Monday, July 27, 2026

July 27, 1920: Doctor Never Brought to Trial

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on July 27, 1920, 38-year-old homemaker Adelaide Fowler died at her Chicago home after a criminal abortion. Dr. Barney Welty was arrested, and indicted by a Grand Jury on August 1 but, for reasons I have been unable to determine, the case never went to trial.

According to census records, Adelaide and her husband, Arthur, had four children: daughters ages 16 and 14, and sons ages 10 and 3.

Watch Abortion Death from The Homicide in Chicago Database on YouTube.

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Sunday, July 26, 2026

July 26, 1877: Doctor Flees as Woman Dies

On July 25, 1877, Mrs. Augusta Boschen left her home on Curtis Street in Chicago, telling her husband, John, that she was going to the drug store.

Instead, she went to the home and practice of Dr. Muleck at 224 Fulton Street. 

At some point John, who worked as a cooper, learned that she had gone to Muleck's practice to procure an abortion. At around 4:00 on the morning of July 26 he went to Muleck's house.

Muleck was nowhere to be found, so John forced his way in and found his wife dead in a bed. He summoned the police.

Augusta's cause of death was indeed an abortion, as determined by the coroner.

Dr. Muleck had fled to avoid arrest. He had left a letter for his wife saying that he had not performed the abortion, but had just provided Augusta with the instruments, "she being so bashful and modest as not to allow him to do the work." He said that when Augusta went into convulsions, he'd concluded that she was going to die and skipped town. 

"The scoundrel of a doctor has not yet been caught, and hence the evidence was meagre," noted the August 4, 1877 Chicago Tribune. I've been unable to find any further information.

Watch Doc Skips Town as Patient Dies on YouTube.

Sources: 

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July 26, 1884: Packed in Ice and Sent Home

Big Words

Dr. Ira T. Richmond was a grandiose man. Born in New York City on March 7, 1838, he claimed to have graduated from the New York Medical College at the age of just 18. He was, however, unable to name any of the professors under which he had studied medicine.  But what did that matter? If you believed Richmond, he could cure smallpox in six hours, dropsy in one day, and cure a variety of other ailments in times ranging from a mere two minutes to about 12 hours. 

He also claimed to be extremely wealthy, saying that he did not consider his practice to be prospering unless it was bringing in $400 to $600 per day (c. $12,000 - $18,000 in 2023). He told people that after his first wife had died he had spent six years travelling through Canada and the US as a way of coping with his grief, carrying $40,000 to $50,000 with him ($1.25 million - $1.5 million in 2023) and staying in the best hotels. He also told his landlady, a widow named Carrie Lerch, that he had six children living in New York, each of whom he had gifted $15,000 (nearly half a million in 2023) to start them out in life.

He didn't do so well for himself when he moved to Lockport, New York, in 1883 at the age of 45. He set up a sanitarium which, as one newspaper put it, the place "died for want of patronage." This might be due to the fact that, as the Chicago Inter Ocean reported on July 30, 1884, Richmond "had a dubious character among physicians." 

Then he beguiled a young widow named Sarah Platts. The two married and lived at the sanitarium at the corner of High and Cottage. Evidently he took Sarah for her money before dumping her and moving on to other women he could milk for ready cash, marrying them if necessary without benefit of divorcing previous wives.

His character was indeed extremely dubious in many ways.

Lizzie

Some time in the summer of 1884, Lizzie Cook, a 25-year-old domestic servant, confided in her sister that she was pregnant. Either the sister or the sister's husband, William Bowen, took Lizzie to Richmond's practice, where she was examined. Richmond diagnosed her with dropsy and blood poisoning. Two days later, she was put to bed at her sister's house at about 11:00 at night, and remained there sick for nearly three weeks. Richmond attended to her on a daily basis, sometimes visiting more than once a day, during that time. She died suddenly on the afternoon of Saturday, July 26, 1884.

By that evening, her body had already been packed in ice and taken to her parents' home. She was buried on Monday morning after a large funeral. "The secrecy in getting her body removed to her home created suspicion," so her body was exhumed that afternoon for an autopsy.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Lizzie had died from abortion injuries. The coroner's jury summarized:

"That Lizzie Cook died at the residence of Wm. H. Bowen, of this city, between the hours of 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon of July 26, 1884, and that she came to her death from an abortion produced upon her, and from other causes unknown to the jury, and that the abortion was performed with the full knowledge of Mrs. Bowen, sister of the deceased."

Arrest and Trial

Richmond was charged with murder, a circumstance he dealt with calmly. Lizzie's sister, on the other hand, was held as an accomplice and collapsed in tears. "She was attended in court by her husband and father, and the parting between them as she was led away was very affecting."

Lizzie's sister was released on bail on August 18.

Richmond pleaded not guilty, insisting that Lizzie had not been pregnant when she died and had died of dropsy and blood poisoning. "The evidence is strong against him, however," said the July 30, 1884 Cincinnati Enquirer. Sentiment against Richmond was so strong there fears that he would be lynched.

During the trial, according to the September 5, 1884 St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, "a well-dressed and modest appearing lady, named Mrs. Butler, and her daughter, the former aged about 50 and the latter 20years old," testified before the Grand Jury before returning to their home in Smith Falls, Ontario. Mrs. Butler testified that she was Richmond's wife, and that his name was Ira Richmond Butler. He had deserted her in Canada about ten years earlier, "and even then was engaged in reprehensible practices."

So evidently he had been an abortionist in Canada as well.

Conviction and Sentence

Richmond was convicted of first degree manslaughter on October 21, 1884. The jury recommended mercy. After requesting and being denied a new trial, Richmond/Butler was sentenced to six years of hard labor at Auburn Prison.

According to New York prison records, Richmond aka Butler entered prison on November 14, 1884 to serve a 6-year sentence. He earned a commutation of 22 months and was released on January 14, 1889, having served 4 years and 2 months.

Epilogue

Ira Richmond Butler won himself a profile in the November 17, 1891 Buffalo Morning Express after his arrest in Buffalo for counterfeiting. "The police here understand that in Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown and other cities he pursued the same means of livelihood as here, namely, criminal malpractice [abortion] and working the pocket-books of susceptible women whom he fascinated by his agreeable manners and unctuous professions of exalted piety."

Richmond -- rather, Butler -- reportedly was a pious church-goer on Sundays and an abortionist on other days in his dubious sanitariums. That is, when he wasn't committing bigamy, marrying women to bilk them of their money.

As the Inter-Ocean said, he was a dubious character.

Sources:

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Saturday, July 25, 2026

July 25, 1980: The Scarlet Survey sheds light on statistic

“Rhoda” has a memorial on the Blackmun Wall stating the information given by the New York State Department Of Health, Bureau of Biometrics.

Kevin Sherlock’s work in The Scarlet Survey later found a match and gave more specific information. Rhoda was 36, single and lived in Queens, NYC. She died on July 25, 1980.

The Scarlet Survey by Kevin Sherlock, Page 204

Blackmun Wall

New York State Department Of Health, Bureau of Biometrics, Data run on July 19, 1995, Abortion Related Deaths, Resident Data

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July 25, 1928: Doctor Sent to Joliette

Tillie Hartel, aged 19, lived with her parents in La Salle, Illinois and worked as a stenographer at the downtown Hoefferie clothing store. 

On July 2, 1928, she told her parents that she was leaving for Springfield to vacation for a week. This struck her father, Michael Hartel, as odd, since they had no relatives in the state capital and Tillie had never gone there before. She didn't write home at all during her absence. 

Dr. Joseph P. Moran

What Tillie's parents hadn't known was that she hadn't left La Salle. Instead, she had gone to the home 45-year-old nurse named Mae Bowers shared with her husband, Herman, to undergo an abortion at the hands of 32-year-old Dr. Joseph P. Moran. Tillie's brother, 19-year-old taxi driver Edward Hartel, found out where his sister was when he encountered Mrs. Bowers on the street. He later said that Mrs. Bowers had told him that his sister "is a bad little girl and is ailing with a disease." 

Their sister Julia had also known that Tillie was at Mrs. Bowers'.  Edward said he visited Tillie but didn't discuss her illness with her. "I thought it was best to leave her alone and avoid a lot of worry on her part." He also thought that the situation was "funny" and that it was best not to tell their parents to avoid worrying them.

Tillie arrived home around July 9. A few days later she took ill. Her father said that all he knew of the nature of her illness was what his wife told him -- that Tillie frequently had pains in her side which her were relieved with hot water bottles. 

Tillie's health took a turn for the worse around July 21 or 22, and Dr. Moran began coming to the house to tend to her. Mr. Hartel had no idea who had sent for Moran, nor did he know who the woman was Moran sent to attend to Tillie. He would later learn that it had been Edward, at the behest of Julia.

Tillie died at about 6:40 on the morning of July 25 after having ailed for about 14 days. Dr. Moran completed a death certificate attributing her death to acute bronchitis and the distraught family lay her to rest at Saint Vincent Cemetery in La Salle.

About three weeks later Coroner Dr. L. D. Howe received an anonymous letter saying that Tillie had actually died from a criminal abortion. He got a court order to have her body exhumed. Dr. W.D. McNally and Dr. George B. Springer of Cook County Coroner's office did autopsy in morgue of La Salle undertaking establishment and confirmed that abortion had indeed been the cause of death.

Because at the time it was considered first degree murder if a woman died during the commission of an abortion, Moran, Mrs. Bowers, and a midwife named Vera Kubra were indicted on murder charges. I have been unable to determine the outcome of the charges against Kubra, but the nurse and doctor were held without bail while awaiting trial.

Mrs. Bowers and Moran signed confessions pleading guilty to abortion in order to get the murder charges dismissed. Each was sentenced to Joliet for 1 - 10 years. 

According to the Streator, Illinois Daily Times-Press, "Mrs. Bowers freely admitted having assisted Dr. Moran in the performance of at least 75 operations in her luxurious furnished apartment in LaSalle. She also expressed the belief that the physician was a dope addict, and professed having seen him take both tablets and hypodermic injections while in her presence." Mrs. Bowers also indicated that she assisted Moran with abortions perpetrated at Moran's office in the Penney building in LaSalle.

Bowers said that Tillie's aborted baby was burned in her stove.

Moran made a good impression in prison, got out on good behavior, and went right back to committing abortions. He was sent back to Joliet to complete his sentence and when released the second time took up a life immersed in the criminal underworld. He vanished and was presumed killed in a mob hit.

Watch "The Abortionist Who Became a Mob Doc" on YouTube.

Sources:

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July 25, 1930: Why Was Dr. Psota Acquitted?

On July 16, 1930, homemaker Evelyn Dellorto, age 20, underwent an illegal abortion believed to have been performed at the office of Dr. Frank Psota. Evelyn died at Auburn Park Hospital in Chicago on July 25, leaving behind her husband, James, and their infant daughter. 

On August 1, Psota was booked for murder by abortion even though the coroner's verdict was "undetermined." Psota was indicted, and held on $10,000 bond by Judge Lyle. 

On December 10, he was acquitted of the murder charge for reasons I've been unable to determine. 

Watch Why Was Dr. Psota Acquitted? on YouTube.

Sources:

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July 25, 1911: An Unknown Chicago Perpetrator

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, Katherine Collins, 23 years old, died on July 25, 1911 at Chicago's Lake Side Hospital from an abortion committed by an unidentified perpetrator. There were so many physicians and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time that it is likely she availed herself of one of them.

Watch An Unknown Perp in Chicago on YouTube.

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Friday, July 24, 2026

July 24, 1931: Hotel Fire Uncovers Fatal Abortion

Carolina Hotel

On July 16, 1931, B. Marby Hart, a wealthy businessman staying at the Carolina Hotel in Raleigh, North Carolina, had a get-together of some sort in his room involving a number of young women. After his companions left in the early morning hours of the 17th, Hart evidently collapsed into his bed with a lit cigarette. When he awoke to find the bed on fire, he stumbled through the smoke into the bathroom rather than into the hallway. He fell into the bathtub, striking his head. After firefighters extinguished the flames, they found him dead of smoke inhalation.

One of the people evacuated from the hotel during the fire was 20-year-old Celia Olga Roberts of Creedmoor, North Carolina.

Brantwood Hospital

What happened to Celia over the next few days is unclear. She would most likely have been transported to a hospital near the hotel. By July 23, she was in Brantwood Hospital in Oxford under the care of Dr. W. N. Thomas. 

Celia's illness had nothing to do with the fire. She was dying of septicemia from a botched abortion. Dr. Thomas testified that Celia told him "a woman in Raleigh" had perpetrated the abortion. 

She died on July 24, leaving behind a widowed mother.

What Celia said on her deathbed and the investigation that followed are not revealed in any news coverage I've found of the case. The investigation must have been less than straightforward, because it took three months before the identified abortionist was arrested: Mrs. Sophie E. Layton, a homemaker who lived at 706 Sasser Street in Raleigh with her husband, John, a mechanic.

A Justice of the Peace, I. E. Harris, was arrested "on charges of advising and procuring the operation." He turned state's evidence and identified Layton as the abortionist. Harris's statements corroborated what Celia had said on her deathbed -- that Harris had arranged the abortions and taken her to the hotel, but that he was not the father of her baby. He confessed to paying Layton $14 for the fatal abortion after meeting with her to make the arrangements on July 11. He said that he had done so out of sympathy for Celia's plight.

Eugene Mangum, age 21, also of Granville County, identified Layton as the person who went into Celia's room the night the abortion reportedly had taken place. He also testified that he had visited Celia several times in that room while she was staying at the hotel. Mangum evidently also knew the purpose of the hotel stay because Harris, he said, told him that he'd found a woman in Raleigh to "do the work."

Layton's defense was that she had never seen Celia nor had she ever been at the Carolina Hotel. She brought forth witnesses who said that they were with her on the days the abortion had allegedly been arranged and perpetrated.

Layton was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. The jurors deliberated for five hours before finding her guilty and recommending mercy in sentencing. Layton appealed but her conviction was upheld.

She didn't stay incarcerated long. She was paroled in December of 1934 after serving roughly two years of her sentence.

Watch "Celia's Fatal Journey" on YouTube.

Sources:

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July 24, 1929: A Doctor in Chicago

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on July 16, 1929, 75-year-old Dr. Sven Windrow reportedly performed an abortion on 19-year-old Emmy Anderson at a Chicago location. 

Emmy died on July 24. Dr. Windrow was held by the coroner on July 25. Jacque Lagrave, age 67, was held as an accessory. Windrow was indicted February 6, 1930 for felony murder. 

Emmy, a native of Colic, Sweden, worked as a maid. Her abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Windrow had previously been implicated in the 1920 abortion death of Ruth Burns.

Watch A Doctor in Chicago on YouTube.

Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

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Thursday, July 23, 2026

July 23, 1965: Socialite's Abortion Later Declared Retroactively Legal

 Killed by Choice tells the story of 24-year-old Sara Mongague Carr, whose fatal abortion under the care of 50-year-old Dr. Jesse Williams Jr. was retroactively declared legal after Roe vs. Wade struck down the state's law. She is described in the newspapers as a tall, attractive blue-eyed blond, but I've been unable to find a photograph.

News of the time focused on the racial angle that Sara, a white socialite from Long Island, went to a black doctor for her abortion. Williams, however, lived with his wife at 382 Central Park West. Sara did not seek out a doctor in the slums. 

Sara was from a wealthy family. Her mother and stepfather, John McMaster, lived in Sharon, Connecticut and kept a second home at 470 Park Avenue in New York. Sara and her close friend, 22-year-old Martha Pietrewicz, spent their summers living in a small cottage on the beach at Wainscott. Sara lived the rest of the year with another friend, Sandra White, in an apartment at 340 E. 80th Street and sometimes made extended visits at her mother's Park Avenue apartment.

Sarah was a graduate of Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, a posh academy also attended by Jacqueline Bouvier before her marriage to John F. Kennedy, and in which the Kennedys had enrolled their daughter, Caroline. Other alumni include Gloria Vanderbilt, Princess Anastasia of Greece, and Denmark, and Gene Tierney.

Sara was 9 weeks pregnant on Tuesday, July 20, 1965 when when she went to Williams at his New York City practice, 104 Lenox Avenue. She requested an abortion, and Williams quoted her a price of $500. Sara dickered the price down to $450 and made an appointment to return on the evening of Thursday, July 22.

When she came back for the appointment, she had a male companion with her. Williams sent the man away. Sara spent the night in a small hospital-like room that Williams had for his surgical practice.

Williams expertly performed the abortion the next morning, assisted by his nurse-anesthetist, 35-year-old divorcee Dolores Douglas, who lived at 32 W. 141st Street. Sara went into convulsions and died at around 11:30 that morning. 

He must have pondered his predicament for a long time about what to do with the dead woman in his office, because he didn't notify officials about the death until shortly after midnight on Saturday. He was arrested at his home later that day. 

Sara's father was identified at the morgue by her stepfather.

Williams, a native of French Lick, Indiana, had already been awaiting trial on indictments for non-fatal abortion. Both he and Douglas had been arrested on February 4, 1964 on an abortion charge, and were arrested twice more for abortions while out on bail. The July 26, 1965 Daily News notes that William's attorney, Nichola Atlas, said that his client would also be facing trial in the fall for another abortion homicide. At the time of his trial in Sara's death he was free on $7,000 bail for his other abortion charges.

At autopsy, the medical examiner could find no fault with Williams's technique, but did fault him for the failure to call an ambulance or to report Sara's death for several hours.

Williams was tried twice for Sara's death. The first trial ended on May 20, 1966 because of a hung jury.

In the second trial, Martha testified that she was the one who had made the original call to Dr. Williams. Twenty-nine-year-old Richard Danzig testified that he had driven Sara to Williams's Lennox Avenue office. A woman named Pricilla Hypps testified that she had gotten Williams's phone number from an unidentified man.

William's defense was that Sara had already been in critical condition when she arrived and he had treated her for convulsions that night. He asserted that she had died in his office without having had an abortion perpetrated there.

Williams was convicted of first-degree manslaughter on October 24, 1966. He faced a possible prison term of 20 years, but was given a sentence of 5 to 10 years. His efforts to get the conviction overturned failed until Roe was handed down and his attorneys successfully argued that the decision should be applied retroactively.

The state had not pursued any other charges related to the abortion, such as criminal negligence for the delay in getting care for his patient, so Williams was freed. 

Sources:

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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

July 22, 2025: 18-year-old dead from abortion pills

Grok AI illustration
“Fawn” obtained the abortion pill regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol at an undesignated facility -- perhaps even by mail. 

The first does -- 200 mg mifepristone -- was given orally. The second dose -- 800 ug misoprostol -- was administered vaginally even though for well over a decade it has been known that administering the drug vaginally can trigger rapid-onset fatal toxic shock syndrome.

She had to have a D&C, likely meaning the abortion was incomplete. Despite surgery and other treatment in an attempt to save her, she developed clostridium infection, septic shock, and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. She died on June 22, 2025. 

An anonymous healthcare professional reported her death to the FDA with mifepristone and misoprostol listed as the suspect products.

Other women who died in the US from complications of abortion pills include Holly Patterson, Chanelle Bryant, Oriane Shevin, Hoa Thuy “Vivian” Tran, Brenda Vise, Amber Thurmond, Alyona Dixon, “Wanda Roe,” “Sabrina Roe”, “Carmen Roe”, “Belle Roe”, “Kylie Roe”, “Ella Roe”, “Sadie Roe”, “Petra Roe”, “Dana Roe”, “Taylor Roe”, “Brandy Roe”, “Dove Roe”, “Clara Roe”, “Corrie Roe”,  “Chelsea Roe”, “Lucy Roe”, “Luna Roe”, “Talia Roe”, “Alina Roe”, “Jayden Roe”,  “Mandy Roe”, “Tina”, and “Toni Roe”. "Taylor Roe," and “Sabrina Roe."

FAERS Case 25665825
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July 22, 1974: Grace Period for Hospital, Death for Mother

On July 22, 1974, 22-year-old Carole Yvonne Wingo's sister-in-law drove her to Mercy General Hospital for an abortion.

Despite the name, Mercy was not a general hospital. It was an abortion hospital. It was also a hospital in big trouble even before Carole's death.

The Michigan Public Department of Health had cited Mercy for 43 violations of nursing standards and 12 violations of physical plant standards in October of 1973, and had withheld their license. Among the violations were that the operating room lacked a cardiac monitor, a resuscitator, and a defibrillator. The facility was allowed to stay open until their license expired at the end of June. The owners then bought some time by appealing the health department order. Thus the place was still in operation when Carole decided on abortion.

Staff told Carole's sister-in-law to return in two hours. When she did, staff told her that Carole was still sleeping and that it was against hospital policy to awaken a patient. She called at one-hour intervals, and each time was told that Carole was still asleep. 

When she called at 4:30, staff told her that the doctor was talking to Carole in her room. When she called at 5:30 they told her to come to the hospital and speak to the doctor. When she arrived, they told her that Carole was dead.

Carole's mother, Mabel Wright, filed suit against the facility and doctors David Northcross, Chuk Nwokedi, and Robert Wolf on behalf of the family, including Carole's four-year-old daughter. 

Watch Grace Period Allows Woman's Death on YouTube.

Sources:

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July 22, 1925: Woman Implicated in Abortion Death

Mrs. Margaret Shott Hibbins, age 25, lived in White Plains, New York. On July 29, 1925, she was indicted for first degree manslaughter for the death of 17-year-old Gertrude H. Wynants of Ossining.

Gertrude had died in the Ossining hospital on July 19 from the effects of a criminal abortion.

The prosecutors were planning to ask that Hibbins's bail be set at $5,000, an amount that Hibbens would be able to meet.

According to census records, Gertrude was the daughter of Legrand Wynants, a carpenter, and his wife, Eva.

Sources:

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July 22, 1985: Happy Birthday, Bryan

Grok AI illustration
Lynette H. went to  Planned Parenthood of Mid-Michigan on July 16, 1985 for a safe, legal abortion.

Nobody performed an ultrasound to determine gestational age prior to the abortion. 

Dr. Alan Beer ruptured the amniotic sac. He evidently realized that Lynette was further along in the pregnancy than he'd believed, so he referred Lynette to University of Michigan Medical Center. 

Five days later she gave birth to a 2 lb. 3 1/2 oz. premature infant boy of approximately 25-29 weeks gestation. The infant, named Bryan, suffered developmental delay, intracranial bleeding, hydrocephalus, and disfigurement. 

Source: Washtenaw County Circuit Court Case No. 85-30344 NM

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July 22, 1949: Mom and Aunt Give Fatal Abortifacients

Alma Deery

Alma Fay Deery's parents did not approve of her boyfriend, 21-year-old musician and ex-paratrooper James Souch. They had ordered Souch to stay away from their daughter, a 16-year-old student at Phoenixville (PA) High School. 

In their efforts to break off the romance, they sent Alma to stay with her grandmother, Bertha Deery, in Sheeder, PA, on July 18, 1949. (One source says that Alma was staying with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ogden.)

The plan didn't work. At around 9:20 on the evening of July 22, James, who had tracked Alma to her grandmother's house, managed to meet with her secretly. He later told police that he had begged her to run away with him to Elkton, Maryland, to get married. She had agreed, James said. They planned to elope the following day.

They never got a chance. At 10:40 p.m.,  Alma was found unresponsive on the floor of her bedroom.

An unidentified person called the Phoenixville Hospital and asked for an ambulance to be sent to the home. It was too late. Alma was dead.

Coroner Cooper T. Bishop said that the death "didn't look natural." An autopsy determined that she was about a few months pregnant. It did not, however, reveal a cause of death, but did find "traces of chemical poisoning in the girl's body." He ordered the burial postponed pending an investigation. Alma's vital organs were sent to a laboratory for analysis.

A coroner's jury found that "Alma Fay Deery came to her death July 22, 1949, at 10:45 p.m., at Sheeder, Chester county, P., as the result of drugs administered by her parents, Gladys and Earl K. Deery."

Alma's father Earl K. Deery, a 44-year-old store clerk, was arrested on July 29 along with his wife, Mary Gladys Deery, age 37, and Mary's sister, Myrtle Lahr, age 31. The trio had voluntarily turned themselves in.

Earl and Mary were charge with attempted abortion causing death, aiding and abetting an abortion, and conspiracy to do an unlawful act by giving their daughter the fatal abortifacients. Myrtle was charge with aiding and abetting an abortion, conspiracy to do an unlawful act, and accessory before and after the fact. Each was held on $3,000 bail

Souch was arrested for aiding and abetting an attempt to commit an abortion but the charge was dropped and he signed out on a $500 bond as a material witness.

On December 5, Alma's mother and aunt pleaded guilty to administering drugs for an illegal purpose. They admitted that Mary had given Alma pills procured by Myrtle to cause an abortion. The last dose had been given to her around July 17, right about when Alma had been relocated to her grandmother's home to keep her away from the baby's father. Each woman was sentenced to serve between 1 and 12 months in prison. 

They were not charged for Alma's death because it was impossible to prove that the drugs were the cause of her death.  

About 30 - 40 Phoenixville residents had signed a petition asking for leniency based on the women's good reputations, but the judge said, "Much as the circumstances surrounding the case have aroused sympathy, I do not see that the offense of abortion may be minimized." Evidently, then the light sentence could have been, at his discretion, even lighter.

Sources:


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Tuesday, July 21, 2026

July 21, 2012: Another Young Black Woman Dies at Planned Parenthood

Tonya Reaves, age 24, was engaged to be married and had a toddler son at home when she went to Planned Parenthood at 18 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Friday, July 21, 2012.

The facility advertised abortions up to 18 weeks. The procedure was initiated at 11:00 a.m. The method chosen for the abortion, D&E, is typically used for abortions between 14 and 18 weeks. It is possible that a miscalculation of the fetal age led to what happened next -- a hole poked in Tonya's uterus.

Although the injury would have happened close to 11:00 Tonya wasn't taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital until 4:30.

Regardless of the source of the perforation, Tonya was returned to surgery, where “an uncontrollable bleed was discovered.” She was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m. The CDC's article noted, "Deaths from hemorrhage can be eliminated by preventing uterine trauma during abortion and by rapidly diagnosing and treating hemorrhage if it occurs." Planned Parenthood, for some reason, failed to prevent the uterine trauma and failed to rapidly diagnose and treat Tonya's hemorrhage.

Tonya was rushed to Northwest Memorial Hospital in Chicago and pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m. 

The Centers for Disease Control published back in 1983, "Deaths from hemorrhage associated with legal induced abortion should not occur." In every hemorrhage death they investigated, "Lack of adequate postoperative monitoring or treatment of hemorrhagic shock" was a factor. Tonya's death was no exception. Her abortion was performed at 11:00 a.m., but she remained at the facility for hours until finally an ambulance was called, taking her to the hospital at 4:30 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., doctors performed an ultrasound, followed by another D&E procedure, though it is unclear whether they were removing retained tissue or aborting a second fetus. Tonya had continued pain and bleeding, so a second ultrasound was performed, revealing a uterine perforation. It is unclear whether this was a perforation from the initial D&E at Planned Parenthood or from the follow-up at the hospital.

Tonya is just another abortion death at Planned Parenthood. The others I know of include:
  • A few of Planned Parenthood's dead patients
    Alexis "Lexie" Arguello    , age 18, died February 6, 2025 after delayed care for abortion complications at Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins, Colorado
  • "Luanne," age 31, died in November of 2022 from complications of a surgical abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Indiana
  • Alyona Dixon, age 24, died September 28, 2022 from sepsis after a chemical abortion at Planned Parenthood in Nevada
  • "Lucy," age 29, died April of 2022 from complications of medication abortion at Planned Parenthood of Georgetown, Indiana
  • Cree Erwin-Sheppard, age 24, died July 4, 2016 after an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • Tonya Reaves, age 24, died July 21, 2012 from hemorrhage after a Planned Parenthood in Chicago, Illinois, delayed care for an abortion injury
  • "Ella," died c. 2010, from failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy prior to prescribing abortion pills at an unspecified Planned Parenthood
  • Roselle Owens, age 17, died September 8, 2009 when staff at Planned Parenthood of New York City failed to monitor her properly after her abortion
  • Bonnie Hunt, age 44, died August 5, 2008 from complications of an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Illinois
  • Edrica Goode, age 21, died February 14, 2007, from sepsis after contraindicated abortion prep at a Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California
  • Hoa Thuy "Vivian" Tran, age 22, died December 29, 2003 from sepsis after chemical abortion at Planned Parenthood at Costa Mesa, California
  • Holly Patterson, age 18, died September 17, 2003 from sepsis after abortion pills provided at Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California
  • Irene Stevenson, age 24, died July 12, 2002 from sepsis after an abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Chicago, Illinois
  • Diana Lopez, age 25, died February 28, 2002 from hemorrhage after a rushed abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles, California
  • Elise Kalat, age 22, died February 12, 1987 after botched CPR at Planned Parenthood of Central Massachusetts
The abortion giant has a lot of explaining to do.

Thanks to Operation Rescue for Tonya's autopsy report and other documentation.

Watch "Black Lives at Planned Parenthood" on YouTube.
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