Baby survives 1-in-13-million odds

Millie-An Pittman surprised doctors who initiated a c-section on her laboring mother: Millie-An had gestated as a rare abdominal pregnancy. In an ectopic pregnancy, the embryo usually implants in the mother's fallopian tube. In an abdominal pregnancy, the embryo moves outside the mother's reproductive tract entirely and implants in the abdomen. The maternal fatality rate for such pregnancies is 1 in 200; the fetal mortality rate is so close to 100% that only 100 cases have been documented in which the baby survived.

Welcome to the outside, Millie-An!

HT: Jull Stanek

Allegheny Co. coroner flooded with calls about fetuses

An old friend emailed me a link to this article:

Allegheny County coroner flooded with calls on fetuses

The remains of hundreds of fetuses -- some of whom might have been born live before expiring -- were found in a garage in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh. The fetuses came from Magee Women's Hospital, where the fatal abortion had been performed on Marla Cardamone.

Magee had contracted with a funeral director to cremate the fetuses. Since news of the discovery came out, the Allegheny County Coroner's office has been flooded with calls from women who had been treated at Magee, wanting to know if their unborn children were among the remains. The coroner's office plans to contact the families of miscarried fetuses, but indicated that they will probably not contact the mothers of fetuses who died from induced abortions. The coroner's office is also investigating whether or not any of the abortions were done illegally.

Neutral descriptions of fetal remains

Most descriptions of aborted fetuses come from prolifers, and are therefore supposedly distorted and sensationalized. I'll let more objective sources describe the products of conception. (For the complete, unedited version of this article, click here.) WARNING: Extremely graphic!

From a September 2, 1992 story in the Charlotte Observer about fetuses found in a dumpster outside an abortion clinic:

[A] Charlotte Observer reporter saw ... fetal tissue removed from the dumpster adjacent to the clinic. The remains ... included readily identifiable body parts. Among them were a left forearm and hand, a left leg and foot, a right forearm and hand, part of a right foot, and a spinal column and rib cage.

From the autopsy on Madgalena Rodriguez, who died in an attempted legal abortion:

[T]he body of the baby was not complete when autopsied. Both arms had been cut off; the heart, lungs, liver, and other organs had been cut out, the front of the chest and abdomen were missing, the right femur was fractured, the head was intact except for an area on the scalp which had been taken off from the back of the head.

From an autopsy performed on two fetuses found in a trash container next to an abortion clinic:

FETUS #1: Parts of a fetus of indeterminate sex include a skull cap, both arms total with scapula intact, the entire vertebral column with a portion of rib cage attached, the pelvic girdle, the left femur, and both lower legs with feet attached. A kidney, the tongue, and one eye was also retrieved. Gestational age was estimated at 4 months, perhaps very slightly greater, estimated on length of long bones. Measurements are as follows: femur 28 mm. ...foot length 18 mm. ... hand length 15 mm. .... FETUS #2: A beheaded male fetus of an estimated 7-8 weeks gestation. The length of the fetus from shoulder to rump is estimated at 2.2 cm... The arms and scapula girdle was traumatically detached and retrieved in a separate piece.

The fetus found during an autopsy on Janet Forster, who died from abortion complications:

[Autopsy found a] macerated, lacerated and purulent male fetus of about 19 weeks gestation. This fetus measures 14.5 cm. in crown-rump length, shows lacerations in the shoulder area, evisceration of the bowel through an abdominal laceration, and destruction of the skull and facial structures.

From the autopsy on Barbaralee Davis, who died from a botched abortion:

Two fetal parts, the face and thoracic spinal column, are embedded in a 700 cc. fresh hematoma inside the 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. .... This will place the gestational age at 16 to 16 1/2 weeks.

These fetuses ranged in age from about 7 weeks to over 30 weeks (Magdalena Rodrigez' baby). What's most striking to me is the similarity of the descriptions. Only the size is obvious giveaway as to how old the fetus in question was. So much for abortion just removing a blob of tissue.

Can anybody look at those mangled fetal remains and say that achieving that result -- a dead, mangled fetus -- was worth injuring or even killing his or her mother?

Question du jour: Have you ever been involved in an abortion?

Have you ever been involved in an abortion? If so, how? How did you feel about it at the time, and have your feelings changed at all over time?

An interesting link from Sluts4Choice:

Foul language warning

Burned Rose at Sluts4Choice gleefully links to I didn't hear a thing, mummy. This article takes work by a veterinary researcher and uses it to lambaste both people who try to stimulate their babies in the womb, and those who are concerned that fetal surgery and abortion are painful for the fetus.

Burned Rose's specific comment is:

"Consciousness appears for the first time after birth. We conclude the embryo and foetus cannot suffer before or during birth. Suffering can only occur in the newborn when the onset of breathing oxygenates its tissues..."

So fuck all you fetuses. You are braindead - I KNEW IT.

And supposedly it's the prolifers who are obsessed with fetuses.

Interesting reflection from a former German soldier

Christianity Today has an excellent article about German theologian Jurgen Moltmann. Moltmann became a Christian while a prisoner of war in allied POW camps.

Aside from the faith issues discussed in the article, something in Moltmann's experience really struck me as relevant to abortion:

When Hitler's empire imploded, exposing the moral rot at the center of the Third Reich, Moltmann saw how other German prisoners "collapsed inwardly, how they gave up all hope, sickening for the lack of it, some of them dying." As he learned the truth about the Nazis, Moltmann felt an inconsolable grief about life, "weighed down by the somber burden of a guilt which could never be paid off."

I wonder, when the abortion house of cards collapses, what the result will be on the moral of all the people who thought that they were defending something worthwhile. If it collapses too quickly, will there be some sort of devastating sociological fallout from so many people being hit with so much guilt so suddenly?

And, more to the point, will the Christians be ready to reach out to these brothers and sisters in need?

Tragic safe-n-legal anniversary: Diane Watson

Diane Watson was 27 years old when she went to Hedd Surgi-Center in Chicago for an abortion on August 29, 1987. Although Diane was over 12 weeks pregnant, Rudolph Moragne proceeded with the abortion, in violation of state regulations.

Diane had seizures and went into cardiac arrest at the clinic. Moragne and the other physicians present -- Henry Pimentel, Ester Pimentel, and Calvin Williams -- failed to perform CPR.

Diane's autopsy report attributed her death to "seizures due to anesthesia during an abortion," and made note of the recent pregnancy. Diane's death certificate, however, not only makes no mention of the abortion, but has the "no" box checked for whether or not the decedent had been pregnant during the previous three months. Therefore, Diane's death would not have been noticed as an abortion death by the National Center for Health Statistics -- the agency the CDC depends upon to notify them of abortion deaths.

Diane wasn't the only woman to die after an abortion by Moragne at Hedd. Magnolia Thomas had died in 1986.

And exactly how much did the powers-that-be do to correct this? At Hedd Surgi-Center, inspectors found poor sanitation and infection control, unlicensed and unqualified staff, out of date medications, mold on the breathing tubes, and mouse droppings in the operating room. A revocation agreement barred Hedd from performing any procedures but abortions. In other words, Hedd wasn't good enough to provide legitimate medical care, but it was good enough to do abortions. (Chicago Tribune 2-8-91) A search of the Illinois database shows that Moragne was never disciplined, but allowed his license to expire in 2002.

Henry and Esther Pimentel both still have active medical licenses in Illinois, but unlike Moragne, they've been disciplined by the medical board. Henry Pimentel's license was suspended from April of 1991 to March of 1994 for the following reasons:

Performed several operations in which he signed another doctor's name to the Public Aid forms because, at that time, he was not eligible to participate in the Medical Assistance Program. In addition, for approximately seven Years, he prescribed controlled substances on a non-renewed license. On May 11, 1990, he pleaded guilty to vendor fraud in Cook County.

Esther Pimentel was put on professional probation from March 1994 to March 1996 due to "Alleged fraudulent billing and lack of quality of care rendered."

Calvin Williams was disciplined numerous times. His license was suspended from May of 1990 to June of 1993 for "Alleged gross negligence dishonorable, unethical and unprofessional conduct abandonment of a patient. Incompetence to practice medicine." He was placed under probation from September of 1993 to September of 1995 due to "Alleged gross negligence dishonorable, unethical and unprofessional conduct abandonment of a patient. Incompetence to practice medicine." He was placed on professional probation again November of 1997 to November of 1999 for "Violating the terms and conditions of a previously ordered Department probation." His license was suspended in December of 1999 for "Failing to comply with the terms and conditions of a previously ordered probation." He has not had his license reinstated since then.

Apparently Hedd had pretty low standards for the physicians they hired. And we're supposed to believe that somehow places like Hedd are safe for women.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Who is the enemy?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 NAS

When it comes to the abortion battle, it seems the lines are drawn pretty clearly: prolife vs. prochoice. No matter which side you align yourself with, it's easy to tell who is friend and who is foe, right? If you're prolife, the prochoicers are the enemy. If you're prochoice, the prolifers are the enemy. Right?

Well, it might be possible to put forth that argument from a purely secular perspective (although I don't think it holds water even from a secular perspective). But from a Christian perspective, the idea that this is a war of prolife versus prochoice -- or even "good guys" versus "bad guys" -- is bogus.

The Bible makes it pretty clear who the Enemy is. We can explore this Enemy at length at another time. Right now, we'll look closely at Ephesians 6:12, as a reminder of who the enemy is not:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Let's turn to the Greek Lexicon and see what we can find about the words used in this passage.

We can start with the Greek word transliterated "pale" (pal ay). This word is used only in this passage, and means "wrestling (a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck); the term is transferred to the Christian's struggle with the power of evil." So it looks like we're not talking about a "live and let live" situation, in which our Enemy will let us be if we ignore it. We're engaged in a wrestling match in which one, and only one, can emerge victorious.

We can then look at the Greek words transliterated "sarx," indicating "flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood)...used of natural or physical origin, ...denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God;" and "haima" (hah ee ma), "blood." We can take this then pretty literally -- we're not fighting flesh and blood, mortal creatures, men and women like ourselves.

Well, then, what are we fighting? Here's where it really gets interesting.

The word translated here as "powers" is the Greek transliterated "exousia" (ex oo see ah). Here are some of the ways this word is defined:

• power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
  
• physical and mental power
  
• the ability or strength with which one is endued, which he either possesses or exercises
  
• the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
  
• the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
  
• the leading and more powerful among created beings superior to man, spiritual potentates

I find it fascinating that Paul chose this word here, a word that means not just those in authority or those with power, but free will itself. Although this idea is not, I would presume, the crux of the passage, I think we'd do well to remember that our own free will is often ready to trip us up. The very capacity for making choices which the abortion advocates hold up as the ultimate good seems here cast as a potential pitfall. This stands as a warning to all Christians no matter what side of the abortion battle they've stationed themselves on: just because we can does not mean we should. Having been given free will, and the power to make choices, we are given at every moment of our lives the capacity to rebel against God and set ourselves up as petty tyrants over our own lives and the lives of those around us.

Again, though, this is an interesting side concept. Biblical scholars point to the meaning of this word in this passage as focusing on spiritual powers having control in the world, and over people.

"World forces of this darkness" is a concept built of three words:

The word translated as "world forces" is transliterated "kosmokrator." This word is used only in this passage, and means "lord of the world, prince of this age; the devil and his demons."

The word translated as "darkness" is transliterated "skotos," meaning "darkness of night; darkness of darkened eyesight or blindness; metaphorically of ignorance respecting divine things and human duties, and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality, together with their consequent misery in hell; persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway."

We can pull this together into a picture of Satan and the way he works in the world, where he has dominion. Note also, that the word translated "darkness" can refer to "persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway," this doens't indicate that these persons themselves are that which we are fighting, but the darkness that is being manifested in them. This is, perhaps, a fancy way of restating, "Hate the sin, love the sinner."

The third concept of what we are fighting is translated here, "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

The word translated "spiritual" is transliterated "pneumatikos," and translates as "sprit." The specific meaning that fits in this passage is "belonging to a spirit, or a being higher than man but inferior to God."

The word translated as "wickedness" is transliterated "poneria," meaning "depravity, iniquity, wickedness; malice; evil purposes and desires." That's pretty straightforward.

The word translated "heavenly" is transliterated "epouranios," which translates pretty much into our current "heavenly." We tend to think of "heavenly" as meaning "good," or "superior," but in this passage it can't be indicitave of anything good or superior, and therefore must designate that we're talking about a spiritual realm, a higher reality, and not the physical world visible around us. This stands in contrast to what this passage says we do not contend against, i.e. "flesh and blood," or worldly enemies.

This is not meant to be the final word on how we can apply this passage, either in our lives or as we struggle to put an end to abortion.

Question du jour

What relationship, if any, do you see between abortion and the death penalty?

Blog roundup

I can't see that anybody can post responses, but The Absurdist has some interesting reflections on a dream he had -- a dream that he was pregnant. The post is too well-written for me to want to touch it and dissect it here. Do go read it.

Ken at EarthForum seems to be asserting that the "culture war" is a construct by malevolent politicians to keep from being voted out of office. While I do agree that politicians on the right as well as on the left use the culture war to scare voters, I think it's also pretty clear that there's a divide here. Read James Davison Hunter's "Culture Wars" and "Before the Shooting Begins." There's a real tug-of-war between what can best be described as "progressives" and "traditionalists." And I think "culture war" is a valid way to describe it.

uaci1187 wonders why scientists are searching so hard for a single string of DNA on Mars that they can hold up and identify as "life," when human fetuses targeted for brain-sucking abortions are somehow not identified as "life." Good question.

AHSIRTat Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm muses about opposition to the "Morning After Pill." She's a pharmacist so she has some professional credibility here. To AHSIRT: Opposition to Plan B comes from the fact that the life of the new human being starts before he or she implants. Plan B doesn't prevent pregnancy if it prevents implantation; it prevents the pregnant woman's body from nurturing the embryo the way it's designed to. It's one thing to try to head off the egg before the sperm get to it. It's another thing to try to head off the embryo before it can implant. And yet another to know that the embryo's there and deliberately bring about its death. That's why you're getting mixed messages from folks who oppose abortion. Plan B and the Pill are problematic because they are neither one thing nor another. They're intended as contraception, but can inadvertently kill. That's a moral quagmire that it's disturbing to watch people take lightly.

And ampersand at Alas, a blog has a great blog roundup that I'm just linking to rather than rebuilding.

Class-action lawsuit in China

From C-POL:

Since March, the farmers said, local authorities had been raiding the homes of families with two children and demanding at least one parent be sterilized. Women pregnant with a third child were forced to have abortions. And if people tried to hide, the officials jailed their relatives and neighbors, beating them and holding them hostage until the fugitives turned themselves in.

....

For weeks, Chen has been collecting testimony about the population-control abuses .... Now he is preparing an unlikely challenge to the crackdown: a class-action lawsuit.

You go, Chen! He, and the people he's working with, need all the support and prayers they can get.

By the way, can anybody satisfactorily explain (without making assumptions, please!) why it is that all the outrage I've seen over China's forced-abortion and forced-sterilization program comes from prolifers? If it's all about "choice," why aren't NOW, NARAL, PP, etc., up in arms about this? Why is this a prolife issue rather than a common ground issue?

Teen rape victim: "I'm the mother of Angelina Jolie's baby."

An 18-year old Ethiopian girl, Mentewab Dawit, has told Britain's The Sun that she is the mother of the little girl Jolie adopted.

Mentewab discovered that she was pregnant four months after a brutal rape. Family and friends urged her to abort, but she carried to term and named the child Setota, which means "gift." She struggled to provide for her daughter but due to poverty feared that her child would die, so she decided to make an adoption plan.

On the one hand, it's terribly tragic that poverty has forced this young woman to part with her child. On the other hand, it's wonderful that the little girl has such a good chance for a bright future.

Prayers for all involved. And I have the sneaking suspicion that if Mentewab is confirmed to be the baby's mother, Jolie will reach out to her in some way. God bless them all.

By the way, isn't Mentewab absolutely lovely?

Question du jour

How relevant is the issue of fetal pain to the issue of abortion?

Question du jour

What do you think of convicted bomber Eric Rudolph? How representative do you think he is of people who oppose abortion? Why do you think he had a sort of fan club while he was on the run? (Rudolph is the guy who bombed the Olympics and that abortion facility in Birmingham.)

"Unbiased" fetal pain article written by abortionists

HT: Jill Stanek

This from the Arizona Daily Star:

A review of medical evidence has found that fetuses likely don't feel pain until the final months of pregnancy....

....

However, the seven-page article does not mention that one author is an abortion clinic director, while the lead author - a medical student - once worked for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights organization.

JAMA Editor in Chief Catherine D. DeAngelis said she was unaware of this and acknowledged it might create an appearance of bias that could hurt the journal's credibility.

"This is the first I've heard about it," she said. "We ask them to reveal any conflict of interest. I would have published" the disclosure if it had been made.

Jill gives more info on the authors: Susan J. Lee, JD: Lead author, medical student, attorney, once worked for NARAL. Eleanor A. Drey, MD, EdM: Medical director of Women's Options Center abortion mill at UCSF San Francisco General Hospital. Mark A. Rosen, MD, is professor and vice-chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. This department oversees the aforementioned Women's Options Center, where Dr. Drey is director.

So the results of this "study" boil down to the equivalent of research by R. J. Reynolds showing that cigarette smoke doesn't have any effect on children.

Question du jour

Have you changed your position on abortion over the years? If so, how and why?

A husband's shocking discovery

Twenty-five-year-old Dorothy Muzorewa, a nurse, had recently immigrated to the Chicago area from Zimbabwe. Dorothy went to Women's Aid Clinic for an abortion on June 15, 1974. The fetus didn't die, however, and Dorothy returned to the clinic on August 21 to report her symptoms. Staff told her to return the following day.

On August 22, Dorothy again returned to Women's Aid, bleeding and in pain. David Turow examined Dorothy, diagnosed an infection, and sent her home with prescriptions for tetracycline to control the infection and ergonovine to control the bleeding.

Dorothy's husband said that he awoke at around 6:00 on the morning of August 23 to find his wife bleeding profusely. Dorothy assured him that she was just menstruating, so he left for school. When he returned home, he was alarmed by Dorothy's bleeding and called an ambulance. Dorothy was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival shortly after noon. Only after her death did her husband, a theology student, learn of the pregancy and abortion.

A witness in Dorothy's apartment described the bedroom as "wall to wall blood." He found the fetus in a waste basket and put it in the refrigerator for safekeeping. The coroner ruled Dorothy's death from hemorrhage.

Dorothy was not the only woman to die after an abortion by Turow at Women's Aid Clinic. Kathleen Gilbert bled to death in 1985. Women's Aid Clinic is a member of the National Abortion Federation. A search of the Illinois medical board indicates that Dr. Turow is deceased, and indicates that he was never disciplined by the board.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Question du jour

Imagine that some wealthy media mogul offers to give you one hour of prime time broadcast time on a major network. He'll cover the advertising to promote the broadcast, and he'll cover all the costs of producing something to air in that hour if you don't choose to air an existing work. The only restriction is that the goal of your broadcast must be to help reduce the annual number of abortions.

What would you choose to broadcast, and why?

August 22, 1986: An abortion-related suicide anniversary

Carol Cunningham was 21 years old when she underwent an abortion in the late summer of 1986. On August 22, she shut herself up in her garage at her home in Albuquerque, and started her car. She died from breathing the exhaust fumes. Her body was discovered on August 25, 1986.

It's been documented that suicide is more common after abortion than after childbirth, or in the woman who has not experienced pregnancy. (Actually, all forms of violent death are more common in post-abortion women.) A few of the women and girls who took their lives following abortions include:

• Arlin della Cruz, age 19, who hanged herself in the woods near her house in October of 1992
• Laura Grunas, age 30, who shot her baby’s father and then herself in August of 2006
• “Sandra Roe,” age 18, who killed herself using an unidentified means in April of 1971
• Sandra Kaiser, age 15, who threw herself off an overpass into traffic in November of 1984
• Stacy Zallie, age 20, who committed suicide in October of 2002
• "Haley Mason," age 22, who overdosed on pills in April of 2001

The Centers for Disease Control also stumbled across some post-abortion suicide cases in their study of post-abortion mortality.

Source: New Mexico Death Certificate #092443

Source: New Mexico Certificate of Death # 092443

Another anniversary of a pre-Roe safe-n-legal death

"April" Roe was 17 years old when she underwent a saline abortion in New York City on August 20, 1971. The next day she was admitted to the hospital. She was in shock, with a high fever. She was treated there until her death on August 22. "April" was one of many women who died in the window of opportunity between limited legalization and Roe's free-for-all. The Supreme Court could have looked at these deaths and decided enough was enough. They chose instead to trust in bogus reports -- such as the review of patient records from C.R.A.S.H. -- and pretend that legalization would magically make everything okay.

Women have been paying the price ever since.

Question du jour

Stealing an idea from Jill Stanek, I'm going to try a Question of the Day feature and see if it flies.

Today's question: Under what circumstances might you consider undergoing an abortion? (If you're male, under what circumstances would you consider agreeing to an abortion for your partner?)

The persistence of illegal abortions

How much do you know about illegal abortions in the post-Roe era? Take the quiz: Illegal Abortions Post-Roe.

The anencephaly abortion

There are so many posts on the refusal of the US government to fork over the cash to kill a fetus diagnosed with anencephaly. I'll only link to this one, chosen because it's fairly representative.

.... The gov't found that since the child didn't endanger the mother's life, that it wouldn't pay for its abortion. Also, the family had an income of less than 20,000 dollars. The abortion cost was 3,000 dollars which the family had to pay -- they sued for the money and lost.

I personally can't comprehend why fundamentalist conservatives wouldn't condone an abortion in this case. Often, they basically want to "punish" the mom for not having protected sex or some other fault of the mother and want them not to have an abortion. Here though, by bringing this fetus into the world, you're punishing the potential child. ....

My response:

I can understand how somebody who hasn't really done a lot of extensive research can come to the conclusions you did. And I chose your blog entry as representative of those who came to that conclusion. But I think your conclusion is based on common misperceptions about anencephaly and about carrying a pregnancy to term after a grim diagnosis.

Here are some stories by women who have been there. I hope you will read them over and give serious thought to what these women have to say:

Monica's story
Liz's story
Jaime's story
Stephanie's story
Sue's story
Dawn's story

And the most remarkable story of all, The Story of baby Faith Hope

If you look past the common myths about anencephaly and pregnancy, you may come to agree that we should be offering these mothers love and support while they cherish their children's short lives. Throwing money at somebody to get him to kill the baby doesn't help anybody except the guy who walks away with the cash.

Here are more resources for folks wanting to understand how to give mothers and babies love, not abortion:

Anencephaly Support Foundation: Information and personal stories

Waiting with Love: For families facing any fatal prenatal diagnosis

Statement by the Committee on Doctrine of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops: Moral and theological observations

Anencephaly Blessings from Above: Christian support site for families coping with an anencephaly diagnosis

Anencephaly Net: Information links and links to personal stories

The Case against Premature Induction Deliveries of Babies with Anencephaly and Other "Anomalies Incompatible with Life

Unwanted Abortion of a Wanted Child: The story of a family tricked into aborting an anencephalic baby they wanted to deliver live.

Another reminder of how good the cream of the crop is

Tami Suematsu, age 19, died after 1988 abortion by Vern Wagner at Riverside Family Planning Center. Riverside is a Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA) facility and a member of the National Abortion Federation. Tami, who had a history of asthma, underwent her abortion on August 19, 1988. After the surgery, she went into an asthma attack that led to respiratory failure, which resulted in cardiac arrest. She was transported to a local hospital and died shortly after arriving.

The following women and girls also died after abortions at the Family Planning Associates chain of abortion facilities:

Thirteen-year-old Deanna Bell

Twenty-two-year-old Chanelle Bryant

Seventeen-year-old Laniece Dorsey

Sixteen-year-old Patricia Chacon

Kimberly Neil

Forty-three-year-old Mary Pena

Thirty-year-old Susan Levy

Thirty-seven-year-old Josefina Garcia

Thirty-two-year-old Joyce Ortenzio

Eighteen-year-old Christine Mora

FPA had been permitted to join NAF even though 24-four-year-old Denise Holmes had already died under their care.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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More fatal safe-n-legal anniversaries

Marina DeChapell, age 34, went to a Miama abortion facility for a six to eight week abortion on August 17, 1978. Eduardo F. Elias administered Valium and Xylocaine for the abortion. Immediately after the procedure, Elias noticed that Marina was not breathing. He initiated CPR and an emergency team was summoned. The ambulance crew found Marina with no signs of life. Although the medical examiner did not attribute Marina's death directly to the abortion, police noted that the clinic, owned by Luis Barquet, was not equipped with any emergency equipment other than an air bag.

"Vicki" Roe was 23 years old when she underwent an abortion in New York state. Saline was injected into her uterus to begin the abortion. The next day, she began to show signs of infection. On August 17, she died of sepsis. Vicki was one of many women whose pre-Roe abortion deaths gave us a hint of what would happen if we opened the floodgates.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Going down slowly

Those of us who are veteran prolifers long to see the abortion lobby go down in screaming flames. But for decades, we've seen them get away not just with killing but also with blatant lies and slander. All these years, the mainstream media never so much as batted an eyelid. Now suddenly, twice, we've seen the abortion lobby's feet held to the fire. First, Barbara Boxer and her stooges were held accountable for clearly absurd claims about illegal abortion deaths. Now, NARAL is being blasted for bearing false witness against Supreme Court nominee Roberts.

As I watch the abortion lobby writhe under a gentle but relentless onslaught that's surely blog-driven, I'm reminded of something my dad once said. He said that the slowest, most excrutiatingly boring way to die would be "to be pecked to death by ducks."

Well, my little duckies, maybe this is how the abortion lobby will go out. Let's keep pecking.

Chanelle Bryant - the plot thickens

Now that I have Chanelle's name from mainstream sources, I was able to search and find this article about her death in the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission.

Chanelle got her abortion drugs at one of "Fast Eddie" Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group -- a National Abortion Federation member facility.

Chanelle, a 22-year-old African American from Pasadena, was 9 weeks pregnant with her first child when she went to the FPA facility in Glendale. There was no doctor's name on the coroner's report to indicate who, if anybody, examined her at FPA. She self-administered the vaginal suppository as directed. She developed severe pain and went to the emergency room, where her condition deteriorated. She was transferred to the ICU in the early afternoon and went into cardiac arrest just after 4 PM. She was taken in for exploratory surgery to try to track down and treat her problems, but ten minutes into surgery she suffered another cardiac arrest. She died at 5:51 PM, January 14, 2004.

So we have Holly Patterson, who died after getting her abortion drugs at a Planned Parenthood, and Chanelle Bryant, who died after getting her abortion drugs at a NAF member. These are not fly-by-night, disreputable "abortion mills" where the public might expect women to get substandard care. They are the cream of the crop. Which is a sad reflection on how much the prochoice movement values women's lives.

The following women and girls also died after abortions at the Family Planning Associates chain of abortion facilities:

Thirteen-year-old Deanna Bell
Seventeen-year-old Laniece Dorsey
Sixteen-year-old Patricia Chacon
Kimberly Neil
Forty-three-year-old Mary Pena
Thirty-year-old Susan Levy
Thirty-seven-year-old Josefina Garcia
Nineteen-year-old Tami Suematsu
Thirty-two-year-old Joyce Ortenzio
Eighteen-year-old Christine Mora

FPA had been permitted to join NAF even though 24-four-year-old Denise Holmes had already died under their care.

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More tragic anniversaries

Today marks three more fatal safe-n-legal anniversaries.

Cheryl Vosseler was 17 years old when she was admitted to Fresno General Hospital on July 31, 1969, to undergo a legal abortion. After she was discharged, Cheryl suffered from complications, and was readmitted two weeks later. Surgery was performed August 14, 1969, to try to save her life. Cheryl's condition continued to deteriorate. She finally died August 16, 1969.

Dorothy K. Brown, age 37, underwent an abortion at Friendship Medical Clinic in Chicago on August 16, 1974. Within hours, she was dead at a nearby hospital. Her death was attributed to "shock related to hemorrhagic necrosis of uterus." Other women who died after trusting their lives to Friendship Medical Clinic include Evelyn Dudley (1973) and Julia Rogers (1973).


Marla Ann Cardamone, age 18, died from an unwanted abortion she'd been pressured into by a social worker at Magee Women's Hospital on August 16, 1989. Despite the social worker's insistence that Marla's baby had been injured by her medications, the prenatal testing and autopsy showed that nothing had been wrong with her baby.

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More details on RU-486 deaths

Recent news articles have released the names and some information about two of the women who died of sepsis after chemical abortions. Chanelle Bryant, age 22, died in 2004. Oriane Shevin, a 34-year-old mother of two, died in 2005.

More on this story as it develops.

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One legal, one illegal, both needless

Today is the anniversary of two equally needless deaths.

Yvonne Tanner, a 22-year-old mother of one, had an abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood abortion facility in California. Yvonne went into a coma immediately after the abortion, and died August 14, 1984. Her death certificate indicates coma, hypertension, and urinary tract infection. Yvonne was one of six women known to have died at the Inglewood facility. The others were Kathy Murphy, Lynette Wallace, Elizabeth Tsuji, Cora Lewis, and Belinda Byrd.

Today is also the anniversary of the day Kristina Humphrey died of complications of a "safe" herbal abortion she chose to perform on herself in preference to a clinic abortion. Kris died in 1994.

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The abortion that turned a miracle into a double tragedy

Allegra Roseberry, age 41, had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Allegra was admitted to Emory Hospital for assessment and surgery in anticipation of admission to an experimental cancer treatment program. There, a sonogram during surgery revealed a 23-week pregnancy, much to everyone's surprise since Allegra had undergone fertility drug treatment in order to conceive her son Matthew 20 years earlier. Her liver specialist, family doctor, and gynecologist all failed to detect her pregnancy despite amenorrhea, breast tenderness, distended abdomen, and nausea because these symptoms were attributed to the cancer and other ailments.

Allegra's doctors offered abortion as her only alternative, saying that the fetus was "doomed" due to Allegra's ailments, that the pregnancy would render her ineligible for the experimental treatment, and that the pregnancy was damaging her fragile health and would greatly hasten her death. No one arranged for a consult with a perinatologist or a high-risk obstetrician. The options of continuing the pregnancy and/or premature delivery of the infant were not offered or discussed.

Allegra was transferred to Emory's Crawford Long Hospital for the abortion. Young W. Ahn initiated the abortion by prostaglandin suppository on August 8, 1988. On August 9, Allegra expelled the dead baby, whom she and her husband named Amy Ann.

Allegra developed sepsis from the abortion, and died on August 13. An autopsy revealed that baby Amy had been normal. The liver specialist contended that Allegra would have aborted Amy even if she had known the child was healthy in order to be eligible for the experimental program. Allegra's gynecologist claimed that the reason for the abortion was damage to the fetus due to radiation therapy and also mentioned chemotherapy, neither of which Allegra had undergone. All defendants held that Allegra could not have survived long enough to deliver Amy alive anyway. The jury rendered a verdict against the liver specialist for the wrongful death of baby Amy, but returned no verdict for the wrongful death of Allegra due to their assumption that the cancer would have killed her soon anyway. Evidently they did not consider the time she could have spent being a mother to her baby daughter to be of any value.

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Sad safe-n-legal anniversary

Donna Heim, age 20, went to Her Medical Clinic on August 12, 1986, accompanied by her sister. Donna told staff that she had asthma, and she noted this on her forms when she filled them out. Despite this pre-existing condition, a nurse anesthetist administered general anesthesia for the abortion. Donna started to have difficulty breathing, but Mahlon Cannon continued with the procedure for five more minutes before helping the nurse anesthetist to try to restore Donna’s breathing.

Donna’s sister, who was in the waiting room, became alarmed at the intense staff activity she noticed, and questioned a staffer about her sister. She was reassured that Donna was fine. The sister saw an ambulance pull up to the building and stepped outside, where she observed her sister being transferred into the emergency vehicle. Donna’s sister followed the ambulance to a nearby hospital, which summoned the comatose young woman’s parents.

Donna died the next day without regaining consciousness. An investigation was sparked, and an administrative law judge ruled that Cannon was negligent in continuing with the abortion despite the patient’s respiratory distress. The judge also found that Cannon often failed to do medical exams, take medical histories, or administer standard tests prior to abortions.

Other women and girls to die after abortions at Her Medical Clinic include Liliana Cortez (1986) and Michelle Thames (1987). Maria Soto also died at Her Medical Clinic after being injected with drugs then left unattended on September 9, 1985.

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Another sad anniversary

Sara Franki Lint, a 22-year-old coed, submitted to an abortion at San Vicente Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on August 11, 1970. Adolpho Zlotolow, who operated San Vicente (an abortion facility) said that Sara went into ventricular fibrillation soon after the abortion was initiated by either Albert Kapstrom or Milton Gotlib.

The technique being used on Sara, hysterotomy, was one with a known high maternal mortality rate. San Vicente staff treated Sara for an hour before transferring her to Midway Hospital down the street, where she died at 4:57am on August 12. The autopsy found yellow fluid in Sara's heart, frothy tan fluid in her lungs, and a seven-inch male fetus in Sara's uterus.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie Meyers had died two years early after an abortion at San Vicente. Other women and girls who lost their lives from safe and legal abortions at San Vicente include Mary Pena (1984) and Joyce Ortenzio (1988). San Vicente was acquired by the notorious National Abortion Federation member Family Practice Associates Medical Group.

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Which "March" makes sense to you?

Jill Stanek's column, March of the Penguins vs. the "March for Women's Lives", says it all, describing the amazing penguins and their struggles to keep their chicks alive before and after hatching. Stanek imagines the film remade from a "March for [Penguin] Women's Lives" perspective:

The movie would open with militant feminist penguins marching to their ancient political breeding ground, where lusting, self-centered males waited. There they would all serial-mate, despising the prospect of producing babies. Should the unthinkable happen, close-ups would show frenzied penguins pecking open eggs and ripping babies apart...

Well, Jill's right about what the penguins would do if they were Marching for [Penguin] Women's Lives. But she's wrong about what the film would show. It would show the militant feminist penguins serial-mating with the males, then rushing back to the other feminist penguins to complain about what pigs the males were. Then the female penguins would march to the beach and have a bulimic feeding orgy, in which they sneered that they were catching more fish than the males, then vomited up the fish so they didn't get too fat to attract the males.

If one of them did lay an egg (which after the mating, they'd be bound to do), she'd keen and carry on as if Fate had singled her out for incomparable horrors. The other females would gather around and commiserate with her, while a mixed-sex group of penguins would, off-screen, peck the egg and incubating chick to bits. One of them would return to the traumatized female and inform her that she was FREE! All the militant feminist penguins would give high-flippers to the females among the egg-pecking penguins, thank the male egg-pecking penguins for being so understanding, then they'd return to their fishing orgy.

Should the penguin whose egg had been destroyed stumble across the remains of a shattered egg and the chick it had been protecting, and reaized the enormity of what she'd done, the other penguins would snub her. Should a militant feminist penguin see a penguin chick and realize that having a chick was a lot of work but maybe worth it, the other penguins would snub her.

The regretful penguins would become distracted and make easy meals for seals.

Of course, the militant feminist penguins would need to set up public schools for the chicks of the normal female penguins. After all, the new generation of boy penguins need to know what jerks they are, and the new generation of girl penguins needs to know that the worst thing that can ever happen to you is that you reproduce and have a chick of your own.

And, of course, the mothers of the surviving penguin chicks would be snubbed and dismissed as retrograde.

Thus the militant feminist penguins would be able to pass on their ideology without having to go to the trouble and sacrifice the normal penguins put into giving the world a new generation of penguins. And they would live happy ever after. Except the ones that got eaten by seals.

Proof of abortion's safety....

Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health ("CRASH") was the model abortion clinic -- a published review of their earliest patient records, published by Bernard Nathanson, played a key role in "proving the safety of legal outpatient abortion."

On this date, August 10, in 1988, 19-year-old K.B. (due to confidentiality, the public record documents do not give the patient's name) was given anesthesia for a 14-week abortion. Shortly after the procedure, she showed signs of distress, but emergency measures were not instituted for almost an hour. K.B. was transported to Cabrini Medical Center where she was pronounced dead from complications of anesthesia.

After K.B.'s death, the health department investigated and found a mystery: K.B.'s chart listed her post-operative condition as "pink, responsive, alert," even though she had gone into full cardio-respiratory arrest by the time indicated on the assessment. They learned that the note had been entered into the chart before the abortion was even performed.

The inspectors noted that CRASH "did not employ proper monitoring equipment or procedures," "had no working EKG machine," and didn't have a cardiac defibrillator. They noted that no one on staff was qualified to perform CPR. No one on staff was qualified to administer anesthesia, and they did not use proper procedures or equipment. Anesthesia was administered "by eye," with no means of accurately measuring the dose. Dosage was estimated to be twice that recommended in the procedure manual.

The operating rooms were found to be ill-lit, and there was no soap or paper towels at the scrub sink. The scrub sinks were stained, the walls and floors dirty, trash was stored in the scrub room. There were red make-up stains on the oxygen masks and nitrous oxide masks, dusty tubing on the suction machines, and blood on the wheels of the operating table.

CRASH had no documentation verifying the credentials or qualifications of medical director David Gluck. Gluck had been previously convicted of felony charges related to the sale of 48,000 Diluadid tabets to pay off gambling debts. His license had actually been revoked two months before K.B.'s death, but had been restored by judicial stay.

There was no evidence at the investigation two weeks after K.B.'s death that Gluck had reviewed her chart, or the charts of 18 other patients identified as having suffered complications. Nobody tried to figure out what had gone wrong or how it could be prevented from happening again.

The state closed CRASH for 60 days, but for unreported reasons it never re-opened, but that doesn't mean that women were any safer. Medical director Gluck later went on to perform the fatal abortion on Alerte Desanges in 1994.

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Back from Thailand

Off the abortion topic for a moment, I'm back from my visit to Thailand. Thanks to Ashli of The S.I.C.L.E. Cell for babysitting my blog while I was away.

Another day to remember

On August 6, 1975, 29-year-old Cheryl Tubbs underwent a saline abortion at Pacific Glen Hospital in Los Angeles County. She experienced heavy vaginal bleeding after the abortion, so she was transferred to White Hospital on the evening of August 7.

Cheryl continued to bleed profusely, and twice went into cardiac arrest. Staff performed a paracentesis on her to remove blood and fluids from her abdomen. About an hour after midnight, staff could no longer detect any blood pressure. For an hour they tried heart massage, to no avail. Cheryl was pronounced dead at 2:30AM on August 8.

An autopsy revealed that Cheryl's uterus had ruptured during the abortion, spilling blood and uterine material into her abdomen. The second woman in David Grimes' 1978 article about fatal uterine rupture might be Cheryl.

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Live births after abortion in the UK

Research in the UK indicates that more babies are born live during abortions done between 18 and 42 weeks than officials previously believed.

Past reports suggested there were probably only a handful of cases each year. But the new findings reveal there have been 31 cases in the North-West alone between 1996 and 2001.

The study, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, revealed that some of the babies who initially survived terminations were only in the 18th week of pregnancy and more than half were under 22 weeks.

In the 31 cases they studied, babies lived for between five minutes and four hours 36 minutes after the termination.

No information was given about what care, if any, these babies were given.

Dr. Trevor Stammers, senior lecturer in general practice at St. George's University Hospital in London, said the latest research was "deeply distressing."

"I know of obstetricians who have been doing abortions for many years who have broken down saying they cannot carry on any more," he said.

"Despite all attempts at emotional neutrality, the heart does not work that way when you get a baby in front of you that colleagues on another floor of the same building would be trying to keep alive. For the parents it must be extremely upsetting, as it is for the doctors."

I bet it's even more distressing for the baby. But then, in an abortion nobody really cares what the baby's going through.

So much for informed consent.

Thanks to After Abortion for this article about an Oregon teen who signed "consent" forms for an abortion only after she'd been given so much Valium that she couldn't walk unassisted.

Safe and legal kills another woman

Mary Ives was 28 when she had an abortion 19 weeks into her pregnancy. She was admitted to W.W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, for treatment of complications of the abortion, but her heart and lungs failed due to amniotic fluid embolism. Mary was pronounced dead on August 7, 1983.

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More safe-n-legal death

Ruth Montero, age 23, underwent a vacuum abortion of her 8-week pregnancy, under general anesthesia, August 1979, at Women's Care Center in Miami. Ruth awoke from anesthesia in the recovery room, and went into convulsions and cardiopulmonary arrest. She died from hemorrhage and a prolapsed mitral valve on August 7.

Ruth, Myrta Baptiste, Maura Morales, and Shirley Payne all died in a clinic co-owned by Hipolito Barreiro, trained in Argentina and West Africa, but not licensed in U.S. Barreiro was accused of practicing without a license and tampering with witness. The clinic in question was also owned by former criminal abortionist Luis Barquet.

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And another August 3 abortion death

Twenty-one-year-old Dawn Marie Mack had an abortion performed at National Abortion Federation member facility Eastern Women's Center August 2, 1991. She was attended at Eastern by one of their staff abortionists. While at Eastern, Dawn went into cardiorespiratory arrest.

The suit said that Easterns staff failed to adequately respond to "the precipitous drop in Plaintiff's blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiac arrest and cessation of respiration." Dawn was transported to a hospital by ambulance, where staff tried to resuscitate Dawn to no avail. She died August 3.

The suit contended that the following shortcomings at Eastern caused Dawn's death:

• carelessness in hiring staff
  
• negligent supervising of staff
  
• lack of emergency protocol and staff skilled in treating emergencies
  
• lack of adequate equipment
  
• failure to maintain equipment appropriately
  
• failure to administer timely and properly dosed medications
  
• failure to convey to Dawn the risks of anesthesia
  
• failure to adequately evaluate Dawn's condition via exam and medical history prior to anesthesia
  
• failure to allow sufficient time to administer anesthesia and perform the abortion in a safe and careful manner
  
• inadequate staff training
  
• failure to adequately monitor anesthesia
  
• failure to accurately chart and record observations and responses
  
• failure to anticipate potential complications

The suit further contended that "no reasonable person would have undergone the procedures which were performed upon the decedent plaintiff if the level of skills and ability of staff and other medical personnel, together with the amount, kind and condition of equipment on the premises had been disclosed to decedent plaintiff."

Dawn was one of three women I have identified as having suffered fatal complications from abortions done at Eastern. The others are Dawn Ravenelle and Venus Ortiz.

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Yet another safe-n-legal anniversary

Angel Dardie, age 22, left two children motherless when she died on August 3, 1982, of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy after a saline abortion performed by Youl Choie at Plymouth General Hospital.

Angel's mother sued, saying that the abortion was performed negligently. Although she sued for $5 million, she was awarded a settlement of $6000 from Choi and $2500 from the hospital. $1744 of this went to the attorney, plus an additional $667 given to him from the settlement for his expenses. $1528 of the settlement was ordered to be used to reimburse for funeral expenses. This left Angel's mother and orphans with $4561. No settlement was awarded for pain and suffering, nor was there any settlement for Angel's surviving children.

Angel is far from the first or last woman in the United States to die from a saline abortion. Quite a few died in New York and California even before Roe vs. Wade. They continued to die after Roe.

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Still another safe-n-legal anniversary

Twenty-seven-year-old Robin Wells, mother of three children ages 6, 4, and 2, went for an abortion under general anesthesia by Max Gaujean at Akron Center for Reproductive Health on July 15, 1981.

Robin went into cardiac arrest in the recovery room, and was transferred by ambulance to a hospital. She remained in a coma until her death on August 2, 1981.

Both Gaujean and the anesthesiologist were independent contractors and did not maintain private practices. The suit filed by Robin's survivors alleged that she was overdosed on anesthesia and not properly monitored. It also alleged that staff at Akron Center for Reproductive Health failed "to resuscitate her after her condition had been discovered." The case was settled out of court.

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Another safe-n-legal anniversary

Documents regarding the death of Ingrid L. Thomas, age 28, indicate that her uterus was perforated by Kanu Virani during an abortion. Ingrid developed acute peritonitis, and died at Botsford General Hospital Augist 1, 1991, several days after the abortion.

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