Monday, February 16, 2026

February 16, 1918: Self-Induced Abortion Leaves Five Children Motherless

The testimony Edwin (or Edward) G. Noah gave to the Allegheny County coroner's jury did little to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of his 34-year-old wife, Helen B. Noah. 

According to public record, Helen and Edwin had married in November of 1904 when Edwin was working as a messenger. Helen was the second of 11 children born to Edward and Ethel Bell Ferris. One of Helen's sisters, 3-year-old Mary, died when Helen was 10. Her father died the year Helen and Edwin married. 

Edwin told the coroner's jury that Helen said she'd been “flooding” on Sunday, December 14, 1917 and had gone to Dr. W. J. Connelly, who had prescribed medicine for her. She'd gone back again later and been told that she had “inflammation of the womb.”

On February 3, Edwin said, Helen had informed him “that her monthly had just appeared and she had used a catheter to see if they would not appear.”

On February 5, she took to her bed. Dr. Connelly came to check on her, and she told him about the catheter. He continued to care for her, finally summoning an ambulance and admitting her to Pittsburgh's Presbyterian Hospital on February 9. There she was treated for massive infection until her death at 2:58 p.m. On February 16. She left behind five children, ranging in age from 3 to 12 years of age. Public records don't show that Edwin, working as a paperhanger at the time of his wife's death, ever remarried.

Evidently the coroner's jury was able to make enough sense of Mr. Noah's testimony to conclude that Helen, a homemaker, had died of “Puerperal Septicemia Following Self Inflicted Abortion.” 

Sources:

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February 16, 1929: Bribery Charges Eclipse Abortion Death

In February of 1929, Ruth Weir, age 25, of East Orange, New Jersey, lay dying at Orange Memorial Hospital of sepsis contracted through a criminal abortion that had been perpetrated a month earlier. Hospital officials reported the situation to authorities, who came to her bedside and took a deathbed statement in which she implicated Dr. Maurice Sturm.

Dr. James R. Chamberlain testified that he had examined Ruth at her home and had admitted her to the hospital due to a septic condition. Dr. James Wilson testified that he had treated Ruth in the hospital during late January and that she was suffering from septicemia.

Ruth died on February 16, 1929.

Dr. Sturm was arrested and charged with first degree murder. At first nurse Gertrude Halloway denied that she'd seen Strum perform the abortion. However, the prosecutor took her out of the courtroom and had a long discussion with her. She returned to court and said that she'd perjured herself and actually had seen Strum commit the crime. She had, she admitted, actually assisted by handing Sturm his instruments as he worked. She said that she'd come clean in order to avoid being prosecuted for perjury. "Dr. Sturm told me yesterday that I need not worry about what would happen here in court. He said the case would be thrown out of court in half an hour. But I was worried. You see, a mysterious woman I didn't know called me on the telephone yesterday and warned me that the doctor had no friends in the District Attorney's office and that the DA's office was going to come after him strong. And a little later I got the same message from a strange man. The man also said that I'd surely be held in jail if I committed perjury. I told Dr. Sturm about the messages. He said, 'Don't worry. If they throw you in jail I'll bail you out.'"

Sturm admitted to performing the abortion, but insisted that it had not been illegal because it was necessary to save Ruth's life.

After his arrest, Sturm alleged that District Attorney William D. Ryan and Judge Hanley of the District Court had come to his home and demanded $10,000 or they would prosecute him "to the limit." Strum was presented in the news as part of a large abortion ring.

Sturm was reported to have offered a $10,000 bribe to an aide of the District Attorney. New coverage shifted from the deadly abortion to the allegations of corruption. The case dragged on much longer than usual before it finally went to court while the issue lingered and witnesses disappeared.

Sturm said that that $1,000 he had given the judge after District Attorney Ryan's resignation was a gift and not part of the bribe money. Sturm was later acquitted of the manslaughter charge in Ruth's death.

Watch Dr. Sturm's Cash on YouTube. 

Sources:

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February 16, 1931: The Middle of Dr. Emil Gleitsmann's Trail of Death

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann had a long criminal history of abortion starting in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition. 

He was prosecuted but acquitted in the December 12, 1930 death of Jeanette Reder.

After his acquittal for Jeanette's death he was indicted for the February 16, 1931 death of 25-year-old Mathilda Cornelius. According to census records, Mathilda and her husband, Joseph, had two young sons, ages 1 and 3.

Gleitsmann was arrested in February of 1933 after Rosalie Lewis died in a Chicago Hospital. He was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.

He was implicated again in the June 8, 1934 death of 26-year-old Elsie Quall.

Gleitsman got in trouble again in 1937 for the death of 16-year-old Phyllis Brown. However, that death was eventually attributed to Dr. C. Harold Edmunds.

At last he was held accountable for his crimes and sentenced to 14 years for the December 10, 1941 death of Marie O'Malley.


"Accused in Woman's Death," Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1931
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February 16, 1890: Another Mysterious Chicago Abortionist

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on February 16, 1890, Mary Keegan died in Chicago from complications of an illegal abortion performed that day. Mary died at the location where the abortion was performed. 

Mrs. Annie Schneider was arrested and held by the Coroner's Jury. She is described as employed in an unidentified profession.

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February 16, 1925: Mystery Abortion in Chicago

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on February 16, 1925, 28-year-old homemaker Agnes Crowe died in Chicago's West Side Hospital from a criminal abortion performed that day. 

The coroner indicated that a female midwife was responsible for Agnes' death, but did not name the guilty party.

I've been unable to find any other information on Agnes's death.

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February 16, 1940: A Criminal Abortion in New York

Grok AI illustration
In my search for abortion deaths I went through New York death records and learned about the death of Blanche Daniels Bryant. Genealogy records indicate that she was a native of North Carolina.

Blanche was a 24-year-old Black homemaker living with her husband, William, on Franklin Avenue in New York. She died at Kings County Hospital in New York 14, 1940. Her death was attributed to "generalized peritonitis; perforated uterus; gangrenous endometritis, criminal abortion."

She was the daughter of John and Mary Daniels.

I've been unable to learn anything else about Blanche's death.

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Sunday, February 15, 2026

February 15, 2013: Untrained Staff + Non-Functioning Equipment = Dead Patient

Thirty-eight-year-old Maria Santiago ("Patient A") was an abortion patient at Associates in OB/GYN Care, a seedy Baltimore abortion facility located in a residential condominium complex. The medical director, Mansour G. Panah, had been disciplined by the state three times, including incidents in 1988 and 1995 when he had engaged in what the Baltimore Sun referred to as "unwanted sexual contact with patients."

According to an inspection conducted by the Maryland Department of Health, Maria was 12.5 weeks pregnant on February 13, 2013. The abortionist, Iris Dominy, did not obtain proper informed consent from Maria, who did not speak English or Spanish. She didn't perform a proper pre-operative physical examination. She didn't see to it that Maria was properly monitored while she was undergoing conscious sedation. 


Dominy told the inspector that Maria slept through her abortion, after which Dominy left the room. An unqualified worker, occupied with filling out paperwork, was left alone with the still-sedated patient, who was lying on the abortion table.

At some point, the worker called for a second worker to help her dress the unconscious patient and move her to the recovery area. The second worker noticed that Maria was pale and not breathing.

Dominy was notified and returned to the procedure room where she sat the unconscious patient up and began a “sternum rub,” an appropriate test to see if a patient is responsive but totally useless for telling if a sedated patient is breathing.

No one at the facility, including Dominy, had current CPR certification. A crash cart in the hallway was not used and the defibrillator was broken. Somebody, however, did call 911. Paramedics were able to revive Maria, who was transported her to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead two days later, February 15.

Maria’s death certificate showed she died from Severe Pulmonary Edema, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and Hypoxia Brain Injury. No one knows how long she was not breathing before CPR was begun. Inspectors concluded that staff failed to provide proper post-anesthesia care and observation.

The operating license of that facility was suspended after state inspectors determined that it posed a danger to the public. The Medical Board suspended Dominy's license. for working in a facility that endangered patients' lives by allowing unqualified staff to perform ultrasounds, evaluate patients, and administer medication without the doctor first examining the patient and determining if the medication was appropriate. 

Iris Dominy allowed her Maryland license to expire in 2018, though she still shows up as actively practicing in online physician searches. The clinic and its affiliated clinics in Cheverly, Frederick, and Silver Spring were affiliated with American Women's Services, controlled by the infamous Dr. Steven Chase Brigham.


Sources in links, plus the following:
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February 15, 1925: Lucy Hagenow and the Five-Day Bride

A smiling young white woman with 1920s style clothes, hair, and makeup standing in front of some shrubbery
Nina Harding Pierce

On February 10, 1925, Nina Ruth Harding and Logan F. Pierce ran away to Chicago and were married in a private ceremony performed by Rev. S. D. White of St. Paul's Methodist Church. Two school friends served as witnesses. 


Nina, age 20, was a sophomore at the University of Illinois. Logan, age 22, was a recent graduate. He worked in a brokerage firm. Nina was a sister in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Logan a member of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. Logan had been very active in campus politics. Nina traced her lineage back to the Mayflower and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her father, Robert Harding, was head of the upscale real estate firm.

Reverend White noticed nothing odd about the wedding party. "I asked them the usual qualifying questions, and the wedding was performed without a doubt in my mind that everything was all right" he told the Chicago Tribune. "The man seemed about 22 years old and the girl about 20. She was a bright little thing and I detected no trace of worry. I talked to them a little about the duties and sacrifices of married life and they went along."

The newlyweds took up lodging in a small furnished room. Their landlady told the Chicago Tribune, "They were very nice, and the girl was quiet. Mr. Pierce went to work every day and she stayed at home. I thought she looked healthy enough."

An unsmiling young white man wearing a coat and tie, with his light hair slicked down
Logan Pierce
Four days later, late in the evening of Valentine's Day of 1925, Logan Pierce told the landlady that his young bride was ill. He sought out Dr. J. A. McGaughey, who was a friend of Logan's father's. The physician found the young woman in critical condition and in need of immediate surgery. 

At Dr. McGaughey's instruction, Logan took a gravely ill Nina to the Chicago Lying-In Hospital and remained with her for several hours. He left for a time, leaving Nina to die alone but for the strangers who had fought in vain to save her life. When he returned to the hospital on the 15th and learned of her death he quickly disappeared. Police issued a warrant for the arrest of the flighty husband.

Logan was lying low, fully aware that he was in big trouble. The only immediate traces of him were telephone messages to a private club and his rooming house, asking if a telegram had come from his father, capitalist Chambers Logan Pierce. He had left all of his belongings and clothing behind at the lodgings he had so briefly shared with his bride. He also had left behind a paper with the phone number of notorious Chicago abortionist Dr. Lucy Hagenow. 

Hagenow's whereabouts were no mystery and police quickly took her into custody. They found a paper with Logan's name and address at her office. Hagenow admitted that Nina had come to her practice the previous Tuesday or Wednesday, but denied having performed an abortion on her.

The elder Pierce hurried to Chicago from La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he had been establishing a commercial loan bank. He arranged an attorney for his son. Young Logan, accompanied by the lawyer, turned himself in but utterly refused to answer any questions and at first even to identify the 80-year-old Hagenow, who had already been arrested. 

"The big, sad faced youth, who had been engaged to his bride since last winter, was no more communicative to newspaper men," noted the Chicago Tribune. "'My attorneys don't want me to talk at all,' was his only interview."

Chicago Police Captain Russell told the Tribune, "I feel nothing but pity for the boy but I had to book him as an accessory to the murder when he refused to aid the police investigation." Logan was released on $11,500 bail.

Eventually  Logan admitted that he had accompanied his bride to Hagenow's practice, but insisted that he hadn't known about the abortion until she became ill.

The Coroner's Jury wouldn't affix specific blame to Hagenow, so her attorney sought to get the charges dropped, to no avail. Hagenow was held to a Grand Jury on $35,000 bond, and Pierce on $7,500. Hagenow was charged with murder, and Logan as an accessory.

Meanwhile, Nina's heartbroken father travelled to Chicago with his son Harold for the inquest. He then took his daughter's body home to East St. Louis for burial.

Hagenow, who had already been implicated of the abortion deaths of Louise Derchow, Annie Dorris, Abbia Richards, and Emma Dep in San Francisco, would go on to be linked to over a dozen Chicago abortion deaths:
Hagenow was typical of criminal abortionists in that she was a physician.


Sources:
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Saturday, February 14, 2026

February 14, 1942: The Socialite's Brutal Death

A newspaper photo of a young, plump-faced white woman with late 1930s style makeup and hair
Florence Nimick Schnoor

Florence Nimick, 24-year-old grand-niece of Andrew Carnegie and heiress to a Pittsburgh steel fortune, was educated in Paris and Switzerland. She was multilingual and trained in music and art. Her father, Alexander K. Nimick, was heir to Coleman Steel Foundry in Pittsburgh. He and his most recent wife, Lucille, lived in Monte Carlo. His second wife, Beatrice Arnold Nimick, was Florence's mother and died when Florence was five years old. 


Alexander was living on an income of $40,000 (about $770,000 in 2025 dollars) a year from the steel foundry from which he provided Florence an allowance. 

Florence eloped with 28-year-old Richard H. Schnoor, sergeant-at-arms of the New York State Assembly, on February 7, 1942. Schnoor had been divorced for several months from his first wife, with whom he had a three-year-old daughter.

Florence and Richard had met the previous September 1 at The Beagle, "a fashionable Greenwich tavern." After their elopement, they'd moved into Florence's rooms at The Maples Hotel in Greenwich, Connecticut. The couple chose to keep the marriage a secret.

Their marriage would end tragically by 4:00 pm on February 14.

Richard Schnoor
Her husband reported that he had taken her to White Plains, New York, so she could catch the 8:30 a.m. train to New York City for a day's shopping. She had planned to call him that afternoon to pick her up at the same station. "She was in good health and good spirits," Richard later said.

She never made it back to the White Plains station. She called Richard at 11:30 am asking him to pick her up at the Woodlawn New York subway station. She was with a companion, but no details are available about this person.

"She told me she was ill and wanted to see a doctor," Richard said. "I could see she was very sick, so I drove her at once to the hospital. I didn't know what was ailing her and she didn't tell me."

Doctors reported that Florence refused to discuss her case at all, much less implicate the abortionist, despite pleas from her husband. Dr. Amos O. Squire, the Westchester County Medical Examiner, said that Florence refused to tell anybody who had perpetrated the abortion. "She just gritted her teeth and remained silent."

She died just a few hours after arrival at the hospital.

The autopsy revealed that Florence had been two or three months into her pregnancy. The damage done was catastrophic. "It was one of the most atrociously brutal and clumsy operations I have ever seen. Her stomach had been punctured. I doubt if she had a chance of survival from the moment she left the operating table." Given the severity of the injuries, Dr. Squire estimated that the abortion had been perpetrated just a few hours before Florence had arrived at the hospital.

Investigators contacted all 200 people whose names were in Florence's address book, but were unable to gain any clues as to who performed the fatal abortion. All they were able to piece together is that Florence evidently paid $40 for the abortion, since her husband reported that she had left for New York with $50 in her purse and there had been $3 in her purse when she was hospitalized..

Florence's husband was not implicated in her death; police believed that he had not even known Florence was pregnant until he was informed of the results of the autopsy.

Watch Heiress Bride's Secret Abortion on Rumble.


Sources:
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February 14, 2007: Set Up For Fatal Infection at Planned Parenthood

Portrait of a smiling young Black woman with long, straightened hair coiffed casually
Edrica Karla Goode

Edrica Karla Goode was a student at Riverside Community College.  She went to a Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California, on January 31, 2007, for a safe, legal second-trimester abortion. She was a little over 14 weeks pregnant.

A nurse examined Edrica and noticed that she had "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", indicative of a vaginal infection, at the time. The nurse decided to go ahead and insert laminaria to dilate Edrica's cervix.  Laminaria are sticks of seaweed that absorb moisture and expand, so they would wick any bacteria or viruses from the vagina into the uterus. The manufacturer specifies that they are not to be inserted if the patient has a vaginal infection. After establishing a clear path for the vaginal infection to enter Edrica's uterus, the nurse discharged her patient.



Edrica, who had not told her family about the abortion, did not return to the facility to have the laminaria removed and the abortion completed because her mental state had deteriorated overnight. She had became feverish, her mother said. She became mentally "confused and disoriented," not knowing what day it was, and started acting aggressively. She also began vomiting.

Planned Parenthood's patient profile for Edrica said that they mailed Edrica two letters telling her that she had to return and have the laminaria removed, but Edrica's mother said that the letters never arrived. She does indicate that Planned Parenthood called, but that Edrica was too sick to take the calls.

Edrica's family took her to Riverside County Regional Medical Center on February 4. A blood test there revealed the pregnancy to the physicians, but the hospital did not perform a pelvic exam because at the time Edrica was unable to consent to the examination due to confusion and inappropriate speech.

Edrica was treated in the medical ward for five days, then transferred to a psychiatric unit, which promptly sent her back to the medical unit to have them check her for possible sepsis. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. After Edrica's boyfriend told her family about the visit to Planned Parenthood, staff at the hospital performed a pelvic examination and discovered the laminaria, along with some gauze. Edrica miscarried that day, and died the next day, Valentine's Day, just two days short of her 22nd birthday.

The coroner's report attributes Edrica's death to toxic shock syndrome, prolonged retention of laminaria, and pregnancy. Which means that her death will likely be counted as a pregnancy death by health statisticians, but not as an abortion death because no abortion actually took place.

Her mother, Aletheia Meloncon, commented, "My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die." She added, "A lost dog gets more attention than my daughter did. This has really torn at my family."

Edrica is the third known death among Planned Parenthood patients in California in a four year period. Holly Patterson, 18, died of an infection after an RU-486 abortion in 2003. Diana Lopez, 25, bled to death in 2002 after her cervix was punctured during the procedure. Edrica's mother's lawyer indicates that Planned Parenthood did not report any of these deaths to the state, as required by law.

Other women whose lives ended because they trusted include
State records indicate that the clinic in question was last inspected in July of 2003. The inspection found 12 deficiencies, most involving record keeping and documentation problems that were to be corrected by Sept. 20, 2003. The file doesn't show if the corrections were made or not.

Watch Pathway for Death on YouTube.

Source: "Lawsuit blames death on abortion," Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2007

Muted, pink tinted, blurred image of cemetery with text overlaid: When you stand with Planned Parenthood, you're standing on her grave. Edrica Karla Goode, February 16, 1985 - February 14, 2004

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February 14, 1943: Extortion Complaint Uncovers Abortion Death

On February 14, 1943, Amelia Cardito, 34-year-old mother of 4, died at International Medical Center in New York. She had been under the care of Dr. Anthony Renda, who had admitted her on February 5 and had attributed her death to miscarriage and pneumonia. Her family laid her to rest, and it seemed like everybody was going to just move on.

But that wasn't how it played out.

Dr. Anthony Renda
Renda was a 54-year-old Italian immigrant who had come to the United States in 1931. A Catholic, he had married in 1915 and been widowed in 1940. He had been a physician for 30 years and was the  author of three books on obstetrics.

Renda might have been a smart doctor, but he was a stupid criminal. He also lacked the compassion one might expect one widower to have for amother. He and his brother, Attillio, sent a former judge, Francis X. Mancuso, to the police to complain that Amelia's widower, James, was shaking him down for $2,500. 

Police went to Renda's office and hid as James and his brother arrived. When Renda handed over $1,000 to James, Lieutenant Martin Owens stepped forward and announced to the Carditos, "I will have to arrest you for blackmail."

That's when James told the police officer that Renda had perpetrated an abortion on Amelia in late January or early February, and had admitted her to the hospital when she suffered complications.

After Amelia's death, James said, Renda offered to pay the $800 medical expenses along with a total of $2,500 in installments for the motherless children.

"This is the first payment," James Cardito said, gesturing towards the money he was still holding.

That was when Anthony Renda was charged with homicide and his brother with compounding a felony.

Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas A. Gonzales ordered Amelia's body exhumed for an autopsy to find out why. And that's when it was discovered that she had died from an abortion.

James Cardito didn't face any extortion charges, and the charges against Attillio were dropped, but Renda was prosecuted. An all-male jury deliberated for a little under two hours to find him guilty of first degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years in Sing-Sing for Amelia's death. 

His attorney, the same man who had gone to the police to complain about blackmail, argued for leniency because Renda had suffered a lot during the case. The judge responded, "He didn't suffer half as much as the woman he tortured. He can blame his predicament on himself and on his own stupidity."

Renda died on Christmas Eve of 1948 in New York's Columbus Hospital.

Sources:



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Friday, February 13, 2026

February 13, 1929: A Chicago Midwife's Fatal Efforts

Anna Pearl Fazio, nee Kirby, had lived with her sister, Ethel Colby, in her Chicago home for about a year pending her divorce as the winter of 1928-29 drew to a close. 

Genealogical records showed that Anna, only 20 years of age, had lived a difficult life. When she was just a toddler, her 2-year-old brother died. When Anna was 6 years old, her 4-year-old sister died. When she was 7, her 10-year-old brother died. When she was 15 years old she lost her 27-year-old sister and then less than a year later her mother. 

So what was happening that February of 1929?

Ethel said that Anna had been perfectly healthy on February 4, 1929 when she left her sister's home and went to the Chicago home of midwife Marie Zwienczak for an abortion.

Elmer Kagel had been keeping company with Anna, intending to marry her after her divorce. He visited her daily at Zwienczak's house beginning on February 4, when she had appeared healthy. She started to seem seriously ill on the 6th. 

Ethel visited Anna at Zwienczak's home on February 11 and found her to be very ill. Elmer also visited at the house that day and saw how sick Anna was.

Dr. Marion Swiont also went to Zwienczak's home on February 11 and saw Anna. He found her to be severely ill, almost lifeless, due to peritonitis. He spoke to Zwienczak about how sick her patient was. He said that Zwienczak admitted to having done an abortion and that four days later -- which would have been February 8 -- either she or another midwife did a D&C to address the complications. She requested that he prescribe medication for Anna, but he told her that she was too sick to be treated in the home; she needed to go to a hospital.

Edward Conrath, who said that he frequently served of a chauffeur for Zwienczak, testified that he was the one who drove Anna to the hospital that day, accompanied by Elmer. He said that Anna lamented causing so much trouble for the midwife, because she had been so kind. 

Dr. Swiont saw Anna again on the evening of February 12.

Anna died on February 13. 

Zwienczak was arrested March 1, as recommended by the coroner. Stephanie Paczkiewicz was booked on February 23 as an accessory, but was not mentioned in the verdict. Zwienczak was indicted for homicide by a grand jury and went on trial. 

Zwienczak insisted that Anna had already been weak and hemorrhaging when she had arrived at her home. She denied perpetrating an abortion but said that she had only given her food and used a syringe to douche the patient. She insisted that there was no evidence that there was no actual evidence that Anna had been pregnant, much less that she had undergone a fatal abortion.

She was convicted, and was sentenced on June 20 to 14 years at Joliet Penitentiary. She appealed her conviction but it was upheld.

Watch Fatal Trip to a Chicago Midwife on YouTube.
Watch Fatal Trip to a Chicago Midwife on Rumble.

People v. Zwienczak

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Thursday, February 12, 2026

February 12, 1974: Was Bonnie's Death Actually Due to an Abortion?

Bonnie Fix, a 38-year-old mother of four, was admitted to Fresno Community Hospital on February 7, 1974. Doctors there performed an abortion via abdominal hysterectomy on Bonnie. Codes used at the state registrar's office indicate that an abortion had been induced on Bonnie for medical reasons. 

Several days after her hysterectomy, Bonnie began to suffer bowel and lung problems. She suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on February 12.

In the post-Dobbs era, it's important to look at the surgery that resulted in Bonnie's death to determine if it actually was an abortion. The answer to this goes to the intent of the surgery.

If the intent was to end the life of Bonnie's unborn baby, and they chose a hysterectomy because it would also benefit her in other ways, then surgery was an abortion. This would not have been a legal option in states with abortion restrictions because the death of the baby was the goal of the surgery.

If the intent was to save Bonnie's life, perhaps because of uterine cancer that would have been treated with a hysterectomy even if Bonnie had not been pregnant, then this was not an abortion but was obstetric care that, sadly, also resulted in the death of the baby.

Watch Abortion or Emergency Obstetric Care? on YouTube.

Sources: California Certificate of Death, 74-016613; Fresno County (CA) Superior Court, Case 168185
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February 12, 1987: Dead After Planned Parenthood Botches CPR

On February 10, 1987, an ambulance arrived at an outpatient surgical facility to care for an unresponsive patient. The woman had begun having asthma symptoms after her surgery. Staff had twice helped her to use her inhaler, but she had more and more trouble breathing. She had begun to turn blue and staff had administered oxygen. Finally, she had stopped breathing entirely.

The ambulance crew found the patient, 22-year-old Elise Kalat, lying on the floor. One facility employee was doing the CPR compressions on Elise's abdomen rather than on her chest. Another employee was using the bag-valve mask improperly, inflating Elise's cheeks rather than her lungs. 

The doctor at the facility was under the impression that the CPR was effective because he was checking for a pulse in the patient's femoral artery, which was pulsing because the nurse was pressing so hard on Elise's abdomen and not because blood was actually circulating.

Nobody had initiated professional level resuscitation procedures such as intubating the patient, defibrillating her, monitoring her cardiac signs on EKG, or administering cardiac medications.

The ambulance crew loaded Elise onto a stretcher. One EMT noted, "As my partner and I attempted to strap the patient onto the stretcher, the personnel [of the facility] began to run with the stretcher down the corridor. There appeared to me to be much confusion with no organization among the staff.... "

Medics took over Elsie's care. She was finally successfully resuscitated at the hospital, but due to the improperly performed CPR she had suffered devastating brain injury. Her condition continued to deteriorate and she died on February 12.

The outpatient surgical facility was Planned Parenthood Clinic of Central Massachusetts. The procedure in question had been an 8-week abortion. When Elise's mother sued she learned that neither of the two nurses who had been botching the CPR had kept their certifications current. 

According to documents submitted in the case, Elise was unemployed and living with her mother. This was her third pregnancy and her third abortion.

AbortionDocs has an incident report form, redacted, indicating another patient death at this Planned Parenthood in 2008. I have no information about this case.

You don't have to oppose abortion to recognize -- and be appalled by -- incompetence that costs a young woman her life.

The other Planned Parenthood deaths I have in my records are Diana Lopez in 2002, Holly Patterson and Vivian Tran in 2003, Edrica Goode in 2007, Bonnie Hunt in 2008, Roselle Owens in 2009, Tonya Reaves in 2012, Cree Erwin-Shephard in 2016, and Alyona Dixon in 2022. 

Watch Clueless CPR = Dead Patient on YouTube.

Sources:
  • Lawsuit documents, including expert reviews, incident reports by EMTs, and Elise's death certificate.
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February 12, 1907: Doctor Named in Dying Declaration

On February 11, 1907, housemaid Nellie Walsh, a 28-year-old Irish immigrant, was brought to National Emergency Hospital in Chicago in grave condition from complications of a criminal abortion. She had been admitted to the hospital by Dr. Michael Nelson, who had been called to her home and had been alarmed by her condition. A curettage was performed at around 4:00 that afternoon to try to save her life, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

The next day, February 12, the doctor told Nellie that there was nothing more that could be done for her, and that she was dying. Head nurse Cora Bachino asked Nellie if she'd like a priest to administer last rites. Nellie answered yes, and a priest was brought to her.

Shortly after receiving last rites, Nellie made her dying declaration. She named the baby's father as Patrick O'Connell of Wilcox Avenue. She named Dr. Adolph Buettner of 679 Lincoln Avenue as her abortionist. She said that Buettner had perpetrated the abortion at her request on Wednesday, February 6, after assuring her that "there would be no danger."

After the abortion, Nellie said, she had returned home and become ill. That was when Dr. Nelson had been called in to care for her and had decided to admit her to the hospital.

A stenographer, in the presence of nurse Bachino and another witness, typed up the statement. After both copies -- the handwritten one by the stenographer and the typed one, were read to her, Nellie confirmed that she understood them.

Less than an hour later, she died.

Both O'Connell and Buettner were arrested. Though O'Connell admitted that he'd taken Nellie to Buettner's office, and Buettner admitted to having attended to her, both denied any involvement in an abortion. 

Buettner, who had been practicing in Chicago for a number of years, had been indicted for another abortion case seven or eight years before Nellie's death. Found guilty of manslaughter for Nellie's death, was sentenced to Joliet. O'Connell was acquitted.

Sources:

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February 12, 1916: Little Information on Queens Abortion Death

On February 12, 1916, 28-year-old homemaker Anna Farrell Nicholls of Sanford Street, Ravenswood, NY, died at St. John's Hospital in Queens, New York, from suppurative peritonitis after an abortion. The case was turned over to the coroner for investigation.

According to available records, Anna was a native of New York.

Source: New York death record





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Wednesday, February 11, 2026

February 11, 1992: High Risk Abortion in an Outpatient Setting

Danette Adele Perguson, a 19-year-old medical assistant, submitted to a safe, legal abortion on February 11, 1992, at the hands of Dr. Robert H. Tamis of Phoenix, Arizona. 

As far as I can tell, the facility, Abortion Services of Phoenix, was jointly owned by Tamis and his wife, Beverlee.

Danette had a rare condition called Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency , a hereditary blood disorder that made her a very high-risk patient for an abortion. Dr. Thomas Murphy Goodwin, a high-risk OB/GYN, pointed out in later court proceedings that any abortion on a woman with PKD should have been done in a hospital, and special steps should have been taken to prevent possible fatal clots from forming in the blood stream.

During the abortion, Danette stopped breathing, and paramedics were summoned.

The Maricopa County deputy medical examiner determined that Danette died from a pulmonary embolism, which is when blood flow in the lungs is blocked by material such as a clot.

Tamis later made the news in 1981 when he and his partners, Robert Weschsler and Mark Gross, performed a saline abortion at Doctor's Hospital in Phoenix, resulting in the March 20 birth of a 2 lb 9 oz baby girl. Tamis and his partners said that they had been "fooled" when examining the patient and had believed her to be only 19 weeks pregnant. The baby, however, proved to have been about 32 weeks of gestation.

Tamis actually seemed to believe in total reproductive choice for women, at least when he could make money from it. He also ran a sperm bank and an IVF clinic. 

Watch High-Risk Abortion in Clinic Proves Fatal on YouTube.
Watch High-Risk Abortion in Clinic Proves Fatal on Rumble.

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February 11, 1879: "I Was Almost Paralyzed With Horror"

The Shocking News

On February 11, 1879, 65-year-old Henry Sammis of Northport, Long Island, got a dispatch from Inspector Murray of the Brooklyn police to go to Brooklyn immediately. His daughter, 21-year-old Cora Sammis, a Sunday School teacher from Northport, Long Island, was deathly ill.

Grok AI illustration
Mr. Sammis, a coal and lumber dealer, boarded the next train with his wife. About halfway to New York, he got a copy of the morning paper. There he read that his daughter had already died from the results of a botched abortion.

"I was almost paralyzed with horror, and count not believe the story to be true," he told the New York Herald. Fearful of upsetting his wife, Mr. Sammis kept his composure. Pretending to be adjusting the window on the car, he let the newspaper fly.

Once they got to the home of Mr. Sammis's sister, he broke the news to his wife. Leaving her in the care of friends, he went to the police station and was given the address where his daughter had died: 161 East 27th Street. It was the elegantly appointed premises of "Mme. Bertha Burger, doctress and midwife."

"The old man's eyes were red with weeping" as he left the police station. He was escorted to the dingy, unventilated upstairs front room where Cora, "clad in a blue merino wrapper, lay on the bed on which she had died."

Cora had been a lovely girl, with "luxuriant dark brown hair." But when her father saw her body, "Her features had become so shrunken and emaciated that he hardly knew her. He stooped and kissed her forehead, and, controlling himself, arose and looked at her for a long time in silence.

The Police Have Questions

The police asked him about 27-year-old Frank Cosgrove. Mr. Sammis said that the family knew him well. He had been courting Cora for about two years, and the couple had become engaged and had planned to marry before the spring. Cosgrove, who worked in the shipping business, had seemed to have honorable intentions, and Cora had seemed to be of a chaste disposition. A resident of Newport said, "She was the last girl in the village that I could have suppose could be tempted."

However, in November of 1878, Cora had gone to Brooklyn to visit her aunt, and Cosgrove spent a lot of time in her company. Her parents believed that it was during this time that the liaison took place which had resulted in Cora's pregnancy.

Cora's body was taken to the coroner's office, where an autopsy was performed "which showed conclusively that death had resulted from malpractice."

Frank Pushes the Abortion

Cora's aunt, Mary D. Betts, testified that Cora and her "alleged seducer," Frank Cosgrove, had met at her house on February 4. The couple had left, saying that they were going to visit friends. Cora and Frank instead went to the home of 35-year-old Bertha Berger.

About two hours after they arrived at the house, Berger perpetrated the abortion. Cora was to convalesce there but instead grew increasingly ill. Cosgrove, who sat up with Cora every night, grew more and more worried. He found an ad for Dr. Whitehead, who advertised that he practiced midwifery. Frank went to him on February 10 and offered him $100 (around $2,600 in 2021) to take over Cora's care. Frank was open with Dr. Whitehead about why Cora was ill. Whitehead insisted that they stop at his attorney's practice first. The lawyer told Whitehead that he had a duty to attend to the young woman because her life was in danger.

Upon examining Cora, Whitehead found that she had a raging fever from a uterine infection. He declared that the case was hopeless. He provided what care he could to the young woman and promised to return the following day. Berger offered him $50 to provide a death certificate but on the advice of his attorney Whitehead refused, instead notifying the authorities.

Grok AI illustration
The following day, police went to Berger's house to question Cora, who was told that she was dying. With frequent rests and occasional sips of iced brandy she was able to give a deathbed statement, occasionally stopping "to lament her unhappy fate." As the detective bent close to hear her, Cora clasped him and asked him to pray for her and to "Spare my Frank." Her primary concern was that no harm would come to her fiancé.

Cora said that she and Frank had rented the room for the express purpose of having Berger perpetrate the abortion. When Berger was brought into the room Cora positively identified her as the abortionist.

In fact, the Berger house was an abortion house. All but one of the other occupants of the house were arrested along with Berger. Those arrested included Berger's 17-year-old married daughter, and two 18-year-old young women who had been briefly boarding at the house. Police also learned that a young woman named either Margaret or Mary Steele had undergone an abortion at the Berger house and had been moved to "a wretched hovel" where Mrs. Berger's mother, Mrs. Riesler, was supposed to be caring for her but evidently hadn't even been giving her food. 

Cora's Death

Cora was so sick that she was not troubled with a pointless transfer to a hospital. Instead, her aunt Mary was brought to her to stay with her. By then, around 9:00 p.m., Cora had slipped into unconsciousness. She died later that night.

When police searched the premises they found instruments consistent with an abortion practice.

Berger was held on $10,000 bond and Cosgrove on $5,000. He confessed shortly after his arrest, admitting to having both arranged and witnessed the fatal abortion. He was bailed out by his father and uncle. 

Berger and Cosgrove were granted separate trials. Berger's trial was a media circus played to crowds of gawking onlookers. Berger's attorney asserted that it had actually been Dr. Whitehead who had perpetrated the fatal abortion. He had, in fact, been convicted himself for abortion several times in the past, a point that Bertha Berger's attorney harped on extensively, calling him a convict, a coward, an "experienced malpractitioner," and "the prince of butchers." Cora's deathbed statement, along with the testimony of the other denizens of Mrs. Berger's abortion house, was sufficient. The jury retired at 5:00 p.m. to deliberate and returned at 11:10 with a verdict of guilty. They did, however, make a request for mercy in sentencing the woman. This last had been a concession to the two holdout jurors to get to an agreement. Berger's attorney immediately asked that sentencing be postponed until he could file motion for a new trial, and the judge agreed. Berger was eventually sentenced to 12 or 14 years -- sources aren't consistent. She then was granted the right to a new trial but instead just entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to five years in March of 1880.

After Berger's trial, Frank Cosgrove pleaded guilty as an accessory, which could potentially carry as severe a sentence as being the principle. His case sat in limbo, and Cosgrove in a prison cell, as his well-connected friends tried to get him released. In July of 1879 he finally ended up in Sing Sing, sentenced to four years. He requested time off for good behavior. His sentenced was reduced and he was released on time served in July of 1881.

Whitehead was sentenced to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine. 

Sources:

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