner on June 21 and was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder on April 21, 1930.
On June 7, 1929, 20-year-old Viola Koepping died at the office of Dr. Albert West of Chicago, from an abortion evidently performed there that day. West was held by the coroner on June 21 and was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder on April 21, 1930.
Monday, June 06, 2016
A Midwife and Two Doctors, All Equally Lethal
A Chicago Midwife in 1907
On June 6, 1907, homemaker Julia Williamson, age 29, died at her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. A midwife named Emily Redemski was held by the coroner's jury, but acquitted by a judge for reasons not given in the source document.
A Baton Rouge Physician in 1984
A chronic asthma patient, 27-year-old Sheila Hebert, mother of a 10-year-old son, went to Delta Women's Clinic in Baton Rouge for a safe and legal abortionon June 5 or 6, 1984. Shortly after being moved to the recovery area, Sheila complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing. Something had triggered a severe asthmatic reaction. She lost consciousness, and staff injected her with adrenaline while awaiting EMS services. The medics arrived within three minutes of getting the call, but found Sheila blue, cold, and essentially lifeless. She was taken to a hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, but efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. The coroner attributed the death to "cardiorespiratory arrest due to acute ashtmatic bronchitis" after "surgical termination of pregnancy. A suit was filed anonymously against Richardson Glidden and Delta Women's Clinic regarding Sheila's death. The suit charged Glidden and Delta staff with failure to monitor Sheila in recovery, failing to react properly when her condition was discovered, failing to call 911 promptly, and failing to have adequate emergency equipment available.
A New York Physician in 2000
Nicey Washington was 26 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion at Ambulatory Surgery Center in Brooklyn, New York, on June 6, 2000. She had graduated from college the previous Sunday. Her heart stopped after the abortion. She was rushed to Lutheran Hospital at about 11 a.m. Attempts to revive her failed, and she was declared dead at around noon. She left behind a fiance and a 4-year-old daughter. As of the time of the last article I could find on Nicey's death, the Medical Examiner's office hadn't determined the exact cause of death, but suspected a botched abortion.
On June 6, 1907, homemaker Julia Williamson, age 29, died at her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. A midwife named Emily Redemski was held by the coroner's jury, but acquitted by a judge for reasons not given in the source document.
A Baton Rouge Physician in 1984
A chronic asthma patient, 27-year-old Sheila Hebert, mother of a 10-year-old son, went to Delta Women's Clinic in Baton Rouge for a safe and legal abortionon June 5 or 6, 1984. Shortly after being moved to the recovery area, Sheila complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing. Something had triggered a severe asthmatic reaction. She lost consciousness, and staff injected her with adrenaline while awaiting EMS services. The medics arrived within three minutes of getting the call, but found Sheila blue, cold, and essentially lifeless. She was taken to a hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, but efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. The coroner attributed the death to "cardiorespiratory arrest due to acute ashtmatic bronchitis" after "surgical termination of pregnancy. A suit was filed anonymously against Richardson Glidden and Delta Women's Clinic regarding Sheila's death. The suit charged Glidden and Delta staff with failure to monitor Sheila in recovery, failing to react properly when her condition was discovered, failing to call 911 promptly, and failing to have adequate emergency equipment available.
A New York Physician in 2000
Nicey Washington was 26 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion at Ambulatory Surgery Center in Brooklyn, New York, on June 6, 2000. She had graduated from college the previous Sunday. Her heart stopped after the abortion. She was rushed to Lutheran Hospital at about 11 a.m. Attempts to revive her failed, and she was declared dead at around noon. She left behind a fiance and a 4-year-old daughter. As of the time of the last article I could find on Nicey's death, the Medical Examiner's office hadn't determined the exact cause of death, but suspected a botched abortion.
Sunday, June 05, 2016
The Work of Midwives, 1914 & 1915
On June 5, 1914, 28-year-old Mary Schloendorn of Astoria, New York, died at her home "under peculiar circumstances. The coroner investigated and discovered that Mary had died from septicemia and blood poisoning due to an incomplete abortion. By questioning Mary's family and friends, the coroner concluded that the abortion had been perpetrated by a midwife.
On June 5, 1915, 25-year-old homemaker Mary Balcznska died at Chicago's St. Bernard's Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Veronika Rypczyski who was arrested and held by the Coroner on June 10. The case never went to trial.
On June 5, 1915, 25-year-old homemaker Mary Balcznska died at Chicago's St. Bernard's Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Veronika Rypczyski who was arrested and held by the Coroner on June 10. The case never went to trial.
Friday, June 03, 2016
June 3: Self-Induced in Chicago, 1910
"Audrey," identified in the source document as "Mrs. C.," was 31 when she used a rubber catheter and wire to self-induce an abortion in mid-April of 1910. Of course, I have no way of knowing why Audrey didn't avail herself of any of Chicago's many physicians and midwives who ran quasi-open abortion practices.
Three days after using the catheter, due to bleeding, Audrey was curetted by doctor. This didn't control the bleeding, so a second curettage was performed four weeks after the abortion.
After this second procedure, Audrey suffered from chills, fever, and weakness. She was admitted to Cook County Hospital on May 21, with a weak and irregular pulse of 120, respirations of 32, and temperature of 98.6.
Audrey's eyes were sunken. Her abdomen was neither distended nor rigid, but there was some tenderness in the lower right area of her abdomen. There was a firm mass palpable in that area. She suffered from vomiting.
She was so weak from blood loss that she was unable to fight off infection that had most likely been introduced during the second curettage. She died on June 3.
I could find only one Chicago death on that date. However, there is absolutely no other record I can find of that name. I will continue to try to identify "Audrey C."
Three days after using the catheter, due to bleeding, Audrey was curetted by doctor. This didn't control the bleeding, so a second curettage was performed four weeks after the abortion.
After this second procedure, Audrey suffered from chills, fever, and weakness. She was admitted to Cook County Hospital on May 21, with a weak and irregular pulse of 120, respirations of 32, and temperature of 98.6.
Audrey's eyes were sunken. Her abdomen was neither distended nor rigid, but there was some tenderness in the lower right area of her abdomen. There was a firm mass palpable in that area. She suffered from vomiting.
She was so weak from blood loss that she was unable to fight off infection that had most likely been introduced during the second curettage. She died on June 3.
I could find only one Chicago death on that date. However, there is absolutely no other record I can find of that name. I will continue to try to identify "Audrey C."
Sources:
Thursday, June 02, 2016
The Beginning of Lucy Hagenow's Bloody Trail
A Mysterious Death
A death certificate signed by Dr. Xavier Dodel stated that 28-year-old Abbia Richards died on June 2, 1888, at 12 Nineteenth Street, San Francisco -- the "maternity hospital" of Dr. Louise Hagenow.
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| Dr. Lucy "Louise" Hagenow |
Dierks and his bookkeeper, Charles Mueller, promptly brought the body back to their establishment. Although several men had gathered at the funeral establishment on June 4, the day of the burial, only one man attended the funeral.
During the inquest, Hagenow and Dodel were brought from the city prison, where they were being held for the June 26 death of Anna Doreis, to the morgue. Hagenow admitted that Abbia had died at her practice but denied having perpetrated an abortion. Dodel admitted that he had signed the death certificate, but made vague references to two other doctors that he refused to name as having had some involvement somehow.
The man who presented himself as Abbia Richards' husband was just a clerk with no connection to the dead woman, who had assumed the name of Richards in order to arrange the burial.
As the investigation went on, a creepy and conflicting picture emerged.
A man named William E. Moorcroft, identified as "the guardian of the deceased Abbie Richards," told the coroner that his ward had been only 19 years of age, not 28. She had become sick in Port Costa and gone to San Francisco, where her guardian had "supported her as well as he was able to." However, suspicions had been raised that Moorcroft had been "criminally intimate with her and responsible for her condition when placed in the hands of Mrs. Hagenow."
Tillie Boyd's Testimony
Tillie Boyd, who had known Abbie well since childhood, testified that she hadn't known that her friend had even been pregnant. She had, though, gone with Abbia to the office Dr. O'Donnell for rheumatism and headaches. Abbia had met privately with the doctor and had come away with powders that "did her head good."
Afterward, Abbie went to Port Costa, to her guardian's home. She came back to San Francisco five days later and told her friend she was going to a lady doctor's house. "I did not see her again until Mr. Moorecroft sent for me and told me that Abbie was very sick. The next thing I heard was that she was dead. I had no idea what as the matter with her. To the best of my knowledge Mr. Moorecroft always treated Abbie well."
Two Physicians' Testimony
Dr. G. M. Terrill "stated that he was visited one night by a man whom he now knows to be Moorecroft, who desired him to go to Mrs. Hagenow's hospital and see a girl who was very sick." Moorecroft wanted two doctors to examine the girl, so Dr. John Morse was called in to assist.
Morse and Terrill saw Dodel there, with Abbia "in a dying condition." They advised Hagenow to give her stimulants, but didn't examine her.
The Social Worker's Testimony
Special Officer Holbrook of the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children testified that on several occasions they'd had cause to investigate Moorecroft's treatment of his ward. In 1887, Abbia had come to him saying that "her guardian was going to Port Costa and wanted her to go with him as his mistress. The society took care of her for a while, but she soon disappeared," and the next Holbrook heard, Abbie was living with Moorecroft again.
The Board of Health
Secretary Williams of the Board of Health testified that he issued a burial permit upon a death certificate for Maria Schmidt, signed by Dr. Xavier Dodel. Several days later a worker from the Dierks undertaking business came to the office, stating that the dead woman's name was actually Abbie Richards. The board issued the corrected burial permit, but Williams' attention was struck by Dodel's name on a certificate for a death at Hagenow's address, since those were the same signatory and address involved in the Annie Doreis death earlier in the year.
Hagenow was also implicated in the San Francisco abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, as well as for the suspicious death of Emma Dep at Hagenow's maternity home.
A More Welcoming Home
Hagenow relocated to Chicago, an area much more congenial to abortionists, and began piling up dead bodies there as well. She was implicated in numerous abortion deaths, including:
- 1891: Minnie Deering
- 1892: Sophia Kuhn andEmily Anderson
- 1896: Hannah Carlson
- 1899: Marie Hecht
- 1905: May Putnam
- 1906: Lola Madison
- 1907: Annie Horvatich
- 1925: Lottie Lowy, Nina H. Pierce, Jean Cohen, Bridget Masterson, and Elizabeth Welter
- 1926: Mary Moorehead
The End of the Road
Though Hagenow was sentenced to prison for the death of Mary Moorehead, when she appealed the Supreme Court of Illinois ordered a new trial in 1929. The judge, noting that there was no new evidence, dismissed the case, telling Hagenow, "You had better make your peace with God, Lucy Hagenow. I do not think your months on earth are many."
Hagenow, the Associated Press noted, was nearly deaf and "may not have heard. She muttered something, and shambled laboriously from the room."
As near as I can determine, Hagenow died September 26, 1933, in Norwood Park, Cook County, Illinois. Her occupation on her death record was given as "midwife.
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
The Abortion Lobby and Slick Sales Techniques
A Photoplasty contest at Cracked.com brought to mind how underhanded sales approaches are used to sell abortions.
The Assumptive Close: Don't give the option of saying "No."
Ask the woman when she wants to schedule an appointment, leaving the issue of whether she wants an abortion in limbo. Once they're at the facility, just process them as if they'd asked for an abortion rather than as if they're just going down the path of least resistance.
Another approach would be asking if she prefers a medical or surgical abortion, what kind of anesthesia she wants, etc., never directly addressing whether or not she wants an abortion.
The Bandwagon
This is the strategy behind the "I Had an Abortion" t-shirts, the "One in Three" campaign, and every other "de-stigmatizing" or "de-mystefying" campaign. The goal is to convince women that abortion is a perfectly normal part of life, a choice routinely made by other women just like them. Nancy Howell Lee's research, published as "The Search for an Abortionist" found that the greatest factor in whether a woman pursued an abortion or continued to term was what she believed her peers would do if they were in her situation. Clearly, the abortion lobby doesn't want to rely on the off-chance that the woman will be surrounded by others who have given birth. Thus, the campaigns to convince women that abortion is exactly what any other woman would do in her situation.
The BYAF (But You Are Free) Technique
This approach stresses that the person is perfectly free to NOT choose the desired abortion. The entire "pro-choice" movement is a macro-example. However, individual abortion centers also use this technique via the promise of "options counseling." The woman is assured that she's just coming in to explore her options, but once her foot is in the door she is far more likely to continue the path she's alread on -- toward an abortion.
Use of Inclusive Langage
This typically takes the form of the macro-sale, in which the abortion lobby presents abortion facilities and practitioners as part of the "woman and her doctor" team looking out for the woman's best interests, also creating a "them" out of anybody who might disapprove of abortion in general or this woman's abortion in particular.
This comes into play in individual cases with "informed consent" and waiting period laws, in which the clinic again paints the Other as trying to meddle in the relationship between the woman and the clinic staff.
Repeating Key Phrases
"Right to choose" doesn't really mean anything by itself. Choose what? But saturation of "your body, your choice," in the culture reinforces the idea that the woman is acting with maximum freedom and independence when choosing abortion rather than birth, even if (as is typical) the woman feels that she is trapped and has no actual choice in the matter.
Altercasting: Putting the person in a role and then presenting the desired act as the natural behavior of somebody in this role
This is primarily macro-oriented. The "Good women have abortions" campaign. Campaigns about how women have abortions in order to be better mothers, better workers, better partners, etc. These desirable women are then contrasted with the welfare mother that nobody wants to be. If you're sombody who is in control of her life, who is responsible, yada yada yada, then clearly you will choose abortion!
This also plays out regarding teens. Note how a pregnant teenager is painted in two contrasting roles. If she continues to term she is yet another example of "babies having babies," whereas if she aborts she is a woman making a choice.
Sounding as if you can read the woman's mind
This gives the impression that you understand and are knoweldable. Of course, anybody with two brain cells to rub together will know that a woman making an abortion appointment is worried about her future, wondering if she's doing the right thing, etc. By stating these obvious facts, the worker gains emotional footage with the woman.
Love Bombing
Odds are that the woman considering an abortion is feeling very alone and isolated. Abortion ads and "counseling" techniques focus on reassuring the woman that the abortion staff are there for her, to suppoprt her and love her, etc. The fact that this purportedly caring relationship will end the moment the woman is discharged from the facility has no emotional reality. The woman feels as if the clinic staff care for her, and that feeling can clinch the sale.
Fear Then Relief
Ramp up the woman's fears. Does she fear that her parents will be angry? That her boyfriend will leave her? That she won't be able to finish school? That she'll lose her job? Let the counseling deeply explore everything the woman fears, then present abortion as the escape pod.
This also cashes in on the fact that fear of losing something that you already have is a more powerful motivator than the prospect of gaining something that you don't have yet.
This is why the abortion lobby hates pre-abortion ultrasounds so much. If the woman fully emotionally grasps the reaity of her unborn baby, then abortion becomes the loss of the baby. Most mothers will risk everything else, including their lives, for their children. The prospective abortion patient who has had a chance to bond with her baby is difficult to close in a sale.
The Assumptive Close: Don't give the option of saying "No."
Ask the woman when she wants to schedule an appointment, leaving the issue of whether she wants an abortion in limbo. Once they're at the facility, just process them as if they'd asked for an abortion rather than as if they're just going down the path of least resistance.
Another approach would be asking if she prefers a medical or surgical abortion, what kind of anesthesia she wants, etc., never directly addressing whether or not she wants an abortion.
The Bandwagon
This is the strategy behind the "I Had an Abortion" t-shirts, the "One in Three" campaign, and every other "de-stigmatizing" or "de-mystefying" campaign. The goal is to convince women that abortion is a perfectly normal part of life, a choice routinely made by other women just like them. Nancy Howell Lee's research, published as "The Search for an Abortionist" found that the greatest factor in whether a woman pursued an abortion or continued to term was what she believed her peers would do if they were in her situation. Clearly, the abortion lobby doesn't want to rely on the off-chance that the woman will be surrounded by others who have given birth. Thus, the campaigns to convince women that abortion is exactly what any other woman would do in her situation.
The BYAF (But You Are Free) Technique
This approach stresses that the person is perfectly free to NOT choose the desired abortion. The entire "pro-choice" movement is a macro-example. However, individual abortion centers also use this technique via the promise of "options counseling." The woman is assured that she's just coming in to explore her options, but once her foot is in the door she is far more likely to continue the path she's alread on -- toward an abortion.
Use of Inclusive Langage
This typically takes the form of the macro-sale, in which the abortion lobby presents abortion facilities and practitioners as part of the "woman and her doctor" team looking out for the woman's best interests, also creating a "them" out of anybody who might disapprove of abortion in general or this woman's abortion in particular.
This comes into play in individual cases with "informed consent" and waiting period laws, in which the clinic again paints the Other as trying to meddle in the relationship between the woman and the clinic staff.
Repeating Key Phrases
"Right to choose" doesn't really mean anything by itself. Choose what? But saturation of "your body, your choice," in the culture reinforces the idea that the woman is acting with maximum freedom and independence when choosing abortion rather than birth, even if (as is typical) the woman feels that she is trapped and has no actual choice in the matter.
Altercasting: Putting the person in a role and then presenting the desired act as the natural behavior of somebody in this role
This is primarily macro-oriented. The "Good women have abortions" campaign. Campaigns about how women have abortions in order to be better mothers, better workers, better partners, etc. These desirable women are then contrasted with the welfare mother that nobody wants to be. If you're sombody who is in control of her life, who is responsible, yada yada yada, then clearly you will choose abortion!
This also plays out regarding teens. Note how a pregnant teenager is painted in two contrasting roles. If she continues to term she is yet another example of "babies having babies," whereas if she aborts she is a woman making a choice.
Sounding as if you can read the woman's mind
This gives the impression that you understand and are knoweldable. Of course, anybody with two brain cells to rub together will know that a woman making an abortion appointment is worried about her future, wondering if she's doing the right thing, etc. By stating these obvious facts, the worker gains emotional footage with the woman.
Love Bombing
Odds are that the woman considering an abortion is feeling very alone and isolated. Abortion ads and "counseling" techniques focus on reassuring the woman that the abortion staff are there for her, to suppoprt her and love her, etc. The fact that this purportedly caring relationship will end the moment the woman is discharged from the facility has no emotional reality. The woman feels as if the clinic staff care for her, and that feeling can clinch the sale.
Fear Then Relief
Ramp up the woman's fears. Does she fear that her parents will be angry? That her boyfriend will leave her? That she won't be able to finish school? That she'll lose her job? Let the counseling deeply explore everything the woman fears, then present abortion as the escape pod.
This also cashes in on the fact that fear of losing something that you already have is a more powerful motivator than the prospect of gaining something that you don't have yet.
This is why the abortion lobby hates pre-abortion ultrasounds so much. If the woman fully emotionally grasps the reaity of her unborn baby, then abortion becomes the loss of the baby. Most mothers will risk everything else, including their lives, for their children. The prospective abortion patient who has had a chance to bond with her baby is difficult to close in a sale.
Repeat Offenders, 1926 and 1938
One of Three Blamed on Chicago Physician, 1926
On June 1, 1926, Willie Pearl Walker, an 18-year-old Black homemaker born in Eaton, Georgia, died at her Chicago home from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. A white doctor, Thomas J. New, (most likely transcription error for Dr. Thomas J. Ney) was held by the coroner in Willie Pearl's death.
 |
| Thomas Ney |
A little over two years later Ney was implicated in the November 14, 1928, death of 21-year-old Eunice McElroy. He was later implicated in the April 25, 1931 abortion death of Elma Bromps. There was abundant press coverage of the deaths of these two white women, but I have been unable to find any news coverage at all of Willie's death.
Willie's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.
One of Two Blamed on Oklahoma Psychologist, 1938
Mary Ellen Legge, a 24-year-old department store clerk, died June 1, 1938, from a criminal abortion. Otto Lucy, an Oklahoma City psychologist and teacher, was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty in her death. He had charged Mary Ellen $75 for the fatal abortion. A practical nurse, Ella Hartin, admitted to helping Lucy perform the abortion. She said that Lucy had frequently brought his abortion patients to her home.
While he was out on bail pending disposition of this case, he performed the fatal abortion on Goldie Crow. He had perpetrated another abortion, on a stenographer who lived, between his arrest and his first trial in the Mary Ellen Legge case. Though he was not a licensed physician, he is listed in the phone book as "Dr. Otto C. Lucy."
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