Tuesday, June 09, 2026

June 9, 1979: First of Two Deaths From Near-Simultaneous Injuries

 Summary: Angela Scott was the first of two teens to die of nearly simultaneous injuries at a National Abortion Federation member clinic.

In the era of safe, legal abortion, we find a case of striking ineptitude. 

On June 2 of 1979. National Abortion Federation member Atlanta Women's Pavillion rose to new levels of incompetence when staff there managed to fatally injure two teenage abortion patients in less than an hour.

Recovery Room at Atlanta Women's Pavilion

Dr. Jacob Adams was a co-owner of the clinic, along with Dr. Otis Hammonds and Dr. Olly C. Duckett. Adams performed an abortion under general anesthesia on 19-year-old Angela Belinda Scott. He sent her to the recovery room then began performing an abortion on 15-year-old Delores Jean Smith.

Angela, an unmarried Black woman, was a Private First Class in the National Guard Medical Corps.

Angela went into cardio-respiratory arrest in the recovery room due to what was reported as an "idiosyncratic reaction" to anesthesia. 

Nurse Teresa Stearns, who was not certified as an anesthetist, was administering anesthesia to Delores while Adams was performing her abortion. Stearns ran to assist in efforts to revive Angela, leaving Delores with her intravenous anesthesia drip still running while Adams continued with the abortion.

There was a 25-minute delay in getting an ambulance to the clinic because staff didn't tell the ambulance service that the call was for an emergency. 

After the staff had resuscitated Angela and loaded her into an ambulance, they returned their attention to Delores , who had gone into cardio-respiratory arrest. 

Dr. Jacob Adams

Adams had accompanied Angela to the Grady Memorial Hospital, and even though the ambulance could have transported both patients, staff refused to release Delores until the physician had returned to discharge her. This resulted in a 30-minute delay, during which the ambulance crew was unable to attend to Delores or begin transporting her.

Angela lingered for a week in a coma before dying at 2:35 a.m. on June 9. Her mother, Sarah Kellorn, sued the clinic, the three owners, and the nurse for $12.3 million, calling Atlanta's 10 or so outpatient abortion clinics "unregulated assembly-line abortion mills." At the time, abortion clinics in Georgia were not regulated beyond a requirement that they be overseen by a licensed physician.

Delores remained comatose in an intensive-care unit at Grady.

Fulton County District Attorney Lewis Slaton launched an investigation. Atlanta homicide chief Lieutenant W. K. Perry said, "We've had everybody, including the CDC, calling to see what happened and why." 

State legislators held hearings about regulating abortion clinics. The medical board held formal hearings. The Food and Drug Administration examined the anesthesia drugs used on the patients.

Delores never regained consciousness. She was admitted to a nursing home in August, where she died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on October 24, 1979. Delores's mother, Nancy Smith, filed a $12.3 million suit against the clinic after learning that her daughter's pregnancy test performed at the clinic had come up negative.

Both young women were Black -- a fact that made them at higher risk of abortion death for reasons that, to my knowledge, have never been investigated.

Watch "The First of Two Deaths" on YouTube.

Sources:

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June 9, 1971: Mystery Abortion in North Carolina

Rhonda Gale Ingram, nee Little
Rhonda Gale Little was very active and promising young woman that summer of 1971. Of mixed Black and Native American descent, Rhonda had been born in Pensacola, Florida on March 1, 1952 to Perry Philemon and Mildred Harris Little. The family had moved to High Point, North Carolina when Rhonda was very young. She had two sisters, Judith and Melanie, and a brother, Perry Jr. 

Rhonda graduated in June of 1970 from High Point, NC High School. She had been a very active and involved student. She was a member of the Beta Club for students with high GPAs her junior and senior years, reporter for the Future Homemakers of America (FHA) her junior year and FHA secretary her senior year, active in the French Club her junior and senior years, and on the Social Committee and office staff her senior year..
 
After high school, Rhonda enrolled at North Carolina Central University at Durham, an historic black university. With her smoothly-coiffed hair, she stood out from among the more currently fashionable Afro styles. She was still going by her maiden name when the university yearbook was published.

She was a member of High Point First Baptist Church, where she served as Sunday school pianist and sang in the Junior Choir. 

A Proud and Reputable Family

Rhonda's father was frequently mentioned in local news for his civic activities, particularly on the High Point School Board. His dental practice was profitable, having brought in $37,283 (over $300,000 in 2026 dollars) in Medicaid payments alone in the first 16 months of the program. That would mean in Medicaid patients alone his practice was bringing in nearly $28,000 a year (around $229,000 in 2026 dollars). He reported that Medicaid patients made up about half of his practice. Medicaid payment was about 75% of the normal charge for a patient, meaning that the other half of his practice was bringing in about $36,400 from his other patients, for a total of roughly $64,400 annually (over $526,000 in 2026). Overhead costs were just a bit under 50%, so Dr. Little was taking home the equivalent of over a quarter of a million dollars every year to support his family of 5.

I can't find any public records to indicate when Rhonda married Linwood Ingram, but she must have still been a newlywed when she discovered that she was pregnant in the spring of 1971. Given her parents' prosperity and community prominence, the lack of a wedding announcement hints that the young couple might have married quietly when they learned that Rhonda was pregnant.

Dr. and Mrs. Little apparently didn't approve. According to a lawsuit later filed by her widowed husband, Perry Little and his wife coerced Rhonda into an abortion, which was perpetrated by Dr. Albert Perry on April 24.

A Lingering Death

During the abortion, Perry mangled the fetus and put a hole though Rhonda's uterus and into her small intestines. I have found no record of how long it took for anybody to notice that something was wrong.  For weeks, Rhonda fought for her life. She was pronounced dead at 8:30 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 1971 at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill from septic shock.

No Visible Fallout

Dr. Perry, around 50 years of age, was an official with the local NAACP as well as a known abortionist with several arrests for this practice. He had been convicted in an abortion case in 1958 and spent 11 months in prison. His license was restored in 1961 on the condition that he practice only in Mecklenburg County. Two months later he reopened his practice in Charlotte. He was charged for abortion in May of 1964, August of 1970, and November of 1971, but all of those charges were dismissed.

I've been unable to find any evidence that he was charged in Rhonda's death. The worst consequence he seemed to suffer was being named in the lawsuit by Rhonda's bereaved husband. Linwood sued Perry and his former in-laws for $500,000 in damages and $250,000 in punitive damages over Rhonda's death. I've been unable to determine the outcome of the suit. Any criminal and civil cases might have fallen by the wayside since Perry died in May of 1972. It's possible that Perry had been able to get two other doctors to sign off on the abortion as medically necessary, per the 1967 North Carolina law, and do the abortion in a hospital, which would explain why he had been prosecuted for so many other abortions but not for this fatal one.

Sources:
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June 9, 1917: Two Deaths in Chicago

The two illegal abortion deaths on this date both took place on exactly the same day in Illinois. 

Matilda "Dollie" Tidrick, a 38-year-old waitress, was taken to a hospital in Danville, Illinois, in June of 1917. There, she was operated on by Dr. George Lotz. He called in other doctors "who assisted until they learned the nature of the case."

Dollie died on June 9, in spite of the surgery, along with her unborn child. The autopsy found that both had died from the results of an attempted abortion.

Dollie left behind her husband, Clarence, along with seven children and at least one grandchild.

Lotz, who was held without bail, "admitted ... that he was guilty, and had been arrested for the same offense at Chicago and 'paid the price.'" This Chicago case was most likely the June 25, 1911 abortion death of 20-year-old Anna Mueller.

Oddly, though Lotz admitted guilt, he was acquitted.

The same day as Dollie Tidrick's death, June 9, 1917, 26-year-old homemaker Emma Melvin died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from infection caused by a criminal abortion. A person or persons unidentified in the source document indicates that the abortion was perpetrated by Dr. M. Meinhardt, who was never tried in Emma's death.

Watch "Why Was Dr. Lotz Acquitted?" on YouTube.

Sources:

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Monday, June 08, 2026

June 8, 1964: Geri the Poster Child and Why "Never Again" Rings Hollow

Geraldine "Gerri" Santoro is the woman in the infamous photo used by abortion advocates to illustrate the horror of illegal abortion. The photo showed Gerri, nude, face-down with her knees under her, on the floor of the motel room where she died in June of 1964. 

Ms. Magazine first published the photo in 1973, and abortion advocates continue to use the picture in posters. In 1995, Boston filmmaker Jane Gillooly produced a film, "Leona's Sister Gerri," to rally people behind the cause of readily available abortion, on PBS, at taxpayer expense. An icon in death, who was Geraldine Santoro in life?

Gerri's Marriage

Born August 16, 1935, Geri was part of a large family of 10 boys and three girls. Gerri's best friend from high school described her as fun-loving, given to playing hooky and getting sent to the principal's office for mischief. Gerri wanted to beat an engaged friend to the altar, so she got married at age 18 to Sebastian "Sam" Santoro, three or four weeks after she had met him at a bus stop. 

But Santoro was abusive. Gerri's sister reported often seeing her covered with bruises, and seeing the children beaten with a belt. Santoro reportedly blamed the abuse on sinus problems that gave him headaches that made him irritable, so he moved his little family to California. But the abuse continued. One of Gerri's daughters later recounted hearing her mother screaming, going into the bedroom, and seeing her father atop Gerri, his hands around her throat. So in 1963, Gerri left Sam Santoro and took their two daughters, ages 8 and 9, to live on her family's farm in Coventry, Connecticut.

The Pregnancy 
 
Clyde Dixon in court
Gerri first worked as a waitress at Hillside Restaurant in Coventry, which was owned by her brother-in-law, John Russak. She later got a job at Mansfield State Training School. There she met Clyde Dixon, a 43-year-old married man who worked with her. 

Dixon was a veteran who had flown 54 missions as a fighter pilot in World War II and had served in the Korean conflict. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. He had worked at the school, an institution for the intellectually disabled, for 17 years. He had recently been promoted to supervisor over the care of 140 boys. Clyde Dixon must have seemed like an irresistible combination of a dashing hero and a stable caregiver. The two had an affair, and Gerri got pregnant. 

Gerri spoke to her sister of one day marrying Dixon, fantasizing about how her children could play in his yard and have their own room. 

This was in 1964. Sam Santoro announced he was coming from California to visit his daughters. Gerri, 28 years old and six and a half months pregnant to another man, reportedly feared for either for her life, or that she would lose custody of her children.

Seeking Abortifacients
 
Gerri asked a friend for some ergot, ostensibly for a another friend. But evidently nothing came of this. Her sister realized Gerri was pregnant, and Gerri asked her, too, for some ergot. But Leona didn't think this was safe and dissuaded her sister from pursuing this avenue. Leona said she managed to pull together about $700 or $750 (over $4,000 in 2025 dollars) for Gerri, thinking Gerri could go someplace far way, to an organization like Catholic Charities, to get help. Sadly, though there were resources available to help her, Geri rejected those resources for reasons we do not know.

The Abortion 
 
At around 8:30 pm on June 8, Gerri checked into Norwich Motel in Norwich, Connecticut under the name Margaret Reynolds. After looking at the second-story motel room, Geri told the desk clerk that she would return later with her husband and drove off in a 1957 car. She went to Willimantic to meet Dixon, where he was attending Air Force Reserve drills, and take him to the motel.

The plan was for 43-year-old Dixon, using surgical instruments and a medical textbook he'd gotten from a co-worker at Mansfield State Training School, to perform an abortion. The co-worker, 39-year-old Milton Morgan, had access to the instruments and book because his wife was a physician. 

Dixon started the abortion by inserting a catheter into Gerri's uterus. However, Gerri began to hemorrhage. Dixon abandoned her, leaving her to bleed to death. 

The Discovery

At around 10:45 the following morning, a maid at the motel found Geri's nude body on the floor beside the bed. Salem Medical Examiner H. Peter Schwarz declared her dead at the scene. An autopsy performed at W. W. Backus Hospital estimated her time of death at around 4 a.m. on Tuesday -- which was June 9 rather than June 8, the date typically cited for her death. 

At first police thought that the unidentified woman's death might be connected to a blood smear on the door jamb of an adjacent room, but that turned out to be an unrelated incident in which a man had hut himself when he punched through a window. The man as quickly cleared of any involvement in the woman's death.

The car Geri had drive to the motel was later found abandoned in Willimantic. 

It's unclear how the police connected with Geri's family. Had they reported her missing? Did she have ID in her purse? Lorena had to go to the hospital to identify her sister's body. The family told the children that their mother had been hit by a car. 

The Men are Sentenced
 
Dixon had fled the state. Three days later, out of gas and out of money, he turned himself into police in Morgantown, West Virginia. Both he and Morgan were fired from their jobs.

Dixon pleaded nolo contender to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit abortion, and was sentenced to a year and a day to three years. 

Morgan asserted that he had only acted as Clyde Dixon's friend and had no idea that his friend planned to perpetrate an abortion with the instruments. Morgan was given a one year prison sentence, suspended after two months, and two years of probation, on a charge of conspiracy to commit abortion.

The Exploitation 

It wasn't until after Ms. published the photo that Gerri's daughter, Joannie Griffith, then 17, was shown the picture by her aunt and told the truth of her mother's death. She was outraged at how Ms. was using the photo, saying, "How dare they flaunt this? How dare they take my beautiful mom, my beautiful, beautiful mom, and put this in front of the public eye. And who gave them permission. I was pissed."
 
The headline in Ms. was "Never Again." Never again, they said, would women die from dangerous abortions as Gerri had died, because the Supreme Court had handed down Roe vs. Wade.

And with that, mainstream feminist interest in women's needless abortion deaths was laid to rest. Only if a woman's death can be used to agitate for the abortion-rights agenda do those who proclaim themselves to be champions of women's live deign to even notice. 

Post-Legalization Reality

Women continue to die horrible deaths. They were already dying horrible deaths from legal abortions even before Roe.

Black and white headshot of a middle-aged white man with brushed-back dark hair
Dr. Jesse Ketchum
Jesse Ketchum, a criminal abortionist from Michigan, carpetbagged to New York when that state legalized abortion-on-demand in 1970. Though he had no deaths attributed to him in his criminal practice in Michigan, he managed to let two women, Margaret Smith and Carole Schaner, bleed to death within four months of each other in 1971. Carole, like Geri, bled to death in a motel room. 

When Roe was handed down in 1973, striking down every anti-abortion law in the United states, it did nothing to put the back alley butchers out of business.

Benjamin Munson
In 1973, Linda Padfield was sent home with more than half of her five-month fetus still in her body; she died of infection. Rather than express outrage, prochoicers rallied around the abortionist, Benjamin Munson. Munson had been a "back alley butcher" -- a criminal abortionist -- prior to Roe. He had no dead women to his discredit. But after a stroke of the pen converted him to a provider of safe and legal abortions, he killed not only Linda, but also Yvonne Mesteth.

Milan Vuitch
Former District of Columbia criminal abortionist Milan Vuitch killed Wilma Harris in 1974, and Georgianna English in 1980. Like Ketchum and Munson, Vuitch never had a criminal abortion death linked to him. And, like Benjamin Munson, Milan Vuitch remained a hero to the abortion-rights cause despite the appalling quackery and the dead women.

Legalization was a failure


It was improvements in medical care, not a more abortion-friendly legislature, that reduced women's deaths from abortion. Women continue to die wretched deaths, abandoned by the abortionists who injured them. What has changed is that instead of being outraged and demanding corrective action, abortion-rights activists demand even laxer oversight of abortion and sometimes even start legal defense funds for the butchers who kill women. Though individual prochoicers no doubt would be outraged to learn about how much butchery continues, the leaders -- who know about these deaths -- sweep them under the rug. They work to serve the needs of the abortion practitioners, not abortion patients. It is the abortionists who have the money to purchase political power.

Until women's lives become more important than political power, women will continue to die. Does it matter what the credentials are of the person who kills them?

Independent sources:
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June 8, 1988: FPA Patient Sent Home With Retained Fetal parts

Dr. Ruben Marmet

The survivors of 32-year-old Joyce Ortenzio filed suit against Edward Allred, his Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA), the San Vicente Hospital FPA facility, and abortionist Ruben Marmet.

Joyce, a native of Hawaii, went to San Vicente for laminaria insertion by Marmet on June 7, 1988. Later, Marmet performed an abortion, but did not remove all of the fetal parts from Joyce's uterus.

The next day, June 8, Joyce was found dead in her home.

The cause of death was an overdose of the drug amitriptyline, infection from fetal parts that were not removed during the abortion, and septic shock.

Joyce left three children motherless.

Joyce is one of many women to die at this NAF facility after the National Abortion Federation was founded. The abortion conglomerate later known as Family Planning Associates Medical Group started its string of maternal abortion deaths with 24-year-old Denise Holmes in 1970. Somehow Allred and his colleagues managed to have no more women's abortion deaths attributed to them until they started stacking up the bodies beginning in 1984:

  • Patricia Chacon, age 16, March 3, 1984
  • Mary Pena, age 43, December 16, 1984
  • Josefina Garcia, age 37, May 23, 1985
  • Laniece Dorsey, age 17, February 6, 1986
  • Tami Suematsu, age 19, August 19, 1988
  • Susan Levy, age 30, April 9, 1992
  • Deanna Bell, age 13, September 5, 1992
  • Christine Mora, age 18, November 8, 1994
  • Ta Tanisha Wesson, age 24, January 24, 1995
  • Nakia Jorden, age 16, December 10, 1998
  • Maria Leho, age 26, June 11, 1999
  • Maria Rodriguez, age 22, March 25, 2000
  • Kimberly Neil, age 38, May 22, 2000
  • "Imelda Laurence," age 19, November 20, 2003
  • Chanelle Bryant, age 22, January 14, 2004
  • "Kyla Ellis," age 23, May 16, 2014

    • I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.

    Watch "One of Seventeen" on YouTube.

    Sources: Los Angeles County (CA) Superior Court Case No. WEC139590; California Death Certificate No. 88-127625

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    June 8, 1934: Another Victim of Emil Gleitsmann?

    Summary: Elsie Quaal is one of 7 abortion deaths attributed to Dr. Emil Gleitsmann in Chicago.

    Dr. Emil Gleitsmann, age 68, had a long criminal history of abortion long before 26-year-old Elsie Quaal crossed paths with him. 

    Gleitsman's record of dead women began in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition. 

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

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

    Gleitsman was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.

    It was at this point that Elsie turned to Gleitsman -- described in several news stories as "partly blind -- to abort her unborn baby. She died June 8, 1934. A coroner's jury recommended that he be held over to a grand jury. Elsie's husband (Paul, according to news coverage, but Leroy according to Elsie's death record) testified that when he'd gone to Gleitsmann's office to look into his wife's death, he encountered Gleitsmann's attorney, William, McKinley. Coverage is vague but it seems that McKinley was trying to discourage Paul from reporting the abortion to the authorities.

    During the inquest into Elsie's death, Mrs. Caroline Doney accused Gleitsmann in another abortion death.

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

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


    Source: "Dr. Gleitsmann Held for Third Abortion Death," Chicago Daily Tribune, June 16, 1934

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    June 8, 1914: New Year's Party Ends in Tragedy

    By the time 1913 came to a close, 18-year-old Ester Reed had already been working for several years as a cashier at Hillman's department store in Chicago. She was making $6 a week -- less than $200 a week in 2025 dollars. 


    AI illustration by Grok
    On New Years Eve, Ester looked out the window of her home at 2949 Walnut Street, saw the festive atmosphere, and decided to go out and look for some fun. She met up with a group of young men and women who were going to a party at the Old Style Inn at the corner of California and Division.

    In the traditional manner of New Years Even, Ester drank. In her drunken state, she ended up in a one-night stand with one of the young men.

    Months went by and Ester's missed her periods. In April she went to her mother, Julia Reed, with her worries. Julia took her daughter to two different people to confirm their worst fears. Ester was pregnant.

    Julia bought pills for her daughter to try to abort the baby.

    The pills didn't have the desired effect.

    Desperate to keep her husband, Fred, from finding out that Ester was pregnant and casting her off, Julia sought an abortionist. She decided on Dr. John Lewis Neumann, at 3617 Douglas Avenue.

    Neuman demanded payment of $150 for an abortion, the equivalent of over $4,800 in 2025. Julia protested, and Neuman told her to sell furniture and clothes to get the money. Julia dickered him down to $50, though he complained about it. 

    He started the abortion at his practice on April 25, 1014, then completed it two days later at the family's home. His efforts clearly weren't even worth the $50, much less then $150 he'd wanted, since he managed to make Ester deathly ill. He demanded an additional $25 for aftercare.

    Julia didn't pay him. Instead, she took her daughter to Park Avenue Hospital, where she died of septicemia on June 8. 

    The secret abortion intended to keep Esther's father from kicking her out of the house thus removed her from the family permanently. 

    Neuman was arrested January 11, 1917, and though the case went to trial, the sources do not indicate the outcome.

    Watch Secret Abortion Kills Teen on YouTube.

    Sources:

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    Sunday, June 07, 2026

    June 7, 1924: Unknown perp in Chicago

    AI image of what Anna's actual
    home probably looked like at
    the time of her death

    On June 7, 1924, 27-year-old Anna Strazynski died at her Chicago home at 1054 N. Hermitage Ave from an illegal abortion believed to have been perpetrated that day. 

    The perpetrator was never identified. 

    Given the abundance of physicians and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time, it is likely that she availed herself of one of these trained professionals.

    * Watch Died in her Chicago Home on YouTube.
    * Watch Died in her Chicago Home on Rumble.

    Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

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    June 7, 1939: Self-Induced in the Bronx

    Grok AI illustration
    Today is another anniversary where all the information I have comes from a single death record.

    Lillian Murbach Tremarzo, a 35-year-old white homemaker, died June 7, 1939 at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. The cause of death was pulmonary embolism, thrombosis of uterine veins, subacute endometretis, with a history of self-induced abortion. 

    Genealogy records indicate that Lillian had lived a sad life. She lost her father at the age of 5 and  her half-brother at the age of 14. She and her husband had a 14-year-old son at the time of her death.

    Watch Self-Induced in the Bronx on YouTube.

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    Saturday, June 06, 2026

    June 6, 2000: Rapid Death in Brooklyn

    Msgr Philip J. Reilly, executive director of Helpers Of God's
    Precious Infants, (left), and Father Kevin Sweeney at the
    Ambulatory Surgery Center of Brooklyn.
    (Todd Maisel/New York Daily NewsNew York Daily News) 

    Nicey Washington was 26 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion at Ambulatory Surgery Center of Brooklyn in New York on the morning of June 6, 2000.

    Her heart stopped after the abortion. She was rushed to Lutheran Hospital at about 11 a.m. Attempts to revive her failed, and she was declared dead at around noon.

    As of the time of the last article I could find on Nicey's death, the Medical Examiner's office hadn't determined the exact cause of death, but suspected a botched abortion.

    The state health department would not provide information due to confidentiality concerns, but added, "We are actively investigating this particular case."

    AbortionDocs indicates that Ambulatory Surgery Center was sued for the death 10 years later of 32-year-old Lisa Fusco.

    Watch The Press Lost Interest in Her Death on YouTube.

    Source: "City, State Probe Patient Death at Abortion Clinic," New York Post, June 9, 2000

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    June 6, 1988: Embolism Death in California

    Lime 5 notes the death of Manuela, a native of Mexico, who was 36 years old when she underwent an abortion on May 26, 1988. 

    Manuela sustained an embolism that caused cardiac arrest. She died on June 6 at Stanford Medical Center. 

    Since there is no news coverage or lawsuit regarding Manuela's death, I am withholding her surname. She was married and left behind a widower and three children.

    Source: California Death Certificate No. 88-087890

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    June 6, 1984: What Killed Sheila?

    Delta Women's Clinic
    A chronic asthma patient, 27-year-old Sheila Hebert went to Delta Women's Clinic in Baton Rouge for an abortion on June 6, 1984. Shortly after the abortion, Sheila complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing. She lost consciousness, and staff injected her with adrenaline, but were unable to revive her. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died.

    The coroner attributed the death to "cardiorespiratory arrest due to acute asthmatic bronchitis" after "surgical termination of pregnancy.

    A suit filed anonymously against Richardson Glidden and Delta Women's Clinic raised these issues in the death of a patient in 1984. The suit and news article therefore probably describe the same case; any minor discrepancies are probably just errors in reporting. "Jane Doe" was 27 years old. 

    The suit was filed on behalf of her 10-year-old motherless son, "Minor A". Jane was the couple's only daughter. Glidden performed the abortion at Delta on June 5, 1984. Afterward, she was "placed in a post-operative room where she developed an acute asthma condition and expired." Emergency personnel arrived within 3 minutes of getting the call, but found the young woman blue, cool, and essentially lifeless. Efforts to revive her, both at Delta and at the ICU proved unsuccessful. 

    The suit charged Glidden and Delta staff with failure to monitor the patient in recovery, failing to react properly when her condition was discovered, failing to call 911 promptly, and failing to have adequate emergency equipment available. 

    Ingar Weber would die after an abortion at Delta in January of 1990.

    Just to refine the quality of the clinic in question, Delta was sued by a federal attorney in 1989 for illegally dispensing controlled substances.  It was also owned by Richardson Glidden -- the same National Abortion Federation member who had Kermit Gosnell moonlighting at his clinic in Delaware.

    Watch "Just a Fluke?" on YouTube.

    Sources:

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    June 6, 1907: Midwife Implicated in Fatal Abortion

    On June 6, 1907, homemaker Julia M. Williamson, a 29-year-old native of Tennessee, died at her Chicago home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. 


    A midwife named Emily Redemski was held by the coroner's jury, but acquitted by a judge for reasons not given in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database. (Additional information from Illinois death index)
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    Friday, June 05, 2026

    June 5, 1914: "Under Peculiar Circumstances"

    On June 5, 1914, 28-year-old homemaker Mary Kenny Schloendorn of 208 8th Avenue, Astoria, New York, died at her home "under peculiar circumstances." 

    AI rendition of Mary's deathbed

    During the investigation, Dr. Mencken, also of Astoria, reported that he'd been called in several days earlier to treat Mary for an incomplete abortion. He was summoned back and found that Mary was suffering from blood poisoning and septicemia. He spoke with Mary and she indicated that the abortion in question had been perpetrated by a midwife. 

    Mary's husband, Harry, whom she had married in 1906, also said that she'd undergone an abortion at the hands of a midwife. 

    According to public records, Mary left behind not only her husband, whom census records identify as an iron worker, but also a 6-year-old daughter and two sons, both 4 years of age.

    The coroner investigated and discovered that Mary had indeed died from septicemia and general peritonitis from a ruptured uterus during an abortion. 

    Sources: 



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    June 5, 1915: Another Chicago Midwife's Work

    Contrary to popular belief, the majority of pre-legalization abortions were not perpetrated by the women themselves or by greasy old men with coathangers. Most were, in face, performed by doctors, midwives, nurses, or other people with medical training.

    One example of such an aborion that turned fatal is the June 5, 1915 death of 25-year-old homemaker Mary Balcznska. Mary died at Chicago's St. Bernard's Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Veronika Rypczyski who was arrested and held by the Coroner on June 10. 

    The case never went to trial. 

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    Thursday, June 04, 2026

    June 4, 2021: Anaphylactic Reaction and Death for 22-year-old

    Grok AI illustration
    “Clara” was given the RU486 abortion pill and then misoprostol for a legal chemical abortion. She suddenly suffered what is listed as a “probable anaphylactic medication reaction” and died on June 4, 2021. She was only 22.

    Clara may have had a lethal allergy to one or more components of the chemical abortion, especially since mifepristone and misoprostol were both listed as the “suspect product active ingredient” for her reaction. If this was the case, giving the drugs under medical supervision or administering a simple skin application test could have detected the allergy and prevented her death. However, there have been documented cases of mifepristone or misoprostol-induced anaphylactic shock even in those who did not have a suspected allergy, which is another reason why the common and legal practice of instructing an abortion client to self-administer the drugs at home is extremely reckless. Although her death was dubbed an accident, it was certainly one that could have been prevented.

    The FDA did not count Clara’s death during the reporting period when she died. It would be almost another year before they even learned of her death at all.

    (compare to 2021 FAERS form)

    Sources:

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    Wednesday, June 03, 2026

    June 3, 1989: Immigrant Woman Dies After Intestines Mangled

    Maria Robledo had immigrated to the US in her early 20s looking for a better life, but thanks to America’s abortion-permissive laws, she would lose her life at 42.

    Southern California abortion clinic catering to Hispanic women
    On June 2, 1989, Maria was living in Compton, southern Los Angeles County, and underwent a D&C abortion. Something went very, very wrong.

    At the hospital, doctors discovered the extreme damage. The abortionist had managed to twist and pinch her bowel (likely by ripping a hole in her uterus, catching part of her intestines and shoving it back through the site of the injury), causing a condition called bowel volvulus. A loop of the large intestine was now twisted around itself, causing intestinal obstruction and cutting off circulation to part of the organ.

    The abortion was also incomplete, meaning part of Maria’s dead baby was decaying inside of her. Either injury would have been life-threatening alone, but with the deadly combination, sepsis and gangrene quickly set in. Maria died one day after the fatal abortion. Her body was transported back to Mexico for burial, as she had family there. She apparently did not receive an autopsy.

    The horrific injuries that killed Maria are far from unheard of in the abortion industry. During a National Abortion Federation “risk management” seminar, a horrified moderator stepped in when an abortionist told others at the convention that when he “pulled bowel” (as he called it), his preferred response was to shove it back through the perforation and send the client home without telling her. The appalled moderator immediately pointed out how reckless and dangerous this was, and reminded the audience that any confirmed or suspected injury of this nature required immediate hospitalization. The moderator then asked the audience of abortionists how many of them did this to their clients. Six openly admitted that they did.

    The CDC did not count Maria’s death in their 1989 tally of maternal deaths from legal abortion. In fact, they did not count anyone in her age group in that list at all.

    Others who died after receiving similar uterine and bowel injuries include Sharon Hamptlon and Magdalena Rodriguez-Ortega.

    California Office of the State Registrar

    The Scarlet Survey, Kevin Sherlock (see 1989 abortion death data, “Maria AKA Jane Roe of Compton”)

    "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VGPX-194 : 26 November 2014), Maria I Robledo, 03 Jun 1989; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.

    "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J5D8-G29 : 11 January 2021), M I Robledo, Jun 1989; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

    "California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP54-M5F : Tue Feb 25 17:14:00 UTC 2025), Entry for Maria Robledo and Arnold, 10 Sep 1982.

    Maria’s medical and death records

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    June 3, 1884: A Mysterious Death

     Sick Woman on the Train

    AI rendition of Mary arriving in Fort Wayne

    On May 14, 1884, a woman in her late 30s arrived in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on the train from Quincy, Illinois. She was so terribly ill that the conductor of the train telegraphed ahead for authorities to have a carriage at the depot to take her to the hospital.

    The woman was taken to Dr. Frederick Thayer's Private Lying-In Institute on Walton Avenue. 

    The hospital was fairly new. According to an advertisement in the Fort Wayne city directory, it had only just been established in 1881. The ad read "TO DOCTORS AND THE PUBLIC. -- Years of experience in the regular practice of medicine has convinced me of the necessity of a well-conducted Lying-in Home for the protection of unfortunate females during Pregnancy and Confinement. All wishing to avail themselves of such an institution will not be disappointed in patronizing me. I have superior accommodations, everything first-class, cosy, and home like; beautiful, healthful retreat in the environs of the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Board from $8 to $15 per week, according to the length of time they stay, and rooms occupied." The ad also encourages anybody wishing to adopt a baby to write to Thayer. 

    Thayer also circulated handbills, including one reading,  "FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNFORTUNATE FEMALES DURING PREGNANCY & CONFINEMENT FROM THE REPROACH & CENSURE OF A CRUEL, RELENTLESS & UNSYMPATHIZING PUBLIC, TO ESCAPE WHICH, CRIMINAL ABORTION , WITH ALL ITS DIRE CONSEQUENCES OR SUICIDE, IT IS NOT INFREQUENTLY RESORTED TO, DEATH ITSELF BEING PREFERED TO EXPOSURE"

    This was an interesting choice of facilities and raises a lot of questions that the news coverage doesn't answer.

    What Happened at Dr. Thayer's Hospital

    Dr. Thayer wrote an open letter to the June 6, 1884 Fort Wayne, Indiana, Daily Gazette describing what happened. The woman identifying herself as Cora Smiley arrived at about 10 pm. She needed help to climb the stairs to her room. 

    "After reaching her room she was so uncomfortable I feared she was in labor and made an examination and found she was as near as I could tell about fie months enciente and not in labor. The next night about 7 or 8 o'clock, I was hastily summoned to the hospital and found her almost in a complete state of asphyxia, caused as near as I could tell from congestion of the lungs, as she had violent spells of coughing and said she had been having  a very severe cold, which had settled on her lungs, and there were good indications to cause me to believe her, as she was raising large quantities of stringy masses of blood, to the amount of one-half to one pint in twenty-four hours. After persistent and heroic treatment, I succeeded in removing the obstruction to her breathing to the extent which enabled her to rest easy, and she soon went to sleep, and from that on was able to be let around a little, but was very hysterical, extremely so."

    Dr. Thayer said that during the woman's stay at his hospital, "she said a physician from her town had treated her in several ways to relieve her of her pregnancy." It was on her second night at the hospital that she told Dr. Thayer her real name, Mary Rice, that she was from Quincy, Indiana, and her bother's name was William C. Rice. 

    Dr. Thayer left for Chicago on business on May 24, ten days after Mary's admission. On the 25th, Mary went into labor and the deputy coroner, Dr. J. M. Dinnen, was summoned and arrived at about 1:00. Dr. Dinnen figured that Mary would continue in labor for several hours so he left. About five and a half hours later, roughly 6:00, he was summoned back to the hospital. By the time he got there, Mary had expelled a decomposing 5-month fetus. Dr. Dinnen estimated that the baby had been dead for at least several weeks. He continued to provide care to Mary in the absence of Dr. Thayer.

    According to the June 4, 1884 Daily Gazette, Mary's aborted baby was a little boy.

    Dr. Thayer indicated that he returned home on May 26 and resumed care of his patient, but her condition did not improve. On June 2nd he called in Dr. C. B. Stemen, who agreed with Thayer's course of treatment and believed that Mary was suffering from "a bad case of hysterics." The two men believed that the case wasn't hopeless and that Mary might recover.

    Thayer went on to say that the next morning, June 3rd, Mary died suddenly between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning.

    After Mary's Death

    "As soon as death had occurred I ordered the rom immediately closed, forbidding any of her effects being touched, by any one, until the coroner arrived. He was immediately notified and came and took charge of the body and her effects."

    Mary reportedly told the other patients that she was suffering the effects of an abortion attempted on her in back in January in Quincy by a Dr. Pixley or Pittsley.

    Mary wasn't destitute. According to Dr. Thayer, she paid him $25 for her care, just over $800 in 2025 money, and told Thayer that she had money in the bank and that a friend could send more money to pay her hospital bill. She said she owned land and sleep. 

    The post-mortem examination and investigation verified that she had died from a blood clot in her heart, attributed to a lingering effect of the abortion. Mary's body was transferred from the hospital to a funeral home. Her family were notified, and one of her brothers came to Ft. Wayne to take her home for burial. Dr. Thayer said he spoke with Mary's brother, who said that their parents were dead and Mary had left home years earlier. They'd had little contact. He didn't know of her owning land or sheep, but said she did have $300 (close to $10,000 in 2025) at the time she left home.

    By the time William got Mary's body home, it "was in such horrible condition that it was not removed from the coffin, but was interred in the lead 'cooling box.'"

    Mary likely sought the abortion because she was unmarried, though she took to her grave whether she chose not to marry her baby's father, he refused to marry her, or he was in no position to marry her because he already had a family.

    Sources: 

    • "An Unfortunate," (Fort Wayne, IN) Daily Gazette, June 4, 1884
    • "They Are Still At It", The Quincy Daily Journal, June 6, 1884
    • "Mary Rice," (Fort Wayne, IN) Daily Gazette, June 6, 1884
    • "Happenings," Fort Wayne Daily," June 7, 1884
    • Ft. Wayne Gazette, June 14, 1884
    • "Death of an Unfortunate Girl," Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, June 4, 1884
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    June 3, 1975: One of Three Dead Women at Chicago Abortion Mill

    "Susanna Chisholm"* was a pretty young mother of four when she went to Biogenetics Ltd. in Chicago for a safe and legal abortion on June 3, 1975.  

    Even though 35-year-old Susanna was more than 12 weeks pregnant, the Biogenetics doctor chose to ignore the Illinois law that required abortions after 12 weeks to be performed in hospitals. Within hours of her abortion, Susanna had bled to death from a punctured uterus. She had paid $600 for the fatal abortion.

    Biogenetics (which had been the target of at least 30 malpractice suits) claimed that their doctor was only repairing damage Susanna had done to herself in an attempted self-induced abortion. However, Biogenetics settled the case with Susanna's survivors for $75,000. 

    Brenda Benton and Synthia Dennard also died after abortions at Biogenetics. 

    Biogenetics's owner Kenneth Yellin was gunned down outside his facility in an apparent gangland slaying in 1979.

    *Pseudonym used at request of family member.

    Watch "Was Susanna's Abortion Legal or Illegal?" on YouTube.

    Sources:

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