Sunday, January 21, 2007

A year to the day before Roe

On January 21, 1972, 26-year-old Kathryn Strong went to Civic Center Hospital in Oakland, California for a legal abortion that was to be performed by Dr. Harold Van Maren.

During the procedure, her uterus was perforated. According to her medical records, she suffered extensive hemorrhage and shock. She died the following day, leaving a three-year-old son.

In a sad irony, on the one-year anniversary of Kathryn's death, January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

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