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Saturday, February 18, 2006

I guess it's still old news...

I'm awash in sadness over the lack of buzz over "Adelle" Roe's death after abortion at the hands of Mi Yong Kim.

I've been going over my notes, doing medical board searches for every abortionist I know about, wondering who else has died without raising any outcry. The statistics don't lie: They're there, the dead. Are they waiting to be found? Are they waiting for somebody to care? Does anybody care but me?

But it's always been that way. Jesse Ketchum was prosecuted for the death of Margaret Smith, but when he let Carole Schaner die while he was out on bail, awaiting trial, it's like nobody noticed except Carole's family. Did they wonder, back home in Ohio, why Margaret's death was a crime, but Carole's wasn't?

John Biskind and clinic administrator Carole Stuart-Schandoff were prosecuted for the abortion death of Lou Ann Herron. The local press went wild covering the story. But Lisa Bardsley, who'd died under Biskind's care three years earlier, didn't awaken any outrage. The reporters hanging on every word of the trial over Lou Ann's death didn't even bother to learn the date of Lisa's death.

Bruce Steir got national press when he was prosecuted over the death of Sharon Hamplton. When Arnold Bickham shoved Sylvia Moore out the door to bleed to death on New Year's Eve of 1988, the coroner found the manner of death to be homicide, but the authorities didn't make a move toward the man who'd killed her.

Holly Patterson's death from RU-486 is known around the world. I feel as if I'm the only person who even knows the names of the other known US RU-486 deaths: Chanelle Bryant, Oriene Shevin, Vivian Tran, and Brenda Vise. The FDA is engaging in all manner of hand-wringing and arm-flapping over four of these deaths, but not the fifth. Nor have any public health officials seemed to even notice the other women abortion has killed.

Thanks to the efforts of Operation Rescue, there is some public outcry, seeking justice for Christin Gilbert, dead for no good reason. But like Dr. Tiller, Dr. Kim is still in practice after killing Adelle. Where are the people demanding justice for her?

Sometimes I feel like an Old Testament prophet, crying alone in the wilderness. My voice just doesn't carry. And most of the time, it's the only voice these women and girls have. It shouldn't be that way. But that's just the way it is. I've been crying out since 1987, when I learned of the deaths of Gloria Aponte and Ellen Williams. I had a moment of hope when we released Lime 5. But reality has a way of crushing hope. The dead lie silent and unnoticed, unmourned but for their families and friends. And a few odd ducks like me.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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