Saturday, June 27, 2026

1992: Teenage Girl Dies in Alabama

"Jean" is one of the teenagers memorialized in Life Dynamics' Blackmun Wall.

Citing the Alabama Department of Public Health's mortality statistics in 1992, all that Life Dynamics was able to learn was that Jean was in the 15-19 age range when she died that year. 

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June 27, 1929: Two Physicians Held

On June 24, 1929, 19-year-old homemaker Winifred Mary Garver of South Bend, Indiana, underwent an abortion at the Chicago office of Dr. Anna Schultz, aka Rollins. Schultz was assisted by Dr. James White. 


Winifred died on June 27 at Chicago's Woodlawn Hospital. Winifred was white; both her abortionist and the assistant were Black. 

On June 27, both physicians were held by the coroner. Schultz was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury on October 6, 1930 and released on $10,000 bond. White was released on $5,000 bond. I've been unable to determine the outcome of the case.

Source: "Two Physicians Held," Palladium Item, June 27, 1929
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Friday, June 26, 2026

1972–1978: Neurodivergent teen suicidal after one abortion kills self after second

19-year-old “Cathy” had been diagnosed with what the study reporting her death called a “sociopathic personality,” but before we can examine her death, it is important to understand what that actually meant.

During the 1970s, this diagnosis was used for what today’s medical professionals recognize as a wide variety of conditions and disorders. Many conditions that were poorly understood at the time also had a high chance of being misdiagnosed in this way. Cathy may have had any number of conditions, including but not limited to bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, head trauma or even misdiagnosed ADHD or autism. In the early 70s, some people were even diagnosed with sociopathic or psychopathic personality disturbances based on criteria that would not qualify for a mental illness by today’s standards. It should also be noted that the psyche of an older teenager is still developing in ways that make most (if not all) modern psychiatrists extremely reluctant to diagnose such a young patient as what would be colloquially called a “sociopath”.

Grok AI illustration
But whatever Cathy’s condition really was, one thing is known; she was in real distress and needed help. Her doctors theorized that her pregnancy was aggravating her existing mental health problems and had her undergo a D&E abortion (colloquially known as a dismemberment abortion for the brutal nature of the method) in a hospital at 14 weeks pregnant. This was an extremely dubious course of action, especially since Cathy had undergone one abortion previously and was now reportedly saying that she was going to kill herself. (This behavior was described in the journal as “suicidal threats” and did not appear to have been taken by those around her as the very real sign of distress that it was.)

The idea that an abortion would stabilize Cathy’s mental health proved to be horribly wrong. Abortion is not a recognized psychiatric treatment for any condition.

The abortion failed to stabilize Cathy, and appears to have pushed her already vulnerable state further into crisis. Instead of getting better, she deteriorated rapidly. Four days after the abortion, she used carbon monoxide to kill herself.

Given Cathy’s psychiatric health, it was reckless and negligent to put her through an abortion— and even more so with the claim that it would relieve her mental health problems. In her time of crisis, she needed real care, not abortion.

(Cathy is Case 18)

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June 26, 1942: Mortician Arranges Fatal Abortion

Summary: 18-year-old Inez McGraw died in Spartanburg, South Carolina after an abortion perpetrated by midwife Henrietta Henderson. Interestingly enough, the man who arranged the abortion was sentenced to more than double the sentence faced by the abortionist.

In the summer of 1942, Inez McGraw was an 18-year-old stenographer working at a mortuary in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. She was white, unmarried, and pregnant. 

On June 23, her employer, 51-year-old William E. Evans—a married father of three and proprietor of the mortuary—arranged for her to have an abortion. He had gotten the name of a willing midwife from another black man, John Nix and had arranged that he would pay $15 for her services.

That afternoon, one of Evans’s Black employees, Robert Lee Bobo, picked Inez up in a truck owned by Evans and drove her to the Greenville highway. There she transferred into Evans’s private car. They went to the home of Henrietta Henderson, a 43-year-old Black midwife who lived on the old Greenville highway near Travelers Rest Church, just outside Spartanburg.

Inez went into a room in Henderson’s house while Evans waited on a cot. 

Grok AI illustration
Henderson performed the abortion using an instrument she later described as resembling “a little spoon.” When the procedure was finished, Inez and Henderson returned to the room where Evans sat. Evans handed Inez a ten-dollar bill, which she passed to Henderson. Henderson accepted being shorted a third of the promised payment.

Two days later, on June 25, died at Spartanburg General Hospital. The cause was generalized gas gangrene, necrosis of the uterine wall, acute peritonitis, and septicemia. The physician who signed her death certificate noted the death as occurring “after miscarriage.”

Henrietta Henderson and William Evans were arrested separately on June 30. Both were initially held on $5,000 bond, but only Evans was able to post it. Later, Evans paid $30 to two bondsmen, J. L. Kimbrell and Ab Kimbrell, to help secure Henderson’s release from jail. Prosecutors would later argue Evans obtained the midwife's release because she would flee and be unable to testify against him.

The racial dynamics of the case drew significant attention; victim and the accused procurer were white; the abortionist and most of the key witnesses were black. The case also stood out for one striking fact: the man who arranged the fatal abortion received more than double the prison time given to the woman who performed it.

On the second and final day of the trial, which opened on July 27, 1942, Henderson changed her plea to guilty and turned state’s evidence against Evans. She testified that Evans had told her, “You don’t know me and I don’t know you… I want you to help me out… I want you to see after this girl for me… I done it.” 

Henderson described the procedure in detail and confirmed Evans’s presence and payment. Her husband, Jesse Henderson, testified that he had been in the yard during the abortion. Other witnesses, including a woman named Eva Dixon who had approached Evans on Inez’s behalf, added to the case against him.

Evans denied being the father of the child and denied arranging the abortion. He claimed he had spoken with Henderson after her arrest and told her he “wasn’t the man who came out there.” He said he helped get her out on bond because she had been pressured by police—allegedly threatened with a “sweatbox,” a gun, and a billy club—and he wanted to know what she planned to say in court. He also expected to present an alibi for the afternoon of June 23.

After brief deliberation—just 19 minutes—the jury returned a guilty verdict against Evans. Circuit Judge T. S. Sease sentenced him to 12 years in prison, telling him, “Your sins have overtaken you—12 years.” Henrietta Henderson, who had pleaded guilty, received a five-year sentence. 

Evans’s attorney announced an immediate appeal. Because his sentence exceeded ten years, any bond pending appeal would have to be set by the state supreme court. In a curious detail, the court’s written decision on Evans’s appeal referred to the victim as Inez Crawford rather than Inez McGraw. 

Sources:

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Thursday, June 25, 2026

June 25, 1911: Doctor Free to Kill Again

On June 25, 1911, 20-year-old Mrs. Anna Mueller died from a criminal abortion performed by Dr. George Lotz. Lotz was arrested July 5. He was indicted for felony murder.

Leslie Reagan, in her book "When Abortion Was a Crime," indicates that he was expelled from the Chicago Medical Society after admitting guilt in Anna's death, but there is no record that he served time for the crime. In fact, he was free and in Danville, Illinois in 1917, when he perpetrated a fatal attempted abortion on Matilda Tidrick.

Anna's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Watch "Another Doctor Free to Kill Again" on YouTube.

Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

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2008: Unnamed Texas Resident Dies From Legal Abortion

SayTheirNames indicates that a Texan they call "Orielle" died from a legal abortion in Texas in 2008.

She does not match any other deaths on this blog. Other Texas deaths are:

  • Irma Aleman Mungia, who died at 16 from sepsis in 1975
  • Louchrisser Jackson, who died after bizarre decisions made by Robert Gardner when she started to hemorrhage from an abortion in 1977
  • Vanessa Preston, who died under the care of high-profile abortionist Curtis Boyd in 1980
  • Sharyn Graham, who bled to death in 1982 when her abortionist chose a pitcher of margaritas over treating her internal bleeding
  • Mickey Apodaca, who was killed by convicted child murderer Raymond Showery while he was out on bail for the murder of a newborn abortion survivor
  • Dorothy Bryant, who died from multiple instances of negligence in 1986 at the hands of a man who enabled the potential sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl
  • Sheila Watley, who suffered cardiorespiratory arrest four minutes into an abortion at Concerned Women’s Center in 1987
  • Denise Montoya, who died under the care of "Texas Gosnell" Douglas Karpen in 1988
  • Junette Barnes, who discovered she was pregnant after a tubal ligation by Ted Shields and trusted him with a fatal abortion in 1988
  • Glenda Davis, who was gashed internally then sent to the hospital in a private car in 1989
  • Latachie Veal, who bled to death after an abortion in 1991
  • "Jasmine" and "Jeanette," who died in 1990 and 1992, respectively
  • Jammie Garcia, who died a lingering death in 1994
  • Maureen Espinoza, who died after a punctured uterus during an abortion in 1997
  • Virginia Wolfe, who died from hemorrhage in 1998
  • "Opal," who died in 2020
  • "Maggie," who died from some sort of "maternal indications" abortion in 2023
Other abortion deaths in 2008 are:
  • "Carmen," who died from massive infection triggered by abortion pills in an unknown state
  • Chloe Colts, who died in Detroit, Michigan after a perforated uterus
  • Sherika Mayo, who died after a risky outpatient abortion in Georgia
  • "Carrie", who died in Ohio from retained fetal tissue
  • Bonnie Hunt, who died after an abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Chicago
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Wednesday, June 24, 2026

June 24, 1974: Young Receptionist Dies After Safe and Legal Abortion

Grok AI illustration
James and Elaine Tyler Young filed suit against Reproductive Services, Inc. for the death of their 22-year-old daughter, Toni Lyn Young.

Toni Lyn, an Ohio native living in Austin, worked as a receptionist at an optical company. 

According to news coverage of the suit, Toni Lyn suffered a perforated uterus during an abortion performed there on June 11, 1974 and died two weeks later, at 4:15 am on June 24, in Brackenridge Hospital in Austin.

The location of the facility is given as 4810 San Pedro Avenue in San Antonio newspapers.

Her death certificate provides only the scantiest information, saying only that she died of "embolism of the Pulmonary Artery," that an autopsy was performed, and "held inquest over body of deceased 6-24-74 at 5 A.M." Thus there is virtually no way that any public health department  -- from local or county to the Federal level -- would have taken notice of this abortion-related death.

In addition to her parents, Toni Lyn left behind two sisters, a brother, and her grandparents.

There are only two articles available online regarding Toni Lyn's death so I'm unable to provide any further information. 

Sources:

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June 24, 1971: First Legal Abortion Death in Rockland County New York

A Dubious Honor

Mrs. Edith L. Clark, age 29, traveled from her home in Newark, New Jersey to the Sparkhill, New York office of Dr. Robert Livingston to avail herself of the new law, for a first-trimester abortion on June 24, 1971.

Shortly after she was given an injection of Innovar for anesthesia, Edith went into cardiac arrest, and attempts to revive her failed. She left behind three children.

Edith was the first woman to die in New York's Rockland County from a newly legalized abortion. The second, 18-year-old Pamela Modugno, died in May of 1972 after an abortion in one of the many freestanding abortion facilities that opened immediately after New York decided to permit outpatient abortion-on-demand up to 24 weeks.

A Legalized "Back-Alley Butcher"

Livingston was a criminal abortionist and a hardcore advocate of legalization. During the 1960s he performed 100s of criminal abortionists in his office overlooking the Englewood Cliffs police station in New Jersey. Less than a year after Edith's death, he openly performed two abortions at his New Jersey office with the support of the ACLU in order to challenge the state's abortion law, which he claimed was unconstitutional. 

Livingston had only opened his office in Sparkhill, he told reporters, in order to do abortions on "basically black indigents from the Newark area." It was set up in what was later described as "a converted jewelry store and hardware store."

Needless to say, he failed to mention that he had managed to kill a New Jersey woman less than a month after opening that office.

Livingston justified abortion with the rather unscientific excuse that since sperm are wriggling and alive when he sees them under a microscope, they are "just as alive as a fertilized egg" and therefore killing a human embryo or fetus is no different from letting sperm die. He said that what he removed from the uterus in performing an abortion to be "equivalent to a scab."

In his criminal practice he charged $400 for an abortion -- less than what he'd heard that other abortionists were charging -- so that he'd not be giving his patients a reason to coplain. 

It's also telling to note that none of the positive press Livingston got for wanting to abort the babies of "basically black indigents" thought Edith's death worth mentioning either. No deaths were ever connected to his criminal practice.

Moving Along

After Roe v. Wade made Livingston's New Jersey practice legal, he opened Metropolitan Medical Associates in the Englewood area, operating it until around 1980, when he moved to Florida. Dr. Steven Berkman later perpetrated a fatal abortion on "Jane Doe of Newark" there, but by that time Livingston was no longer associated with the facility.

Other Dubious Beneficiaries of New York's Law

In addition to Edith and Pamela these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

  • Pearl Schwier, July, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
  • Carmen Rodriguez, July, 1970, salt solution intended to kill the fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
  • Barbara Riley, July, 1970, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease
  • "Amanda" Roe, September, 1970, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus
  • Maria Ortega, October, 1970, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there
  • "Kimberly" Roe, December, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
  • "Amy" Roe, January, 1971, massive pulmonary embolism
  • "Andrea" Roe, January, 1971, overwhelming infection
  • "Sandra" Roe, April, 1971, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse
  • "Anita" Roe, May, 1971, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion
  • Margaret Smith, June 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
  • "Audrey" Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
  • "Vicki" Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
  • "April" Roe, August, 1971, injected with saline for outpatient abortion, went into shock and died
  • "Barbara" Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
  • "Tammy" Roe, October, 1971, massive post-abortion infection
  • Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
  • "Beth" Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
  • "Roseann" Roe, February, 1971, vomiting with seizures causing pneumonia after saline abortion
  • "Connie" Roe, March, 1972, cardiac arrest during abortion
  • "Julie" Roe, April, 1972, holes torn in her uterus and bowel
  • "Robin" Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
  • "Roxanne" Roe, May, 1972, given overdose of abortion sedatives

Watch A Dubious Honor on YouTube.

Sources: 

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June 24, 1882: Incest and Abortion in Michigan

On June 10, 1882, a wealthy 62-year-old farmer named James T. Phillips brought his daughter, 20-year-old Ruth Phillips, from their home to another farm near DeSoto, Wisconsin, where his two older daughters lived.

Ruth took violently ill. On June 13, she delivered stillborn twins. 

Grok AI illustration
A few days later she made a shocking deathbed statement to her sisters: she said that their father was the father of the twins, and that he had used instruments on her to cause the abortion that killed the twins and was soon to take her own life.

Ruth died on June 24, and was buried on the 26th. 

"After the death and burial," says the July 26, 1882 Vernon County Censor, "suspicion of foul play having been around in the neighborhood, Phillips was arrested, the body disinterred, and a post mortem examination had by Dr. Gott."

The autopsy showed that Ruth had died from uterine inflammation, though there were no marks of instrumentation that the doctor could find.

Phillips. a native of Wales, was arrested and jailed pending $1,400 bail (a little over $11,000 in 2022).  "There is much excitement in the community where Phillips lives, and open threats of lynching in case he secures bail."

"The crimes is the most terrible one that can be conceived, and if Phillips is proven guilty, no punishment that the law provides for such offenses can prove adequate."

Phillips had been tried fifteen years earlier for committing incest against another of his daughters, but was acquitted in that case.

Lynching turned out to be unnecessary. Phillips hanged himself in his jail cell on August 5, 1882. This leads me to believe that the abortion had really taken place, since a mere incest case hadn't been enough to lead him to suicide 15 years or so earlier.

Watch "Jailhouse Suicide" on YouTube.

Sources:

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026

1973-1978: Alleged Pathological Analysis Comes Too Late

“Evelyn” was 31 years old when she underwent a “safe and legal” suction curettage abortion at an American abortion facility. She had no idea of the negligence that was about to take her life.

Evelyn was estimated to have been only ten weeks pregnant even though her own account of her last menstrual period put her in the second trimester. The inconsistency of the size of her uterus with her own report was apparently not enough motivation for the abortion facility to give her a competent pre-op examination. Had they done this, it should have been easy to diagnose her ectopic pregnancy.

Immediately after the abortion, it also should have been possible to examine the remains and quickly tell even with the naked eye that there were no fetal body parts. The presumptive “remains”were also allegedly sent to an outside pathologist for analysis, but any attempts at warning Evelyn (if any were even made) came too late. She was dead one day later, even though by all means her ectopic pregnancy should have already been diagnosed.

Evelyn had already had one prior abortion, which may have contributed to her last pregnancy being ectopic. Many studies show that abortion increases future risk for ectopic pregnancy, and one even found that approximately half of ectopic pregnancies in the studied area may have been attributable to previous abortions. Women with undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies who undergo abortions are also more likely to die than those who don’t, which is due to persistent negligence in the abortion industry like Evelyn suffered.

The study that recorded Evelyn’s death noted that examining what had been removed after the abortion should have provided an opportunity to warn Evelyn before she even left the facility.

Fatal Ectopic Pregnancy After Legally Induced Abortion, JAMA October 10, 1989

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June 23, 1899: Widow Dies After Doctor Does Abortion

Cora A. Burke, age 20, lived with her mother and 4-year-old son and her parents in Idaho. She'd been widowed about five months and had recently become engaged to marry.

Dr. R. J. Alcorn

In May of 1899, Cora told Mrs. Martha Johnson that she was about six weeks pregnant and wanted to find a good doctor to perform an abortion. Mrs. Johnson introduced Cora to Dr. Robert J. "R. J." Alcorn who had been practicing medicine in Kootenai County, Idaho, for a short time. Dr. Alcorn was living in the boarding house Mrs. Johnson operated with Mr. E.J. Abbey.

Cora went to Dr. Alcorn's room about two days after they were introduced. Mr. Abbey listened from an adjoining room, and heard Cora say that the instrument Dr. Alcorn was using was hurting her.

On the night of Tuesday, June 21, Dr. Alcorn asked Mr. T.J. Rundell to help him carry a table into his office, which was at the back of a drug store in the town of Harrison. Rundell's curiosity was piqued, and he asked Alcorn if he was going to "dissect a stiff." Alcorn told him no, he was going to perform an operation on somebody from across the river.

Rundell decided to snoop, so he returned at 10:00 PM and saw Cora go through the drug store into Alcorn's office. Rundell then slipped around to the back of the building, where he could peer into Alcorn's office around an ill-hung window blind. The following is what Rundell says he observed.

Alcorn stood beside the chair where Cora was sitting, supporting her head with one hand. He had a small vial containing a dark liquid, and was holding a cloth to Cora's face. Cora seemed to fall into a deep sleep, whereupon Alcorn picked her up and lay her on the table.

Alcorn removed Cora's undergarments and positioned her for the surgery. He examined her internally, inserted a speculum, then inserted a probe about a foot long into her body, causing a flow of blood which he blotted up with a cloth. From time to time, Alcorn applied the cloth to Cora's face again. The entire procedure took about an hour and a half.

Cora was awakened, and Alcorn helped her to set her clothing to rights and sent her on her way.

At about 4 PM the next day, Alcorn was called to tend to Cora, who was in a lot of pain. He examined her and found her uterus to be inflamed and bleeding. He prescribed ergot, to be given one-half teaspoon each half-hour for three doses, then every hour afterward for 18 hours. Cora's mother asked Alcorn about her daughter's condition. Alcorn told her, "She caught a bad cold. She does not flow enough when she has her monthlies. I will give her something to make her flow."

At about 6:00 PM on the 21st, William Ketchum called Alcorn to visit Mrs. Ketchum, but Alcorn told him, "Well, I don't know. I am expecting a miscarriage here any minute. I can go over there, and come back, if it does not make any difference to them." So he went to Ketchum's home to attend to his wife.

Over the ensuing days, Alcorn visited Cora five times, the last time about two hours before she died on Friday afternoon, June 23. Her feet and hands were cold, her fingers blue, her lips purple. Alcorn told Cora's mother that she was doing well and would be up soon. Alcorn immediately took a train to Washington state, returning about 10:00 on the following Sunday morning. The next day he again left the state, this time going to Montana, where he was arrested and returned to Kootenai county.

While Cora had been ill, she passed a lot of blood and clots. Mrs. Knight, who visited Cora during her illness, testified, "I helped dress her after she was dead. Her clothing and bedclothing were saturated with blood. A quilt was doubled up under her four thicknesses, and it was clear through the quilt. It was clots of blood. I observed an odor in connection with it. There was too great a quantity to have come from the ordinary menstruation. Much greater in quantity."

Kootenai County Sherriff F. H. Bradbury testified about the conversation he'd had with Alcorn on the train bringing him back to face justice. "He told me that he never had anything to do with this girl, Cora Burke; that he began in the daytime an operation on a man for stricture, and did not complete it; and that he took him in the back room of the drug store and completed the operation in the evening. He gave me this statement after I had warned him not to make any statement to me."

Alcorn testified on is own behalf, saying that Cora had attempted to do an abortion on herself with "a hair dart," which had punctured the wall of her uterus and broken off, leaving about 1 1/2 inches. Alcorn said that he'd used a speculum and piston syringe to remove the foreign body from Cora's uterus.

The physicians called as expert witnesses on the case all agreed that Cora died of septicemia or blood poisoning. They also agreed that ergot itself would be enough to cause an abortion.

Alcorn's defense also raised the possibility that Cora hadn't actually been pregnant, but the court concluded that Cora had believed herself to be pregnant, had sought an abortion, and had undergone a procedure intended to cause an abortion, which was enough to demonstrate the intent of the defendant to kill a fetus, especially in the light of Alcorn's statement that he was expecting a patient to miscarry.

Alcorn was charged with murder. His first trial ended with a hung jury. The second jury found him guilty of manslaughter. The judge sentenced Alcorn to seven years in the penitentiary. Alcorn appealed, partially on the grounds that since the indictment did not specifically say that the abortion took place in 1899, the injury was not proven to have taken place less than a year and a day prior to the death.

Watch "Shouldn't 'All Surgery Have Risks' Apply?" at YouTube.

Sources: 

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Monday, June 22, 2026

June 22, 2005: Three Abortion Attempts, One Dead Woman, No Autopsy

“Tara Roe” was a 32-year-old Black woman who died, along with her unborn baby, after three consecutive abortion attempts. 

Tara initially went to an abortion facility for a surgical abortion. However, this attempt failed because of a fibroid that blocked attempts to insert tools into her endocervical canal.

The abortionist administered mifepristone for a chemical abortion on May 21 and sent her home with instructions to take 600 mg of misoprostol on May 24. However, Tara reported that the pill fell out of her vagina. (Note that mifepristone suppresses the immune system of the female reproductive tract and that the FDA had never approved use of the drug as a vaginal suppository. Administering the drug vaginally can trigger sudden-onset fatal toxic shock syndrome.) An ultrasound showed that she was still pregnant.

A third abortion was attempted, this one surgical. The abortionist managed to carry out the abortion despite the fibroid, but Tara suffered severe bleeding as a result. (It is likely that surgical instruments were forced past the obstruction and caused damage.) The bleeding reportedly stopped spontaneously and Tara was discharged despite having low hematocrit from all the blood loss.

Tara later went to the emergency room. It was reported that she “apparently looked OK” but had a white blood cell count of over 14,000, abdominal pain, subjective fever and low hematocrit. She was admitted to the ward.

Grok AI illustration
24 hours later, Tara suffered decompensation, hypotension and shortness of breath. She was transferred emergently to the ICU and had to be intubated. Workup for a pulmonary embolism started, but her condition became so bad that she was brought to the OR for a hysterectomy.

Unfortunately, Tara was so sick that even hospitalization in the ICU, intubation and hysterectomy were not enough to save her. She died on the operating table at 11:20 P.M. on June 22, 2005.

Tara’s family decided not to have an autopsy performed. Pathology findings from her uterus, however, shed light on her condition. The uterus showed necrotic breakdown and endometrial inflammation. The endometrium contained serosanguinous pus. Cultures from the uterine cavity grew Peptostreptococcus. The fibroid that had blocked the first abortion attempts was now degenerated and full of thick, foul-smelling green pus. Cultures of the fibroid grew Prevotella. The CDC listed the cause of her death as “delayed onset toxic-shock like syndrome.”

While the medical professional who submitted a report of Tara’s death to MedWatch did not believe that mifepristone or misoprostol were the cause of her illness, they noted her surgical abortions. It is possible that when the instruments were forced past the fibroid and triggered the bleeding, the injury became badly infected. The CDC included Tara’s death on their list of maternal deaths after mifepristone/misoprostol abortion.

MedWatch report document (identifying information redacted, all else included)

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June 22, 1928: Doctor Implicated in Woman's Death

An inquest into the death of 21-year-old Rose Hanover of West Washington, Boulevard, Chicago, led to a recommendation to arrest Dr. Lester L. Ofner, of West Madison Street, on a charge of murder by abortion. The coroner's jury concluded that Ofner perpetrated the abortion on June 11, 1928. Rose died of peritonitis at University Hospital on June 22.

Rose's "sweetheart," Edwin Block, had identified Ofner as the abortionist. Block was held by police but released.

Source:

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June 22, 1996: Administered Med After Allergy Warning Kills Mom

SUMMARY: Kelly Morse, age 32, died on June 22, 1996 after being given drugs she was allergic to by Dr. Delhi Thweat at Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in Harrisburg, PA.

Prolifers pray outside Hillcrest prior to its demolition

Thirty-two-year-old Kelly Morse of Derby, Vermont traveled with her husband, Scott, to Hillcrest Women's Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for an abortion on June 19, 1996. Dr. Delhi Elmore Thweatt, Jr., performed the abortion.

Five days earlier, Kelly had come to Hillcrest and had been evaluated by Dr. Earl McLeod, who had diagnosed her as 8 weeks pregnant. 

Because the waiting room of the clinic was so crowded, Kelly's husband waited for her outside.

Predictable Results

Kelly had notified Hillcrest staff that she had asthma and was allergic to the "caine" medications, including Lidocaine prior to being taken back to the procedure room, where Dr. Delhi Thweatt entered to start the abortion at 11:08 am. Thewatt administered 12 cc's of 1 percent Lidocaine to Kelly two minutes later in spite of her allergy.

Delhi Thweatt
Kelly immediately had trouble breathing. Rather than stop what he was doing and addressing his patient's respiratory distress, Thweatt rushed through, completing the abortion at 11:14. 

Thweatt left Kelly in the care of licensed practical nurse, who got Kelly's inhaler from her purse and helped her to use it. After several puffs Kelly reported that it was not helping. She became very agitated because of her difficulty in drawing breath.

Staff summoned Thweatt, who found his patient short of breath and turning blue from lack of oxygen.

The suit filed by Scott noted, "As Mrs. Morse's dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and cyanosis [turning blue due to lack of oxygen] continued to worsen, Defendant Thweatt improperly administered Epinephrine subcutaneously instead of intravenously...." This measure would do nothing to assist a patient in Kelly's condition.

"No one started an IV. No respiration rate was recorded, no pulse was checked and no blood pressure was measured. No EKG was applied. No cardiac monitoring was conducted. No pulse oximeter was applied. No intubation or emergency tracheotomy was performed. No oxygen was administered. Kelly continued to agitate in fear, desperately gasping for air, and remained blue in color. Defendant Thweatt just stood there with a stethoscope in hand and listened to Kelly's breathing and wheezing progressively worsen."

"As Plaintiff choked and gasped for air, none of the Defendants, took steps to immediately dispatch an ambulance. In fact, the ambulance was not summoned until 11:24 a.m., or 10 minutes after Plaintiff violently choked, gasped, wheezed, and discolored to a blue-black appearance from respiratory arrest and hypoxia."

Paramedics arrived within five minutes of the call, just as a staff member was running outside to summon Scott.

Scott reported that he went in with the ambulance crew to find his wife, naked and blue-black from lack of oxygen, lying on a table that was halfway out of the examination room into the hallway.

The paramedics put a breathing tube into Kelly, properly administered medications, and performed CPR as they transported Kelly to nearby Polyclinic Medical Center, where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

Her condition continued to deteriorate, and she was pronounced dead on June 22.

Aftermath

Court documents in the case indicate that Hillcrest advertised Thweatt as being a Board-certified ob/gyn, yet "Defendant Thweatt failed the Ob/Gyn Board certification examination not once, not twice, but on three consecutive attempts...Defendant Thweatt failed his Board certification exam even after a fourth attempt, following his deposition of July 27, 1997."

On April 20, 1999, Thweatt and Hillcrest settled out of court with Kelly's husband. Her two children, a boy and a girl, were left motherless.

The Pennsylvania Medical Board and Maryland Medical Board show no disciplinary actions against Thweatt, who lives in Maryland.

Sources:

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Sunday, June 21, 2026

June 21, 1983: Another Young Black Woman Dead In New York

All we know about “Vanna” is that she was a 26-year-old single Black woman from Queens, New York who underwent a legal abortion and died on June 21, 1983. The little data available came from the New York State Department Of Health’s Bureau of Biometrics.

A researcher for Life Dynamics archived the data after it was run in 1995 and gave the unidentified woman a pseudonym to avoid dehumanizing her as a number. At the time, the information they were able to obtain consisted of Vanna’s race, year of death, location and that she was between 25 and 29 years old.

Kevin Sherlock, author and researcher of The Scarlet Survey, also separately obtained data from the New York Department of Health on maternal deaths. In 2024, a researcher with ADR cross-referenced his findings with the previously archived NY Health Department data, confirming Vanna’s case and providing more specific information about her. But her real identity and the full scope of what she may have endured before her death is still unknown.

New York State Department Of Health’s Bureau of Biometrics (Abortion Related Deaths, Resident Data for 1983)

The Scarlet Survey, Kevin Sherlock

Blackmun Wall

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