Thursday, June 18, 2026

June 18, 1891: Died on her Wedding Day

May E. Parmenter's memorial at Find-a-Grave includes an 1891 clipping that reads:

Died on Her Wedding Day. Athol, Mass., June 19. -- Miss May Parmenter, one of Athol's prettiest and brightest girls, was to have been married yesterday to Leroy Felton, a well-known young man of Orange. on the morning of the wedding she was taken violently ill, and died during the afternoon. It now transpires that Miss Parmenter was the victim of malpractice, performed by a well-known physician. She was urged to take the step by a very near relative, against the wishes of her intended husband.

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June 18 in 1914 and 1917: Mysterious Deaths in Chicago

Grok AI illustration
On June 18, 1914, 39-year-old Bridget Murphy died at Post Graduate Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed that day by an unknown perpetrator. (Sources: Death certificate and Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database)

The Coroner was never able to identify the abortionist responsible for the death of 19-year-old Julia Suchora on June 18, 1917, at her Chicago home. (Sources: Death certificate and Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database)

Given the plethora of physicians and midwives running abortion practices in Chicago, it is likely that Bridget and Julia availed themselves of one of these options. 



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June 18, 1972: Taking Fatal Advantage of Liberalization in New York

Grok AI illustration
"Sara" underwent a second trimester abortion in New York City in May of 1972. She was 18 weeks pregnant. She had problems with retained tissue, so three weeks after the abortion she had a D&C to remove the tissue. Sara had developed infection from the retained tissue, and on June 18, 1972, the infection took her life. She left one child motherless.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. In addition to "Sara," 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
  • "Annie" Roe, June, 1971, cardiac arrest during anesthesia
  • "Annie" Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
  • "Vicki" Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
  • "April" Roe, August, 1971, death after saline abortion
  • "Barbara" Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
  • Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
  • "Tammy" Roe, October, 1971, sent home to die of sepsis
  • "Beth" Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
  • "Roseanne" 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
  • "Roxanne," May, 1972, convulsions and death at start of abortion
  • "Robin" Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
  • Pamela Modugno, May, 1972, air in her bloodstream

Sources: 

  • "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972; Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 320
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June 18, 1910: Self-Induced in Chicago

SUMMARY: Clara, age 21, died at Chicago's Cook County Hospital on June 18, 1910 from complications of a self-induced abortion.

Grok AI illustration
"Clara," identified as "Miss F." in the source document, was 21 years old when she used a catheter to perform a self-induced abortion in mid-May of 1910.

Five days after using the catheter on herself, Clara began suffering chills, fever, and abdominal pain. She passed the fetus the nest day but did not pass the placenta.

Her condition deteriorated, so on June 12, 1910 she went to Cook County Hospital. Her admission notes indicate, "Very weak and sick. Face drawn and anxious. Abdomen distended and tender. Muscles rigid." Her pulse was 116, her respirations 24, her temperature 99.6.

The following day, Clara's temperature began to fall below normal and her pulse became more rapid. She died on June 18 from streptococcal peritonitis.

Illinois death records show one woman of this age who died in Chicago on June 18, 1910: Annette Fanton.

Context

The fact that Clara induced her own abortion makes her case unusual.
Mary Calderone

Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that 90% of all illegal abortions in the early 1960s were being done by physicians. Calderone further estimated that 8% were self-induced and that 2% were induced by someone other than the woman or a doctor. Lee estimated that 89% of pre-legalization abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% were done by non-medical persons or the woman herself.

Calderone's numbers came from "43 men and women from the various disciplines of obstetrics, psychiatry, public health, sociology, forensic medicine, and law and demography." Lee interviewed women who had undergone pre-legalization abortions. The discrepancy between Lee's and Calderone's breakdowns of non-physician abortions is probably due to sampling errors.

Lee, who spoke with women who survived abortions, would of course not encounter women whose abortions killed them. Therefore she would not be exposed to the proportionate number of women who chose the most dangerous alternative. Lee's sample also included only willing survey participants, who would be more forthright and complete in divulging information, such as who really performed the abortion, than women being interviewed by health or law enforcement officials.

Calderone, on the other hand, spoke with those likely to see the botched and fatal abortions, and therefore they would be exposed to a higher percentage of the most dangerous, self-induced abortions. Also, Calderone's informants would have been investigating botched abortions that could be subject to a criminal investigation. Therefore, women speaking to them would be likely to withhold the true identity of their abortionists to protect them. Also, should the woman die, her family and friends might identify the woman herself as the abortionist, rather than admit their own roles in arranging or performing abortions, in order to close the investigation.

Anecdotal data tends to support Lee's research. Stories of abortions by midwives, orderlies, chiropractors, and assorted lay practitioners like Harvey Karman and the Jane Syndicate are far too common to represent only 2% of criminal abortions. We would probably not err too far if we relied primarily on Lee's numbers and adjusted them slightly to reflect the slight under-reporting of amateur abortions. Thus, a fair estimate of the breakdown of criminal abortions would probably look like this:
  • 90% performed by physicians
  • 5% performed by trained non-physicians (medical and lay)
  • 3% performed by an untrained accomplice
  • 2% performed by the woman herself
Possible ID: Cook County death records show a 21-year-old Annette Fanton who died on June 18, 1910.

Source: "A Study Of and Deductions From Fifty Fatal Cases of Puerperal Fever," Dr. Herbert Marion Stowe, Surgery Gynecology and Obstetrics, 1912, Part 1 and Part 2
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June 18, 1973: Abortion Rights Folks Side With Deadly Doc

 Dr. Hugh Benjamin Munson had been practicing criminal abortion in Rapid City, SD as early as 1967. In 1969, he was convicted of performing an abortion on a 19-year-old patient. Munson, who went by his middle name, won an appeal in circuit court. When the state appealed, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Munson was in the process of appealing this decision when Roe vs. Wade was handed down, making the case moot. Munson was free to practice abortion at-will.

Into this situation walked 28-year-old Linda Padfield.

Linda's Last Days

Linda Padfield

On June 14, 1973, Linda traveled about five hours to Munson's Rapid City clinic from her home in Groton, SD with her three small children and a friend. 

The following day Linda went to Munson's clinic, where  the 57-year-old doctor performed an abortion. Linda, her friend, and her children went to spend the night at a nearby hotel.

According to Linda's friend, Munson was supposed to come to the hotel the next day to check on Linda, but he never arrived. The two women were unable to reach him by phone, so they took Linda's children to do some sightseeing and then headed home to Groton. 

When arrived on the 17th, Linda was already sick with nausea and high fever. She told her mother about the abortion, and her mother took her to St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen for emergency surgery, but the infection had progressed too far and Linda died on June 18.

Three Years Later

Not a word about Linda's death appears in the media until three years later, almost to the day. Munson was arrested and charged with manslaughter on June 17, 1976.

Legal Wrangling and Taking Sides

Dr. H. Benjamin Munson
Munson asked that the manslaughter charge against him be dismissed because the statute of limitations had run out. The judge ruled that the clock began running not on the day Linda had been injured but on the day she had died. Thus, he ruled, charges were filed one day short of the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Munson also alleged that the decision to prosecute was made in bad faith because Attorney General William Janklow was opposed to abortion. Munson's attorney noted that since his client performed almost all the abortions in South Dakota, taking him out of circulation would put a virtual halt to abortions in the state. 

Abortion-rights activists with the National Abortion Rights Action League started a defense fund for Munson, raising over $40,000 (over $200,000 in 2022 dollars). The National Organization for Women took out a large newspaper ad offering public support for Munson. Given the choice between a dead patient and the person who had caused her death, they chose the latter.

The Trial Begins

Jury selection was held behind closed doors. Circuit Court Judge Merton Tice Jr. said that he wanted to have prospective jurors "free from influence outside of those which are proper." The Rapid City Journal sought to have the closure lifted so that they could cover jury selection. They lost their bid to open the procedure.

The jury was sequestered during the trial. Judge Tice asked the attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense not to talk to the press. 

Jurors were taken for a tour of Munson's clinic on the first post-selection day of the trial. 

Testimony From Doctors

One of the doctors who had treated Linda at the hospital, Dr. James Hovland, said that Linda had been conscious when she first arrived but that she deteriorated rapidly. She seemed to be going into kidney failure, and didn't even bleed from the incision made for exploratory surgery. When asked if an immediate hysterectomy would have saved her, Hovland expressed his doubts, given how gravely ill Linda was from the results of the infection raging through her entire body.

Dr. A. C. Vogele, another doctor who treated Linda, agreed with Dr. Hovland that Linda had been conscious and alert but was showing low blood pressure, abdominal pain, bleeding, and signs of shock. The exploratory surgery found no perforation of the uterus or bowel. The doctors halted any further surgery, Vogele said, because Linda was so sick that she'd have died during surgery. When asked if he would have performed a hysterectomy had he known how much of Linda's fetus was still inside his body, Vogele responded that he probably would have. 

The only person who knew how much of Linda's fetus was still in her body was Benjamin Munson, and he evidently had not bothered to tell anybody.

How much of Linda's unborn baby had been left in her uterus? A pathologist found the remains of a five-month fetus, missing the left leg, right arm, part of the skull, and part of the front of the torso. A five-month fetus typically weighs about 360 grams; Munson had left 240 grams behind. He had only removed about a third of Linda's baby.

The 240 grams of retained fetus were, the pathologist believed, the source of the problem. The retained fetus caused sepsis, which caused hemorrhage, which caused the adrenal failure that killed Linda.

The prosecution focused on the fact that infection will inevitably result from that much retained tissue and that there was simply no way Munson could have been unaware that he had failed to complete the abortion. The Attorney General commented, "You take a three-inch leg off something, you have to know that there's more in there than just the leg." 

Munson's Attorney's Argument

The defense argument was basically this:

  1. Lots of abortion doctors send patients home with retained tissue, figuring that the woman will just expel it later.
  2. Yes, retained tissue can cause infection, but infection is an accepted risk of abortion.
  3. The prosecution didn't prove that Munson was aware of how much of Linda's fetus had been left in her womb.
  4. The prosecution didn't prove that Munson had intended to cause Linda any harm.
  5. The only standard of care that can apply is the local standard of care. Since Munson was the only local abortion provider, whatever he did constituted the standard of care and therefore he could never violate that standard.

In short, he argued that since Munson was the only abortionist in South Dakota, whatever he did was by definition the right thing to do. Unless you could prove that he wanted Linda to die, you couldn't hold him accountable for her death.

The Verdict and Aftermath

The judge agreed with Munson's attorney and directed the jury to return a verdict of "Not guilty."

Munson called the directed verdict "like Christmas in October."

Munson later became a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF). He evidently didn't to much to change his standards of care, because in 1985 he sent a teenage patient, Yvonne Mesteth, home with retained tissue. She, like Linda Padfield, died of infection. Again Munson was prosecuted for manslaughter, and again he beat the rap. As the only abortionist in South Dakota, he was the ultimate arbiter of what was accepted practice.

Munson in Context

Munson is the third former criminal abortionist I've learned of who had a clean record -- no patient deaths -- as a criminal abortionist, only to go on to kill two patients in his legal practice. The others are Milan Vuitch (Georgianna English and Wilma Harris) and Jesse Ketchum (Margaret Smith and Carole Schaner).

Munson died at a ripe old age in a Vermont nursing home in 2003. Had Linda not turned to Munson but instead reached out to a pregnancy resource center, she would have been 57 years old, and her baby 30 years old. 

Watch "It Was the Right Thing to Do Because He Did It" on YouTube.

Sources:



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June 18, 1953: Dumped in the Bushes

 The Journey

In June of 1953, Bettye Porter, 24, lived in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband, Herbert, and their two children. This young black woman flew to Washington state with the boys, ages 11 months and 3 years, on June 14.

As Herbert, a young bartender, saw his family off, he had no way of anticipating what would follow. 

After arriving in Washington, Bettye Porter left her children with friend Anna Barzar in Tacoma. Bettye then went to Seattle on her own to visit friends there. Days later those friends called Herbert to tell him that his wife was missing. They hadn't seen her since June 18. Herbert contacted Seattle police and flew down himself.

The Grim Discovery

On June 29, Alfred and Dwight Aronson, ages 10 and 18 respectively, went out picking blackberries with their friend, 15-year-old Richard Hook. As they foraged near the south end of Midway Road near the Gig Harbor end of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, they spotted the body of an attractive young black woman. 

At around 5:20 pm, Deputy Sheriffs Chet Jones and E. E. Bathke arrived and took charge. Officers Lyle Lanthrop and Ed Dahl photographed the scene. The woman was fully clad, dumped face-down about 300 feet east of the south end of Midway road and 12 feet south of an old logging road.

Care had been taken to remove tags from the woman's expensive clothing before her body was dumped. Police theorized that this had been in an attempt to make her harder to identify. 

The person or persons who did this, however, didn't realized that police would be able to tentatively identify the body from fingerprints. Believing that the corpse was the missing Bettye Porter, they contacted Herbert. He was able to make a positive identification.

How Bettye Died

An autopsy concluded that Bettye had bled to death internally from a criminal abortion. She had been dead between 7 and 14 days. 

After an investigation, police arrested 34-year-old mechanic Norman Wade Austin. He was charged with attempted abortion, second degree murder for Bettye's death, and manslaughter for the death of her 5-months unborn child. Police concluded that he had perpetrated the abortion in a massage parlor he had recently opened in the Savoy Hotel at 1214 2nd Avenue.

The hotel's operator, Harry A. Howard, and 23-year-old Geraldine Lowe were charged with second-degree murder for their roles in arranging the fatal abortion. All three parties were held pending posting of $10,000 bail each.

Bettye's date of death was determined to be June 18.

And... That's All.

I can't find any evidence of a successful prosecution, just an article noting that by November of 1953, when they were arrested for running an auto-theft ring, Geraldine and Norman were identified as a married couple.

The fact that Bettye went to a lay abortionist made her choice highly unusual. 

Who performed abortions before legalization?

Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that 90% of all illegal abortions in the early 1960s were being done by physicians. Calderone further estimated that 8% were self-induced and that 2% were induced by someone other than the woman or a doctor. Lee estimated that 89% of pre-legalization abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% were done by non-medical persons or the woman herself.

Calderone's numbers came from "43 men and women from the various disciplines of obstetrics, psychiatry, public health, sociology, forensic medicine, and law and demography." Lee interviewed women who had undergone pre-legalization abortions. The discrepancy between Lee's and Calderone's breakdowns of non-physician abortions is probably due to sampling errors.

Lee, who spoke with women who survived abortions, would of course not encounter women whose abortions killed them. Therefore she would not be exposed to the proportionate number of women who chose the most dangerous alternative. Lee's sample also included only willing survey participants, who would be more forthright and complete in divulging information, such as who really performed the abortion, than women being interviewed by health or law enforcement officials.

Calderone, on the other hand, spoke with those likely to see the botched and fatal abortions, and therefore they would be exposed to a higher percentage of the most dangerous, self-induced abortions. Also, Calderone's informants would have been investigating botched abortions that could be subject to a criminal investigation. Therefore, women speaking to them would be likely to withhold the true identity of their abortionists to protect them. Also, should the woman die, her family and friends might identify the woman herself as the abortionist, rather than admit their own roles in arranging or performing abortions, in order to close the investigation.

Anecdotal data tends to support Lee's research. Stories of abortions by midwives, orderlies, chiropractors, and assorted lay practitioners like Harvey Karman and the Jane Syndicate are far too common to represent only 2% of criminal abortions. We would probably not err too far if we relied primarily on Lee's numbers and adjusted them slightly to reflect the slight under-reporting of amateur abortions. Thus, a fair estimate of the breakdown of criminal abortions would probably look like this:


Additional sources: 
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Wednesday, June 17, 2026

June 17, 1918: Chicago Doctor Dies Before Trial

On June 17, 1918, 25-year-old Sophie Suida died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from complications of an abortion reportedly perpetrated by Dr. L. D. Tucholska, who died at the county jail on June 28, before the case could come to trial. Physicians and midwives ran an abundance of semi-clandestine abortion practices in the Chicago of that era.

Sources: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

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1977: Death in New York for “Hallie”

"Hallie" is the name Life Dynamics gave to a young woman on their Blackmun Wall. 

Citing a New York State database run done on July 19, 1995, Life Dynamics indicate that Hallie was a black woman between the ages of 20 and 24 who died in 1977 from an abortion in New York state.



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June 17, 1913: Doc Implicated but Never Prosecuted

On June 17, 1913, 36-year-old homemaker Freda Englehard died in Chicago, at the scene of an abortion reportedly perpetrated that day by Dr. Joseph A. Meeks. Meeks was held for murder, and Mrs. Mollie Flaherty was held as an accessory, but the case never went to trial.

Sources: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database; Illinois death records

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Tuesday, June 16, 2026

June 16, 1910: First Death Attributed to Fred Orainger

On June 16, 1910, Mrs. Paulina Sproc, a 35-year-old immigrant from Bohemia, died in a Chicago home from an abortion that had been performed on June 5.

A man mistakenly identified in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database as W.L. Orsinger was held by the coroner's jury. However, his name was actually Fred L. Orsinger. Orsinger had battled with the medical board for 32 years trying to get licensed and insisted on practicing regardless.

Ten years later Orsinger was implicated in the abortion death of Minnie Schofield in March of 1917.

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

Sources: 
Chicago Business Directory, 1904


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June 16, 1971: Empty Promise of Legalization Means Death for Young Mom

Summary: Margaret Loise Smith, age 25, sought a safe abortion after being exposed to rubella. She was dead by the end of the day.

Who Was Jesse Ketchum?

Dr. Jesse Ketchum
Back before legalization, Jesse Ketchum (November 7, 1917 - July 20, 2005) operated his abortion practice alongside a legitimate (if somewhat lawsuit-prone) medical practice. Although Ketchum's criminal abortion practice wasn't the best in the world, he evidently maintained some standards and protocols for screening patients. No patient deaths have been attributed to Ketchum's criminal practice, though he was arrested a total of three times for perpetrating abortions, and was convicted of breaking federal tax laws, and for obscene conduct in a pornographic movie theater. He settled or was judged against in nine malpractice suits.

Ketchum kept abortion instruments in his house and perpetrated abortions in a motel room. Clergy Consultation Services (CCS), an organization created specifically to refer women to abortionists, began referring women to him.

In late 1969 or early 1970, Ketchum was arrested after an undercover policewoman arranged for him to perform an abortion at a motel in Southfield, Michigan. She had been referred to Ketchum through Clergy Consultation Service.

The Michigan Women's Commission and CCS responded to Ketchum's arrest by starting a drive to repeal laws against abortion. County Prosecutor Thomas Plunkett objected to feeling forced to prosecute Ketchum because he, himself, favored abortion rights. Whether allowing the likes of Jesse Ketchum to ply the abortion trade without let or hindrance was not even taken into consideration by his supporters.

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

When New York legalized abortion on demand in 1970, 52-year-old Ketchum -- assisted by his wife, Judith, nearly 30 years his junior -- set up shop in a Buffalo motel suite. For Ketchum, New York must have seemed like the Promised Land. Abortionists were flaunting safety standards with impunity. Practices such as injecting patients with saline then sending them home to abort raised eyebrows, to be sure, but they didn't get anybody thrown in jail even if the woman died. CCS continued to refer women to Ketchum in his new location.

On May 28, 1971, Ketchum did a D&C abortion under general anesthesia on Ellen K. Lawler of New Baltimore, MI, in his Buffalo office. Only later, at an undisclosed time, did Mrs. Lawler discover that Ketchum had lacerated her uterus, anterior cul-de-sac, right broad ligament, and peritoneum. He had told her the abortion had been uncomplicated. Such severe injuries in a criminal abortion patient would have brought the heat down on our boy Jesse. But this was New York, abortion was legal, and although Mrs. Lawler suffered ill effects from Ketchum's foul-up, Ketchum himself was able to carry on. And carry on he did. By late October of 1971, Ketchum had signed and filed 862 fetal death certificates, about 15% of the total abortions done in the county that year. He reported having done 17 abortions in a single day -- February 3, 1971. 

Ketchum decided to do hysterotomy abortions -- which involve slicing the uterus open to remove the baby -- in his office. It didn't take long for this practice to turn deadly. In the second half of 1971, Ketchum caught the eyes of the authorities by allowing two hysterotomy patients to bleed to death. 

Enter Margaret Smith

His first victim was 25-year-old Margaret Louise Smith. Margaret was a divorced mother with two children from her marriage. When she discovered that she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Billy Ray Ellenburg, they intended to keep the baby. However, Margaret's 5-year-old daughter contracted either measles or rubella, commonly known as German measles. 

If a mother contracted rubella during early pregnancy, there was a significant risk of catastrophic harm to the unborn baby. Later in pregnancy the risks would be less severe but still concerning. Mere exposure, however, would not harm the baby, especially if the mother herself had contracted rubella in childhood. As for ordinary measles, even a full-scale bout of measles posed no risk to the baby at all. 

Laypersons could easily be confused about measles vs. German measles, as well as the risk of exposure vs. the risk of actually contracting the disease. It's no surprise, then, that Margaret was afraid that the exposure to her sick daughter had harmed the unborn baby, so she contacted Clergy Consultation Services (CCC). 

CCC was organization convinced that they were doing God's work by finding and referring women to abortionists rather than helping them to resolve the issues that were making abortion look like a solution to their problems. In Margaret's case, with a pregnancy she originally planned to carry to term, a responsible course of action would have been to reassure Margaret that the risk was very low and that there was a cheap blood test to determine if she had contracted rubella without showing symptoms. But CCC didn't have a culture of holistic approaches. They had a culture of hasty referrals, and any mention of possible rubella exposure was to be handled with an abortion referral without taking the time or trouble to find out if even a loved and wanted baby had been harmed. When in doubt, abort. 

CCC volunteers not only weren't informed of any information that might reassure a frightened pregnant women, they weren't informed of CCC's rather sketchy method of vetting the practitioners women were referred to. They would send women posing as patients to see if the practice looked clean and professional, but these were laypersons with no training in proper medical practice. When CCC did bother to send a doctor to vet abortionist Milan Vuitch, Nathanson noted rushed procedures, inadequate follow up, and a rather blasé attitude towards compilations, but Vuitch was a fellow soldier in the fight for legalization so Nathanson endorsed him in spite of his reservations.

So with zero effort to determine if her wanted baby had even been exposed to rubella and no real appreciation of the background of their trusted practitioner, CCC referred Margaret to Ketchum.

By the time Margaret and her boyfriend arrived in Buffalo on Tuesday, June 15, 1971, Ketchum had moved his practice out of the motel room and into a proper medical office, Room 605 Medical Towers, 50 High Street in Buffalo. (Up through January of 1971, Ketchum had been doing his abortions at the Sheraton Hotel at 715 Delaware Avenue.) The fact that Ketchum was in an actual medical arts building rather than a motel likely would have reassured Margaret that CCC had indeed set her up for an abortion that was not only legal, but safe. She and Billy Ray went to Ketchum's office for a 9:15 appointment on June 16. They gave Ketchum five $100 bills to pay for the abortion. That's just over $1,000 in 2025.

Grok AI illustration
Billy Ray left, trusting his loved one to Ketchum's care.

Ketchum performed a vaginal hysterotomy on Margaret at 10:30 the morning of June 16, 1971 in his office. Margaret would have been put in stirrups and heavily sedated. Ketchum would then position Margaret's uterus by grasping the cervix with a tenaculum and pulling it into position. This would enable him to cut through the back of the vagina to access the uterus, then cut through the uterus to access and remove the fetus. The fetus would be put in a pan and left to die of prematurity while Ketchum was supposed to remove the placenta and suture shut the incisions he had made. 

Ketchum performed his procedure, then left Margaret virtually unattended until Billy Ray returned at around noon. He spent about half an hour with Margaret, noting that she was having trouble breathing. Ketchum reassured him and told him to return later. Billy Ray came back again at around 2 pm and again found Margaret struggling to breathe. He begged Ketchum and his staff to do something.

Paramedics were summoned, but they were unable to revive Margaret. They pronounced her dead at 4:5o pm. The firefighters on the rescue squad considered the circumstances suspicious and contacted the homicide squad. Ketchum told police that Margaret "had a heart seizure." 

Margaret's body was taken to the morgue for autopsy. Margaret's vagina had been sutured, but a laceration in her uterus and cervix had not been repaired. Ketchum had cut the uterus open but not stitched the incision shut again. Margaret had bled to death. -- just across the street from a hospital that could have saved her life had Ketchum made the effort to monitor her. (Ketchum V. Ward No. Civ-75-79)

Unexpected Fallout

Ketchum was verily astounded when he was charged with criminally negligent homicide in Margaret Smith's death. Abortion, after all, was legal. How could one be prosecuted for doing something legal? And evidently he didn't think the state could possibly succeed in their case. He kept taking risks with patient's lives Before his case went to trial, he performed a similar abortion on 37-year-old Carole Schaner of Ohio on October 20, 1971. Carole was 14 weeks pregnant. After the abortion, Carole went into shock, and was taken to a hospital. Despite all efforts, Carole died before doctors could even fully assess the extent of her injuries. She left behind four children.


A balding middle-aged white man leaning back in a chair and gesturing with his hand
Dr. Milan Vuitch
Ketchum was convicted of criminally negligent manslaughter for Margaret's death on October 26, 1973, despite the fact that renowned abortionist Milan Vuitch (who had challenged the District of Columbia abortion law) testified on his behalf. Margaret's parents sued him for $350,000. Ketchum tried various legal moves to stay out of prison. When Roe v. Wade was handed down and assorted criminal abortionists started getting their old convictions thrown out, Ketchum tried Roe for leverage. He got nowhere. Eventually, he was sentenced to prison. 

Ketchum Bounces Back

Ketchum served little time, however. He was released after less than a year, and relocated to Florida.
.
Ketchum had asked to take the test to become licensed in Florida but his request was denied. In spite of this, he found work at the University of Miami School of Medicine, at Jackson Memorial Hospital, and at the VA hospital in Miami, from September of 1976 to November of 1977. It turned out that no license was required for a doctor to practice in a government operated hospital.

In 1978, he and Judith divorced.

While at the Miami School of Medicine, Ketchum was administering oxygen to Mrs. M for routine surgery. Rather than the 40% oxygen he was to administer, Ketchum provided only 15%. Mrs. M failed to notice until Mrs. M had gone into a coma from which she still hadn't recovered after 19 months.

According to the medical board licensee lookup, Ketchum relocated to Michigan. His petitions to restore his medical license, made in 1984 and 1987, were both denied. Nevertheless, despite killing two women, he remained a free man until his death in 2005.

News clipoping photo, poor quality, of a middle-aged white man with a receeding hairline and a mustache, wearing a jacket and tie
Dr. Benjamin Munson
As for the former criminal abortionist, Milan Vuitch, who had testified on Ketchum's behalf -- he also had kept his nose clean as a criminal abortionist, then went on to kill two legal abortion patients. Wilma Harris and Georgianna English. Another abortionist that I know about, Benjamin Munson, likewise, had a clean record in his criminal abortionist then went on to kill two women in his supposedly safer legal practice -- Linda Padfield and Yvonne Mesteth.

Legalization -- as we can see from these specific tragedies as well as from the numbers -- did nothing to protect women from dying at the hands of abortionists. If anything, it seemed to have emboldened them to take risks they never would have considered taking were a botched abortion alone enough to carry the risk of the loss of a medical license or even of freedom.

Sources  


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June 16, 1993: Fatal Hemorrhage in Newark

Dr. Steven Berkman

A 20-year-old Newark college student, identified in prolife sources as "Jane Doe of Newark," underwent a safe and legal abortion by Dr. Steven Berkman at Metropolitan Medical Associates on June 16, 1993. She was in the second trimester of pregnancy.

Jane reportedly felt dizzy in recovery. Berkman examined her, noted that she had a perforated uterus, and had her taken to a hospital by ambulance. She died in surgery about four hours later, leaving her four-year-old son motherless.

"We are intensely investigating this matter," said an attorney for Jane's family. "We know something occurred that shouldn't have. We had a healthy 20-year-old go into that clinic and not come out. And I think a delay had something to do with it." Her medical chart showed the injury occurring at 10 a.m., but the ambulance wasn't summoned until two hours later.

A state report cited "chaos and confusion" when the ambulance arrived at the clinic to find Jane lifeless. The ambulance workers were not given adequate information about her condition.

Berkman said that there was no delay in transporting Jane to the hospital. He also said he did not believe she died from blood loss. The Bergen County Medical Examiner found that Jane had died from hemorrhage from a perforated uterus. Jane also had developed a clotting disorder that made it difficult to stop any bleeding. He ruled the death accidental.

Jane Roe is "Tracy" on Life Dynamics' "Blackmun Wall".


Watch "Did They Wait Too Long?" on YouTube.

Sources: 

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Monday, June 15, 2026

1974: A Series of Deadly Complications

An unidentified woman died after a series of complications from a legal abortion. She has been given the name “Hailey” here.

Hailey underwent a legal abortion in the year after Roe v. Wade. The supposedly “safe and legal” abortion would result in two deaths.

Hailey’s uterus was perforated by the abortion. She suffered severe hemorrhage and needed blood transfusions. After these transfusions, she developed hepatitis, which killed her.

Source here

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Sunday, June 14, 2026

June 14, 1983: No One Willing to Take Responsibility for Abortion Death

A lawsuit filed by Eduardo Bermeo alleged that his wife, Ecuadoran-born Rosario Bermeo, age 30, died following abortion by Dr. Joseph B. Shapse at Prospect Hospital in New York June 14, 1983.

Shapse noted that no autopsy had been performed, so Eduardo could not prove that Rosario had die for any reason "beyond respiratory and cardiac arrest." He said that the abortion proceeded without incident, and that he had no responsibility for actions of the certified registered nurse anesthetist. 

The CRNA, Shapse noted, had been the one monitoring Rosario after the abortion, when her vital signs began to fail. Therefore, he said, he was not to blame for her death.

Eduardo's attorney countered with an affidavit by a physician that Shapse was indeed responsible for supervising the SRNA and that he had a duty to monitor and evaluate his patient's condition during and immediately after surgery.

Prospect operated only from 1963 to 1985, according to Forgotten New York. It did not long outlive Eduardo's unfortunate wife. 

Watch Passing the Buck on YouTube.
Watch Passing the Buck on Rumble. 

Source: New York Appellate Court 162 A.D.2d 235

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June 14, 1977: First Known National Abortion Federation Death

Who Was Barbaralee Davis?

Eighteen-year-old Barbaralee Davis had already lived an intense life. With her mother's permission, she had married 21-year-old David A. Davis II in September of 1973 at the age of only 15. She was separated from her husband and was caring for a 3-year-old son. Barbaralee had a history of irregular periods, but when she noticed symptoms of pregnancy she visited a local hospital for a pregnancy test, which came out negative. However, her symptoms continued so she returned to the hospital two weeks later and this time the pregnancy test was positive.

Trusting the National Abortion Federation

Barbaralee requested an abortion referral. A local women's group sent her to Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois. Hope Clinic, about a two-hour drive from Barbaralee's home, was a member of the newly founded National Abortion Federation. Her abortion was scheduled for about one week later.

Hope Clinic for Women

When Barbaralee arrived at the clinic on June 14, 1977, it had been five months since her last menstrual period.

Hope Medical Director Hector Zavalos examined Barbaralee and concluded that she was 11 weeks pregnant. Zavalos performed a suction curettage abortion. 

Barbaralee was moved to the recovery room. The last recording of her blood pressure, taken about 45 minutes after the abortion, was low, at 100/68.

Barbaralee attended a post-abortion counseling session, during which she was pale and reporting lower abdominal cramping. She was kept for observation an additional half an hour.

At some point staff told Barbaralee's worried sister, Rita Tripp, that there had been complications but that everything would be fine.

Sent Home Hemorrhaging

About two hours after the abortion, Barbaralee reportedly told staff that she felt better and asked to be sent home. Barbaralee was not given a discharge examination. Zavalos simply sent her on her way, asserting that she seemed to be okay. However, according to the CDC's investigators, Barbaralee was showing symptoms "suggestive of internal hemorrhage."  Her sister said that Barbaralee was pale and weak when she helped her out to the car.

Barbaralee lay in the back seat on the way home. When they arrived, Rita said, Barbaralee told her that she felt like something was wrong. 

Rita said that she tried to call Zavalos but was unable to reach him.

Barbaralee remained lethargic and seemed to go to sleep. About two hours after returning home she tried to stand up but fainted. She was rushed to the Pinckneyville hospital by ambulance, where an emergency hysterectomy was attempted to save her life. Barbaralee died during the surgery, leaving her child motherless.

What The Autopsy Revealed

The autopsy found the face and spinal column of Barbaralee's baby embedded in a hole in her uterus. There were two quarts of blood in her abdomen. Barbaralee had bled to death.

The medical examiner noted: "A very large retroperitoneal hematoma is present with dissection of blood along right ureter. A 4 mc. tear is noted on the right anterior surface of the lower third of the uterus and a large amount of blood, estimated at 2000 ccs. is present in the pelvis. Two fetal parts, the face and thoracic spinal column, are embedded in a 700 cc. fresh hematoma inside the uterus."

Illinois law placed a 12-week limit on outpatient abortions. Zavalos told CDC investigators that he thought Barbaralee had been only 11 weeks pregnant even though her last normal menstrual period had been five months earlier. The clinic records examined by CDC staff said that the gross examination of the fetal tissue removed during the abortion was consistent with an 11-week pregnancy. However, the medical examiner drew a different conclusion, based on the tissue that had been left embedded in Barbaralee's uterus:

In an attempt to estimate the length of gestation in the absence of the whole fetus, the two parts, namely the face, less the crown, and the thoracic vertebral column without the rump, are laid end to end. Together they measure 9 cm. A conservative estimate of the crown to rump length would be 10 to 11 cm. This will place the gestational age at 16 to 16 1/2 weeks.

The Lawsuit

Barbaralee's family sued both Zavalos and the clinic for $1 million. In particular, Barbaralee's family attorney brought up the following issues:

  • "Patients who receive abortions should be observed at the clinic 'for a period of time sufficient to ensure that no immediate post-operative complications are present'."
  • "Patients in whom any adverse condition exists or in whom a complication is known should be transferred to a hospital"
  • "Clinics should have a 'written agreement' with an approved hospital to provide 'prompt transfer' of persons requiring in-patient care."
Illinois law required that outpatient surgery centers have a written agreement with a hospital not more than 15 minutes away for transfer of patients needing care. Hope Clinic did not have any such written agreement.

A doctor reviewing the case for Barbaralee's family noted that it would be evident from the fetal remains whether Barbaralee's unborn baby was over 16 weeks or merely 11 weeks. For reference, an 11-week fetus is about 1.6 inches long and weighs about 1.6 ounces, while a 16-week fetus is about 7.3 inches long and weighs a little over 5 ounces. A foot measurement, which is commonly used in abortion facilities to verify fetal age, would be 7-8 mm in an 11-week fetus and 20 mm in a 16-week fetus.

The defendants tried to get the case thrown out on a technicality, because the family's attorney had sued both the facility and the doctor under the same count. In response, the attorney severed the two cases and asked for $1.4 million from each rather than $1 million for the two defendants.

Hope Clinic for Women was not only permitted to remain in operation, it was allowed to remain a member in good standing of the National Abortion Federation.

Sources: 

Watch "Lying or Clueless?" on YouTube.


As I was updating the entry for Barbaralee, the first known abortion death at a National Abortion Federation member clinic, I because disgusted as I always am by the cavalier attitude the abortion lobby -- and their media lapdogs -- take towards women's legal abortion deaths. I just want to take some time to call out a particularly infuriating example.

The September 1, 1977 Decatur Daily Review quotes attorney Frank Susman, who had defended Dr. Kenneth Edelin in an infanticide case related to a post-viability abortion. 

The face and spine of Barbaralee's fetus were found embedded in a rip in her uterus. But how did Susman characterize the failure to even notice that major parts of the fetus hadn't been removed? "[A]bortion, like all surgical procedures involves a risk, and possibly a risk of death. And this patient in this procedure was advised of that."

Was Barbaralee informed that it was possible that pieces of her dead fetus would be left embedded in a uterine tear, and that she might be sent home with an undiagnosed, life-threatening injury? And why is "Well, all surgery has risks" an excuse for an abortion death caused by such an egregious injury? Had Barbaralee's abortion been illegal, though still performed by a doctor, no doubt that same spokesperson for the abortion lobby would have been livid about how the legal status of abortion had forced Barbaralee to seek substandard care and suffer an injury she never would have died from had her abortion been legal. If it weren't for double standards, the abortion lobby would have no standards at all.

Then there's the misinformation: "I think we just have to put this in perspective and realize that -- for example -- well over a million abortions were performed last year in the United states and there were five deaths."

That statement simply wasn't true. According to the 1976 CDC Abortion Surveillance Summary, there were ten legal abortion deaths -- twice the number Susman claimed. To be fair, the CDC doesn't exactly leap out and announce abortion death numbers right away. The 1976 summary wasn't issued until August of 1978. Susman doesn't say where he got the lowball number. The CDC also admittedly missed one, since the 2019 Abortion Surveillance Summary notes 11 legal abortion deaths for 1976. Of course, that's assuming that the CDC actually knows -- or even cares -- how many legal abortion deaths there are. There's abundant evidence that their data collection on legal abortion deaths has been perfunctory at best since Willard Cates and David Grimes left the abortion surveillance branch.

The kicker, though, is the way Susman, the abortion lobby, and the media simply dismiss legal abortion deaths as nothing worth worrying your pretty little head about. Imagine if, after an airline crash, the NTSB and the airlines insisted that the concern was far out of proportion and started citing the overall safety of airline travel. Such a transparently self-serving attitude would be roundly condemned. For some reason, though, the abortion lobby is able to dismiss cases of fatal malpractice by reminding us that comparatively few patients actually die. 

The proper response to any death caused by mistakes, or slipshod procedures, or faulty equipment is to do a preventability study and to at least suggest corrective action. Why aren't abortion facilities held to this standard?

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